Can multiple MPPT solar chargers be displayed on VRM dashboard?

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zack-golenia asked Jul 24, '21

Can multiple MPPT solar chargers be displayed on VRM dashboard?

Can the VRM dashboard display the breakdown of 2 (or more) MPPT solar chargers?

Further system details:

Venus GX

Quattro Inverter

BMV-712

Smartshunt

2 x SmartSolar MPPT 250/100 controllers (1 connected via VE.Direct and 1 via VE.CAN)

The dashboard is a little confusing at the moment as the "PV Charger" displays the total watts from both chargers but the volt and amps values are from one of the chargers.

Also what is the best/recommended way to connect the MPPT chargers to the Venus GX (the solar arrays are pointed in different directions and are of a different size etc.)?

VRM

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Modifications Space

Node Red Space

Answer 1 · 2021-07-24T11:55:32Z

wkirby answered · Jul 24, 2021 at 11:55 AM

Good point about the summing of the PV Chargers. I have never noticed this before now. I also have a mixture of VE.Direct and VE.Can PV Chargers.
There isn't a way of having a separate tile for each PV Charger on the dashboard.

It shouldn't really matter how you conect the MPPT chargers to the VenusGX. I'm slightly confused why you have a SmartShunt and a BMV-712? These would use up both VE.Direct ports, then how is the one MPPT also using a VE.Direct port?
If you are out of VE.Direct ports, then it would be better to connect both MPPT chargers using VE.Can if they are both VE.Can models or course.

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daniel1957 commented · Jul 24, 2021 at 10:41 PM

It was put incorrectly. Sorry!...We have a shunt as part of the BMV712.

One mppt is the older 250-100 the newer mppt is 250-100 can model.

In effect the dashboard is displaying incorrect data as it shows one 'tile' for PV charger with correct total W however inconsistent v & a

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daniel1957 daniel1957 commented · Jul 26, 2021 at 03:56 AM

Therefore the VRM portal should either report the PV charger information correctly or provide separate dashboard tiles that report correctly - Come on Victron, please get it correct!

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Answer 2 · 2021-07-26T10:10:53Z

mvader (Victron Energy) answered · Jul 26, 2021 at 10:10 AM

Hi both,

Noted; we'll look into this. Thank you for reporting.

Matthijs

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daniel1957 commented · Jul 27, 2021 at 03:16 AM

Thank you Matthijs

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daniel1957 commented · Aug 02, 2021 at 12:09 AM

I may have an opportunity to onsell my old MPPT 250/100 and replace with a new MPPT 250/100 CAN and thus end up with 2 x MPPT 250/100 CAN .-.. will this help with the PV charger misreporting in VRM?

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daniel1957 daniel1957 commented · Aug 02, 2021 at 12:10 AM

... and sorry that Australia thrashed Netherlands in men's hockey at the Olympics...

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daniel1957 commented · Aug 17, 2021 at 04:02 AM

Thank you Matthijs

The new VRM dashboard version is great!

Daniel

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screenshot-20210817-135709.png (210.2 KiB)

mvader (Victron Energy) ♦♦ daniel1957 commented · Aug 17, 2021 at 05:16 AM

You’re welcome! And thank you for the suggestion. We’re working to add more details to other boxes as well, such as AC voltage on AC in.

Or info about generator, such as why its running and since when, or when it has last ran.

some will be very soon, others will take a while, as they might require a change in Venus OS.

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Answer 3 · 2021-07-26T22:57:57Z

trip-tracks answered · Jul 26, 2021 at 10:57 PM

The dashboard is a little confusing at the moment as the "PV Charger" displays the total watts from both chargers but the volt and amps values are from one of the chargers.

I looked at an example I have with 2 MPPTs with different input voltages - the console and VRM only display the total wattage of the two - no display of the input voltage or current - so I see no conflict there.

I can see the individual inputs from each MPPT if I open the device list on the console. On VRM, I can see individual details in the Advanced tab and selecting the individual MPPT.

I don't understand the issue. Have I missed something?

I have running v2.72 on a Cerbo

Do you have any screen shots to clarify?

1627340168563.png (43.3 KiB)

1627340259425.png (47.6 KiB)

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daniel1957 commented · Jul 27, 2021 at 06:20 AM

trip-tracks - unfortunately I  see some inconsistencies in your dashboard as well....your apparent soc is 44%.....

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klim8skeptic ♦ daniel1957 commented · Jul 27, 2021 at 06:47 AM

Vrm is acting odd today regarding~ time to go

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trip-tracks daniel1957 commented · Jul 27, 2021 at 07:00 AM

@Daniel1957 , time to go will not show a value when the net charging value is positive. Correct, it shouldn't display 0 - it should be infinite.

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daniel1957 trip-tracks commented · Jul 27, 2021 at 08:26 AM

I must be totally daft...your dashboard is showing 44% state of charge...ie it is less than half charge and the 49.3v proves that your battery is nowhere near full charge....so where do you get "positive net charging" conclusion from. ..whatever that means?

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trip-tracks daniel1957 commented · Jul 27, 2021 at 08:41 AM

The battery is showing 4.2A charging.

Solar is showing 518W
Since it is not depleting the battery, a "time to go" estimate cannot be made.
If it was discharging, different story.

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Answer 4 · 2021-07-27T04:07:36Z

daniel1957 answered · Jul 27, 2021 at 04:07 AM

See the screenshot the PV charger tile displays both mppt chargers but only the amps and watts from the non CAN mppt

screenshot-20210727-131709.png (219.7 KiB)

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trip-tracks commented · Jul 27, 2021 at 06:57 AM

Thanks, @Daniel1957

I only see volts and amps on the installs where there is one solar controller. Where there is more than one only watts is displayed.
I do use ve.direct ports, so this appears to be an issue when mixing the ve.direct and can ports.

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Answer 5 · 2021-08-17T23:55:19Z

daniel1957 answered · Aug 17, 2021 at 11:55 PM

@mvader

great thank you!

the new VRM dashboard now displays both MPPT chargers however there appears to be a programming glitch as in "realtime" the volts and amps for each is updating but the watts is 'locked' to the value at startup... Don't know why volts needs to be displayed to the nearest 0.01 v??

Also I have a new smart phone but the charge status (boost - absorption -float) does not display on the VRM dashboard. My son has another brand phone and his shows it??

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mvader (Victron Energy) ♦♦ commented · Aug 18, 2021 at 08:56 AM

Solved! Thank you for reporting

And wrt the 0.01V precision for PV voltage, that will be considered as well.

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Answer 6 · 2021-08-18T23:31:55Z

daniel1957 answered · Aug 18, 2021 at 11:31 PM

a further update on the VRM dashboard

This morning the volts/amps and watts for each MPPT charger are correctly displaying - thank you.

Last night the "AC Loads" tile for the first time included a volts and amps display but that has now disappeared - that's a shame.

And the status of the battery charge state is now displaying (bulk/absorption/float) - great!!!!

It's so good to see a tech company being so responsive to customer feedback - I'm spreading the word that Victron is a company that should be supported!

Thank you very much @mvader (Victron Energy) - I love it!

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Ingo commented · Aug 19, 2021 at 05:48 AM

I've refreshed my browser but see something strange. The power produced is correct but it's the total power from my RS450. MPPT #1 and MPPT #2 should be around 630W each but is displayed as the total only on MPPT #1.

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mvader (Victron Energy) ♦♦ Ingo commented · Aug 19, 2021 at 05:50 AM

Hi @Daniel1957 , good that mppts work well for you now; @Ingo we'll be checking that.

With regards to the AC volts, amps and later also frequencies: those will take a while to come back. To show the right values in all system configurations requires some changes in Venus OS first.

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Ingo mvader (Victron Energy) ♦♦ commented · Aug 31, 2021 at 01:47 PM

@mvader (Victron Energy) I can confirm it now works correct using 2.73 albeit a bit 'wonky' as the second entry wraps around. Just make the display area a few pixels wider to compensate (or dynamic according to the string length).

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mvader (Victron Energy) ♦♦ Ingo commented · Aug 31, 2021 at 02:20 PM

thanks @Ingo . We'll make it clip the too long text. What you can do on your system is put in custom names, for example Roof East, Shed, Roof West

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Ingo mvader (Victron Energy) ♦♦ commented · Aug 31, 2021 at 03:56 PM

Perfect!

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mvader (Victron Energy) ♦♦ Ingo commented · Sep 06, 2021 at 11:28 AM

Hi again, it now clips the text when too long.

There are still more fixes and improvements coming for the dashboard btw.

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