All Posts in Modifications

I really love the Victron suite of software. The VRM portal really sold me on going for Victron for my home.

Not one to pass up the opportunity to fiddle with it I thought it would be nice to make a kind of "realtime" dashboard for display inside the house using an old phone/tablet. For me the requirements are:

• Show the information I am interested in seeing at a glance (kitchen tablet).
• Full screen optimised for landscape viewing.
• Less data use than the VNC animation but more realtime than VRM (when out and about on mobile data).

Think of it as the Marine App https://github.com/victronenergy/venus-html5-app but for home use. I'm not a UI person so its not nearly as pretty as that but I'll improve it with time. I'll also add more information relevant for a home that makes sense for a dashboard type display.

I'd thought I'd share it for anyone who wants to give a go. DISCLAIMER - I've put it together for MY system (ESS) so your milage will vary. Only tested on Chrome. I know the Full Screen option will not necessarily work on other browsers.

Getting Started: Go to http://housealarm.io/victron. Click "Configure" and enter you Venus IP address. With a bit of luck it will work.

You will need to have MQTT Turned On at the Venus for this to work. For Relay 1 control you need to set Settings/Relay/Function (Relay 1) to Manual.

EDIT: I've added some basic geyser control via the relay on the Venus GX. See Configure screen.

EDIT: Copy Right Infringement - It may be a bad idea to include the Victron badge. I'm more than happy to remove that.

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GOOD DAY

HERE IS MY SETUP

MULTIPLUS2 5KVA

250/100 MPPT

250/60 MPPT

CCGX

SMART METER

240AHR GEL AGM BATTERY( ONLY FOR GRID FAILURE)

I HAD ONLY ONE MPPT(250/100) AND MY PEAK WAS ABOUT 3.6KW OF SUN DURING THE DAY, AND I ADDED THE 250/60MPPT YESTERDAY.

WITH THE BLUETOOTH APP I MADE ALL THE BATTERY VOLTAGES THE SAME IN BOTH MPPT'S

AFTER THE FIRST DAY THE SMALLER MPPT MADE 9.5KW OF SOLAR YIELD AND THE 250/100 MADE ONLY 6.5KW SOLAR YIELD.

MY CONCERN IS THAT THE SMALLER MPPT IS WORKING HARDER AND I TRULY KNOW IT CAN HANDLE ITS JOB. I JUST WANT TO KNOW IF THERE IS A SETTING THAT I MIGHT HAVE MISSED WHEN CONNECTING MULTIPLE MPPTS IN PARALLEL?

Since the CANvu has been released, is there any chance we can run the Pi with the official 7 inch touch screen at higher resolution? There aren't any specs of the CANvu screen, but it at least looks 16x9. Thanks!

Hi,

We are building a hydrogen-range extender for big pleasure boats.

We hoped we could use the CCGX to monitor our hydrogen fuelcell, and transmitters for pressure and tempreture on the hydrogen tank.

We will focus on victron products to manage and monitor the batteries.

How do we connect to the CCGX through a Linux Ubuntu computer, and what connection is required for this type of job.

We plan to develop drivers our selves and install them unto Venus on the CCGX.

Best regards Jakob Andresen

Project Manager at Zero Emission Yachting

Being a big fan of my Victron setup, I'd like to increase "personal value" by including all kinds of figures and values into my home automation, which is based on ioBroker. Although many Victron registers can be read through modbus, and I am using it, several figures are not available. Those are obviously calculated and submitted to the VRM portal. So I raised the request for creation of an ioBroker adapter to connect the VRM portal. API is available so for a good coder it should be feasible. In case you are interested in this as well, all of it is free of charge - except your voluntary donations, please support my request by a like or thumbs up at the GitHub. Thanks

To control manually the AUX RELAY via software, without setting any assistant, when the device is switched on, we set the ID 15 of the settings to 1 to turn on the virtual switch, then we control the relay with the Flag 26 of the virtual switch flags.

The problem is that if the Multiplus II is switched-off while the virtual switch is enabled, after restarting the Multi, the ESS Assistant is not working and it seems to be set in UPS mode. At this point if we disable the virtual switch (ID 15 set to 0) and switch-off the Multi using the command 'S' <Switch state> to 4 (to set inverter OFF), after turning it on again, the problem still remains.

If at this point we connect a Color Control GX to the Multi and use the command Multi->Advanced->SYSTEM RESET the inverter starts working correctly.

So the question is:

-is it possible, through MK2/3 protocol, to send a command equivalent to the CCGX's SYSTEM RESET to the inverter?

Otherwise, is there another way to control the relay via MK2/3 protocol?

Thanks in advance,

AMAR

Hello,

I am seeking advice whether the CAN protocol used by the Zeva BMS, which I understand to be “SMA protocol”, is compatible with Victron equipment.

By way of background, the Zeva BMS is used for lithium batteries built up from separate cells. I am planning a 16S LiFePO4 8 kWh battery. The Zeva system apparently communicates seamlessly over CAN with Goodwe and SMA inverters. From the manufacturer:

“The only change needed for compatibility with inverters is a different CAN bus baud rate, since the default for the Zeva BMS is 250kbps but the Goodwe inverters use 500kbps. No extra cost, just something to confirm upon ordering”. “Basically once the BMS has been attached to the battery pack and configured to suit (telling it the number and size of cells, voltage limits, etc), the BMS can communicate this information to the inverter over CAN bus - pretty much plug and play. The inverter will offer a range of battery options, and “ZEVA" won’t be among them specifically but selecting any that use SMA’s protocol should work fine, such as LG RESU or BYD battery types. That’s probably the only “gotcha” that your sparky would need to be aware of, otherwise it’ll be much the same as any other battery storage installation he’s done (if you’ll be handling the assembly of the battery itself)”

On inquiring about use of Zeva with Victron equipment:

“My understanding is that the Victrons use a different CAN protocol (NMEA2000). So if they work with BYD batteries, I’m actually not sure if the Victron is able to talk SMA protocol or the BYD batteries know how to talk Victron protocol. It might be something Victron could answer. It is possible to run without CAN integration as BMS can protect the battery (using a contactor), but it’s not as elegant as CAN bus integration.”

The proposed system is for domestic use in Australia, with grid connection including feed-in. It will comprise Multiplus II 48V 5k, CCGX or Venus, 3 kW AC coupled solar and 1.5 kW via Smartsolar Mppt. I am confident that we could set up the battery “drop-in style”, using the Zeva BMS simply as emergency disconnect, but like the man says...not as elegant!

Unfortunately I really understand very little of CAN communication, other that it does it via 4 wires...plus, ground, high and low!!! Zeva publish their CAN protocol, link here for those who understand this stuff. https://zeva.com.au/Products/datasheets/BMS16v2_CAN_Protocol.pdf

Any advice or experience re this would be much appreciated. Many thanks, Leslie

Does anybody have a recommendation on if/how I could create a stable overcharge protection for a 400Ah lithium bank based around 4 Winston LiFePo4-cells using a smart battery protect or other Victron solution?

We are currently using an old BMV702 which controls a regular Victron battery protect set to be controlled by "remote". It works OK but the configuration is a bit clumsy and the protection is currently based on the calculated SOC in the BMV702 which is a bit questionable.

Grateful for any support or recommendation.

//SY-Barit from Sweden

Does anyone know the sample rate of the BMV 712 Smart? How many times per second it is taking an amperage and voltage measurement?

I would like to get a Json interface running to access the Venus dbus data from an Ajax client but have so far failed.

Background

I have a working Ajax implementation of a GUI this was written a few years back and easy to customise and serve from the inbuilt Venus web server - Hiawatha. I would like to make calls to access the data in Venus OS running on my Rpi 3B+. The UI Being Ajax and Javascript, the interface should be REST/Json. I could write a Json server to interface to dbus but I realised this is just what Signalk offers. So I took a look at how to get it installed.

Going forward an Ajax UI could be easier to customise within the community than the current pages, would be lightweight as much of the processing is in the client end - not the server, and should integrate well with the signalk service/

Getting Signal k running:

I tried following this instruction: from https://github.com/victronenergy/venus/wiki/Signal-K

"Note for the raspberrypis that it is not necessary, nor recommended to reinstall a full image on an sdcard. Doing so will also remove all configuration and stored data.

Latest available files:

• Venus GX: venus-swu-beaglebone-20191221131757-v2.50~2-signalk-1.swu.
• RaspberryPis: venus-swu-raspberrypi2-20191221133738-v2.50~2-signalk-1.swu"

The SWU is found own the SDcard and selecting it says installing. But when the install is complete going to [IP address]:3000 does not display a dashboard and I can't find any installed files with include signal k in the filename.

Either:

I have version Venus OS 2.51 running already so perhaps the SWU which is for 2.50 is ignored.

or

I do need to do the full sdimg install first as per this instruction:

"To install Venus OS + Signalk on an sdcard for a rasperrypi; follow these instructions; but then using below file instead of the one mentioned in the instructions:

• venus-image-raspberrypi2-20191221133738-v2.50~2-signalk-1.rootfs.rpi-sdimg.zip"

And If I do this then how do I go for future version updates (2.6 being around the corner).

Or could Signalk be made available as a opkg install?

Does signal k have much dependency on the Venus OS version?

Hi there,

as I find 30€ quite a lot for the VE.Direct to USB cable and as the Raspberry Pi just has some Serial Pins at the GPIO interface, I wondered if someone has already connected e.g. a MPPT via the Pis GPIOs to the Venus software. Would be great to hear!

Best regards,

Philipp

I got acquainted with Victron Energy products and found that you can transfer energy from the battery to the 230V network using your devices.

I am asking for help in solving the following problem:

I need to discharge 12 V and / or 24 V batteries and transfer energy to 230V / 50 Hz.

We will not use any energy receivers, only the energy return to the 230V network.

Because these are batteries with different capacities, we want to discharge with a constant, programmable value. The range of discharge currents on the battery side is 10 to 200 A.

The value of the discharge current must be set by means of a software and digital input (e.g. USB or LAN), or set by voltage via an analog input, providing DC voltage (e.g. in the range 0-5Vdc, or 0-12Vdc).

Is it possible to use this type of battery discharge method using your devices?

If possible, please provide these devices and their connection diagram.

Andrzej Sollich

HI Guys

I hate cross posting but not getting much in the way of answers so hoping as this is the mods space that there may be some more technical input as I'm using a Rpi...

Original post is here https://community.victronenergy.com/questions/44421/venus-os-multiplies-control.html

Essentially I cannot turn the multiplus on or off or charge only via the Rpi or via Victron Configure (Vconnect wont work in) Virtual control panel.

The virtual control panel can control the current limit, but the Rpi cannot.

I have flashed several firmwares, reset to defaults etc.. no joy.

If i turn MP to charge only - the Rpi just displays ON - not Charge only

It has me puzzled, but I want to get it sorted as I am wanting to get it installed in the boat soon.

Thanks in advance

Steve

I purchased VE.direct to USB cable to connect BMW-600S battery monitor with Raspberry, but there is not VE.direct connector on BMW-600S battery monitor. Can I somehow connect BMW-600S with USB cable to Raspberry with VenusOS by using PINs which are available on BMW-600S device?

Hi all,

To address a soon coming broker (over-)load issue, we are changing our single instance of the Mosquitto broker on mqtt.victronenergy.com to a cluster of Mosquitto brokers.

The first step is that we've made a series of new dns records (mqtt123.victronenergy.com). And in Venus OS v2.40 we've added a change that it connects to one of those addresses.

For now, they all still point to the same single Mosquitto instance as before, so technically nothing has changed.

But, in the coming weeks, we'll be deploying the new cluster. And from that moment onwards, any customer code that connects to mqtt.victronenergy.com will need to have to be adapted to the new scheme. See the changes in the dbus-mqtt readme for what has changed and what you need to do in case you are using this in your software projects.

In the interim, customers can keep using the previous Venus OS version, v2.33 is the latest one. It will keep using mqtt.victronenergy.com, and we'll keep that up and running for a long time to come.

More technical background about this change can be found in the related Venus OS issue:

https://github.com/victronenergy/venus/issues/543

Hello everyone,

It seems almost any information a person would need from the Venus OS device is published to it's own local MQTT server. I have accessed that MQTT server from a client and was able to get voltages and other information out of it. The Raspberry Pi is connected to a Victron 100/15 SmartSolar via a USB to TTL adapter and I can access the information and settings for it from Venus so that is not a problem. I understand the Venus MQTT requires a keep alive message to be sent about once every 60 seconds. I also already run an MQTT server and Home Assistant on another Raspberry Pi that I use for everything else.

How can I get the data I want (or all of it) into Home Assistant? Preferably, I just need to get Venus to send the messages to my normal MQTT server instead of it's own, or maybe a script that subscribes to the Venus MQTT, publishes a keep alive once every 60 seconds, and then forwards all received messages to the normal MQTT?

Hello,

I tried to run Venus on a Raspberry Pi 4 according to the infos given here and using the image raspberrypi2-...-v2.33 from GitHub.

But the Raspi 4 doesn not boot, no console output, no network connection activity, no IP found in the whole IP range.

Question: is the image 2.33 by principle running on a model Pi 4 or only on Pi 2x/3x?

Best regards,

REL

So the scenario goes thus.

Color GX set to start gen using relay on SOC conditions. Gen Start at SOC 70% Gen Stop at SOC 90%

SOC reaches 70% and all conditions to fulfil Gen Start are met so Color GX relay is made and Gen Start signal is given.

Gen fails to start for whatever reason. (No fuel, bad battery or even if it runs for a while and shuts down for its own reason)

Color GX displays "Gen Running on SOC condition" but in reality gen is NOT running and Inverter continues draining batteries till unit "Shut Down" conditions are met. Not convenient at all!!!

Not a very pleasant scenario.

Isn't it possible to have a confirmation of Gen Running conditions and an alarm condition given should gen running actually fail?

A good trigger could be Gen Voltage on AC2 (To which Gen output is tied). If Gen Start condition is met by Color GX and Gen Run relay is made with gen start signal being given, a verification protocol should run a check to confirm if there is actually voltage on the Gen line. No voltage could trigger an Alarm Condition on Gen Running state and remedial action can be taken so problem doesn't get worse.

Just a suggestion based on a real problem I have. No way to verify if Gen actually is running. Gen is soundproof and quite a distance away.

After short circuiting the output and applying a voltage exceeding 7V on the input (solar panel) the charger does not switch from 12 to 24 V. I followed the steps in the manual, but is does not work. The fault message reads charger or PV over-voltage. The charger has never been connected to a computer or Color control panel. What can be done to change it from 12 to 24 volt as the system was working on 12V before.

Multiplus48I 5000 I70

4 batteries agm 12-230 supercycle

MPPT 250 i 100 - tr

20 solar panels @300w each

bmv 700 battery monitor

Can a generator be set up on this system to charge the batteries during load shedding when solar yield is poor? This system i have charges the battery by solar and if insufficient grid supplies difference.

(Off-grid setup, 2 x Multiplus 5kva 230v)

Just a neat FYI that I found useful this winter when our main generator broke down:

If you have TWO or more Multiplus's:

You can setup 1 Multiplus in Charge Only mode and have the generator connected to that Multiplus. This results in a far easier generator sync to Multiplus, and charges the batteries reliably.

I quite like this setup as our equipment powered is now receiving the really pure AC sinewave that the Victron equipment creates, while also charging our batteries reliably!

This really helped our situation since:
1) Generator sync and desync were happening multiple times an hour and I couldn't turn on UPS Function since Victron didn't like the quality of the generator power.

2) Computers would, quite forseeably sometimes reboot while working with the annoying generator power.

Of course this is not an optimal situation, and I have since reverted back to running the Multiplus's in Parallel. Standard safety measures such as disconnecting the AC OUT and change wiring/setup is required to make this "hack" work".

I might actually consider buying a dedicated Skylla TG Charger 48V for a backup....

My question is: Is there a way to designate Generator Input to be Charge Only? Is there a better way to set this up in the future?

Hi, I have built a grid tied combined heat and power unit connected to the output of a Quatro.

The output of the CHP goes through a ET112 so i can monitor its output power.

The system works well if I set the ET112 up as a PV inverter and set to Quatro Output, however I then can not tell what has come from my CHP and what has come from my solar panels within the overview on the VRM portal. If i set the ET112 up as a generator, it will not then let me set its location to the Quatro output.

What I would like to do is be able to set the ET112 up as a generator connected to the Quatro output.

At this point, I would like to say that writing software is not my strong point - i'm a power electronics and mixed signal hardware engineer, so would be grateful of any support.

I've read through the github wiki and as much info as I could find on the Venus OS and adding drivers, how the Dbus hangs together etc.

Digging a bit further, in the dbus-cgwacs/ac_sensor_settings I found this bit of code:

QString AcSensorSettings::getProductName(const QString &serviceType, Position position)
{    
  if (serviceType == "grid")        
    return "Grid meter";    
  if (serviceType == "genset")        
    return "Generator";    
  if (serviceType == "pvinverter") {        
    QString productName = "PV inverter";
    QString p;        
    switch (position) {        
    case Input1:            
      p = "input 1";            
      break;        
    case Input2:            
      p = "input 2";            
      break;        
    case Output:            
      p = "output";            
      break;        
    default:            
      break;        
    }        
    if (!p.isEmpty())            
      productName.append(" on ").append(p);        
    return productName;    
  }    
  return "AC sensor";
}

Would it be as simple as doing something like this or am I missing a big part of something?

QString AcSensorSettings::getProductName(const QString &serviceType, Position position)
{    
  if (serviceType == "grid")        
    return "Grid meter";    
  if (serviceType == "genset"){        
    QString productName = "Generator";
    QString p;        
    switch (position) {        
    case Input1:            
      p = "input 1";            
      break;        
    case Input2:            
      p = "input 2";            
      break;        
    case Output:            
      p = "output";            
      break;        
    default:            
      break;        
    }                    
  if (serviceType == "pvinverter") {        
    QString productName = "PV inverter";
    QString p;        
    switch (position) {        
    case Input1:            
      p = "input 1";            
      break;        
    case Input2:            
      p = "input 2";            
      break;        
    case Output:            
      p = "output";            
      break;        
    default:            
      break;        
    }        
    if (!p.isEmpty())            
      productName.append(" on ").append(p);        
    return productName;    
  }    
  return "AC sensor";
}

Many thanks in advance for your help and input.

I have a Phoenix 24|1200 model inverter 24v DC to 230v AC. The unit is telling me there is not enough voltage from the battery for it to work however I have 24 volts going in and can’t get it to clear the low voltage alarm.

Hi All

I have just upgraded my multiplus 12/1600/70 , which worked perfectly well just underpowered for my needs , 19 firmware i bought the bluetooth adapter and mk3 to usb adapter was able to update the firmware and view/change settings on my laptop,

I upgraded to a Phoenix multiplus 12/2500/120, firmware 1802145.HEX which is perfect of my needs, the first thing is i have now found out after trying the my adapters are not compatible with 18xxxxx firmware versions so cannot view or change settings with my mobile phone or laptop but after reading a few posts on the forum i found this thread

https://community.victronenergy.com/questions/17718/problem-pair-of-multi-122500120-inverter-takes-the.html

in this post the gentleman has the same unit and firmware as my unit but in the photos you can clearly see his settings displayed on a laptop ? , can someone explain how this is done please ,

I also found a post about software for older devices and downloaded the 3 programs but could not figure it out weather it was me being thick or just the wrong type of software i don't know

https://community.victronenergy.com/questions/4223/ve-config-for-phoenix-multiplus-122500120.html

It would be great if there was anyways of viewing/changing settings just like i could on my old 12/1600/70,

The reason i want to view/change is because the 12/2500/120 the unit works perfectly a part from i hear a tap/shunt noise about every 20 seconds or so from the unit when its in inverter mode all my 240v devices work perfectly without toggling on and off except my main tv by the way the tv in the bed room works fine and even the main one is fine when on the generator

Its just the main one in inverter mode by the with the previous 12/1600/70 the tv worked fine , the seams to power down for a millisecond not enough time to require a full restart from stand by mode but just enough to cut the sound and picture for about 1 second every 20 seconds or sort of inline with the noise from the unit , it would be great if i could view/change the settings i am sure i could spot whats causing the problem ,

If anyone could help i would be most grateful please , Thanks for reading

V

Cheers Waz

We are trying to get remote port through API, but the API is returning an empty set (as seen in Python):

{u'records': {u'data': {u'152': []},
              u'meta': {u'152': {u'code': u'rs',
                                 u'description': u'Remote support port',
                                 u'formatValueOnly': u'%.0F',
                                 u'formatWithUnit': u'Port %.0F'}}},
 u'success': True}

The remote port is enabled and showing in the remote console via VRM website.

The request URL is:

GET https://vrmapi.victronenergy.com/v2/installations/1039/widgets/Graph?attributeCodes[]=rs

Am I understanding the syntax correctly?

I have 2 smart 12,7 volt lifpo4 batteries and want to expand my bank with 2 more. Victron has launched a new model of 200 amp batteries. So the new and old batteries are not the same model any more, but same amp ands same voltage. Can I combine these batteries?

Good evening,

Per earlier today, v2.52~2 is available for testing. Just like v2.51, its a release containing small changes. One with a big effect though: it adds the new BYD Premium LVS batteries to the list of supported batteries.

Besides that, it fixes some issues with the Grid failure monitoring feature.

Our plan is to release this version early in the coming week. And thereafter start public testing of v2.60 again.

Best regards, and as always, thank you for your help and input!

Matthijs.

ps. If you don't know what this post is about: this is about our GX Product range (CCGX, Venus GX, Cerbo GX, and so forth). This message is for all the members of the Beta test group. Information on how to join (and leave) that group.

In our system we use 2 Venus GX modules. One was giving problems, it was not reachable in any way on the network connection anymore. Replaced the Venus GX by a new one, this worked. Now the new one is experiencing the same problems. The old one was sent back to supplier, and was mentioned not broken, and received it back. Seems to work again, while it really did not respond at all on the network adapter (no lights on network adapter). Now the new one is broken also, i was testing with the old one, now my virus scanner gives message double IP address found, while i have set it static to 192.168.200.202. It is really not used, also checked other ip addresses, same message. It seems the VenusGX does something strange there. Now i have big issues at my customer, not getting it to work anymore. It has to have static IP, no DHCP available onsite. Please help!