question

trougnouf avatar image
trougnouf asked

Is GX required to maximize battery use and switch to shore power only when batteries are low

Hello all,

I'm designing my future system and wondering whether I need a (Cerbo/Venus/?) GX control device in order to set the Quattro to use the batteries (and solar panels) as much as possible, until they reach a given threshold (50%) when the shore power takes over. (and ideally if/when the inverter can't keep up)

All the guides I've seen so far call for an ESS system which requires a GX device, but it seems to be a rather straightforward setting that I should be able to set with the USB interface which hopefully works on Linux.

The charger would barely ever be needed so I don't need a straightforward interface to it.

I've attached a diagram of the current state of planning below:

diagram.png

MultiPlus Quattro Inverter Chargercerbo gxgx device
diagram.png (873.0 KiB)
diagram.png (861.8 KiB)
2 |3000
Toggle Comment visibility. Current Visibility: Viewable by all users

Up to 8 attachments (including images) can be used with a maximum of 190.8 MiB each and 286.6 MiB total.

1 Answer
Kevin Windrem avatar image
Kevin Windrem answered ·

A Venus device is required for ESS.

However you may be able to use the ignore AC input assistant that runs on the Quatro to control when grid power is used.

3 comments
2 |3000
Toggle Comment visibility. Current Visibility: Viewable by all users

Up to 8 attachments (including images) can be used with a maximum of 190.8 MiB each and 286.6 MiB total.

trougnouf avatar image trougnouf commented ·

Thank you Kevin!

It seems required to supplement AC when the inverter can't keep up then.

Is it specifically a Venus, or Cerbo would work as well? (Seems similar but newer/better?)

Do I still need a USB interface with a GX device? It seems the GX has a web interface (and Bluetooth for the Cerbo), I don't know if there is a difference in what can be configured with each. (That would be some peace of mind if there is ever a software incompatibility.)

0 Likes 0 ·
Kevin Windrem avatar image Kevin Windrem trougnouf commented ·

Venus devices (aka GX devices) are: CCGX, Venus GX, Octo GX, CanVu GX, Maxi, GX, Cerbo GX or a Raspberry PI running Venus OS (not the "packages that run on Raspberry PI OS). They all run the same software but have different port configurations. See here:

https://www.victronenergy.com/live/venus-os:start

No USB adapters needed to connect the solar controller and shunt. Just a VE.Direct cable.

0 Likes 0 ·
trougnouf avatar image trougnouf Kevin Windrem commented ·
Great, thank you!
0 Likes 0 ·