All Posts in Modifications

HI,

I am using the API in order to collect status information about my systems (7 in total).

Currently, "bs" (Battery State of Charge) is empty for all systems.

was something changed?

In addition, when I try to export data from the vrm portal in KWH units(15 minutes) - I get an empty file, while if I try to get the kw data (1 minute) - I get all the data

Is there a fault on the server-side?

Thanks

Hi.

I need help to make open source Grafana work on my Mac mini. https://github.com/victronenergy/venus-docker-grafana

The problem is that I struggle to install this correctly. Unfortunately I am not so good at command lines, so hope somebody could give me some tips to get this up and going?

I have cerbo-gx and this is connected with ve.can to nmea2000 cable and mqtt is activated so it should be correct. I have mac os catalina and installed Grafana and docker as described in the venus-docker-grafana project and so far I think this is ok.

-Step 2 with download of docker compose file I only get one page of text and here is my problem with command lines..

-The same goes for step 3, no idea how to place the file..

-Step 4 I do not get access to (http: // localhost: 8088 /) but docker is installed and works fine when I open the app.

-Step 5 and access to Grafane works fine.

Am I far off target or are there minor details missing? Very grateful if somebody can help solve this.

Hi,

I used root access to modify /etc/dbus-1/system.conf and made a typing error - rather put the new section

<listen>tcp:host=0.0.0.0,port=78</listen> <auth>ANONYMOUS</auth> <allow_anonymous/>

to the very end of the file instead of inside the correct section.

now my Venus is not accessible anymore. Is there a way to make a full reinstall or any other way to access the device to take the modification back?

The LED indicates a finished boot (green flashing of LED), but I doubt this is correct.

Thank you very much!

Hi all,

I am very new to the whole solar set up so please bare with.......I have just purchased a victron 75/15 smart controller for my solar panel which is a two panel 120w system wired in together producing a Max power voltage of 18v
Max power current of 6.67 A
Open circuit voltage 21.6v
Open circuit 7.20 A

All being used to supply power to two Numax CXV30HMF sealed leisure batteries 12v 105AH

What I would like to know do I need to set up the MPPT charger once installed or just connect the leads as directed and hey presto !

Thanks in advance all.

Marc

I’m new to the group, I have a multiplus 3000 watt inverter charger in my RV. I’m wondering if I need to have it programmed to properly charge my led acid batteries? I have it set up but I’m not sure if it’s right!

My battery monitor has started reporting incorrect voltage and amp readings. For the first few weeks the readings for voltage and amps were correctly reported. Then the voltage started to drop and the amp usage was reporting incorrect figures. Currently the voltage display for both the main and aux batteries is between 0.02-0.06V and the amp is reporting a positive flow of between 60-400 amps. This is with all batteries shut off at the main switch. I checked voltage and parasitic draw at the batteries and they appear within normal levels. I have replaced the fuses at the batteries and the RJ12 connectors between the shunt and monitor. Has anyone else seen this happen? I have this installed on a boat with lead acid batteries. Thank you.

System on Sailing boat: 390ah of Trojan wet cell 12v batteries plus Trojan 139ah starter battery. Solara solar panel with Victron MMPT controller. Yanmar 29hp Diesel engine with a Prestolite 90ah alternator and smart controller(Adverc) programmed to Trojan battery acceptance rates. Shore power 30ah Sterling charger. BMV712 smart battery monitor with Bluetooth connection to my Iphone. The batteries, solar panel, Victron kit, alternator and smart regulator all installEE in last 9 months.

After docking and shutting off the engine the SOC slowly drops to 83% over a few days despite solar and shore power supply. However, as soon as I start the engine the SOC jumps to 100%. The app shows that the system has synchronized on 10 occasions in the last 5 months.

What should I do to get an accurate SOC without having the start the engine?

I have successfully installed Docker Desktop and Grafana on a Windows PC and have the Victron dashboard working nicely - but still tweaking. Layout below for interest.

Now I'm trying to streamline things.

I created a desktop shortcut to the Grafana dashboard. That works fine - but only if the Docker containers are running first.

At boot-up, Docker loads and runs in the background but to get the Grafana dashboard going, I have to jump into the (hidden) Docker Desktop dashboard and manually click the Start button for the Victron containers each time I start the laptop.

I can't find anywhere in the Docker Desktop to auto-start containers. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Cheers

Phil

[image]

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!

I have a raspberry 3 running with Venus OS as a Cerbo GX which is connected to my Fronius (Symo) Smart Meter and to a Multiplus II
The MP2 is only connected in Parallel with the AC 1 on the grid.

The Raspberry communicates via Modbus TCP with the Fronius Smart Meter

I will add some Pylontechs by the end of the week.

[image]

I´m using the https://github.com/RalfZim/venus.dbus-fronius-smartmeter script and for the can communication this https://powerforum.co.za/topic/4307-venus-pi-pylontech-integration/

No I have the following problem:

As long as I do not connect the MP II with the Raspberry via MK3, the "Cerbo" shows the correct visualziation. As soon as I connect the Multiplus (icnluding the ESS Assistant), the visualization seems to be wrong. The Fronius Smart Meter shows for all values "0"
If i disconnect the MPII from the Raspberry, the the problem does not disappear - only a new installation of the Venus OS solves the problem

[image]

and the AC-loads shows always almost the same amount as the PV inverter. :

[image]

(in the moment of the picture,453 W are produced by the PV and 105W are taken from the grid)

[image]

The connection of Fronius Smart Meter and Raspberry in general works, as long as I do not connect the MP II

[image]

Has anybody any clue where I could have made a mistake?

And hello again everyone!

Another v2.60 test version, v2.60~33 to be specific.

This post is intended for all people participating in the Venus OS Beta test program.

In case you're new to the v2.60 beta test series, please make sure to read the previous v2.60 posts, listed below. There are several significant improvements in v2.60. The highlights are the addition of a feed-in limit, added ethernet-connected energy meters, updates on the NMEA2000-feature (addition of tanks, and Solar chargers), as well as many other improvements with regards to tank monitoring.

• v2.60~3 post & change log
• v2.60~4 post & change log
• v2.60~14 post & change log
• v2.60~15 post & change log
• v2.60~16 post & change log
• v2.60~19 post & change log
• v2.60~22 post & change log
• v2.60~23 post & change log
• v2.60~25 post & change log
• v2.60~26 post & change log
• v2.60~28 post & change log
• v2.60~29 post & change log
• v2.60~30 post & change log
• v2.60~31 post & change log

Complete change log is still on its way.

What to test & how to report?

The updated Marine MFD HTML5 App need testing. Especially on different size MFDs & system configurations.

Also the user interface improvements around NMEA2000-out & VE.Can/N2K Device Instance configuration would be good if they are tested. New in this release is automatic numbering of the N2K data instances for tank levels; see below for details.

If you see issues, please post a new "answer" below; or in case the same issues is already mentioned, then comment on that to say you see it too; or help, and so forth. Please do mention the Venus OS version you have installed; just to prevent confusion.

Change log v2.60~32 & v2.60~33

• Fix false grid alarm triggered by safety switch Assistant (thank you Mark!)
• Marine MFD HTML5 App: improve battery metric dynamic resizing
• Modbus-TCP - Add registers related to ESS features. Details are already documented in the ESS Mode 2 & 3 manual.
• Modbus-TCP - Add 32-bit register for generator runtime (3504). Thank Dave J. for reporting.
• DVCC: Fix false insufficient firmware alarm triggered for certain VE.Can MPPTs.

Thank all of you for your help, its paramount to getting to a stable and robust yet continuous improving product.

Have a good night, Matthijs Vader

Hi

I am running v. 2.33 with the 7 inches screen

I got my bmv 712 and my mppt plug in

Very happy with that

Now I would like to know how to active a switch that will trigger my outside light

Any help would be appreciated

a

Hello,

I have installed the recent VenusGX v2.42 FW build with integrated Node-RED from https://github.com/victronenergy/venus/issues/378.

I am trying to communicate with an external device via Modbus TCP (a My PV AC Thor - which is a modulated AC heater power control unit) and control it via logic developed within Node-RED.

I have successfully installed the additional contrib node 'node-red-contrib-modbustcp' https://flows.nodered.org/node/node-red-contrib-modbustcp and am able to communicate with the unit.

However I'm unable to setup a flow to BOTH write to the unit (with a power request) at regular intervals AND read from any registers (such as temperature) at regular intervals.

For example;

Write only - connects/works fine

[image]

Write & Read - no connection

[image]

[image]

Write & Read after a few minutes - write connects/works but read doesn't

[image]

Read only (write node deleted) - connects/works fine

[image]

I do know that a Modbus TCP read and write event can't occur exactly simultaneously (and it doesn't need to), but I'm not sure how to sequence the read/write requests or what I can change to get this working with the Modbus TCP node-set that I'm currently using...

My next step was to attempt installing a different / mode advanced Modbus contrib node 'node-red-contrib-modbus' https://flows.nodered.org/node/node-red-contrib-modbus (I have seen examples of write and read nodes successfully coexisting with this node-set) but unfortunately I get a bunch of installation errors - see below;

[image]

I have also tried to install https://flows.nodered.org/node/node-red-contrib-modbus manually via Putty using the npm install command (including the suggested variations) but still get the similar errors.

[image]

My programming/Linux skills are very limited, so troubleshooting this myself is a bit beyond me.

If anyone is able to offer some advice on how I can possibly get write and read communication working with the current Modbus node-set I'm using (https://flows.nodered.org/node/node-red-contrib-modbustcp) or how to get the more advanced Modbus node-set (https://flows.nodered.org/node/node-red-contrib-modbus) successfully installed on the VenusGX it would be greatly appreciated.

PS. I do know that my other option is to run node-red externally to the VenusGX unit (such as on a RPi), but I want to leave this as a last option for now.

Thanks in advance, Mark.

Hi all,

I would really like to get any kind of data from my Venus GX into my RPi Node-Red Installation.

What I tried so far:

Modbus ... unfortunately it is not possible to read data from Node-Red using the Modbus Nodes like that:

[image]

[image]

Although the reference guide tells me: Address 800 - length 6 --> Serial number

Second I tried to use the existing Victron Nodes - I added the Environment line as explained in the instructions:

                  

                   
Environment="NODE_RED_DBUS_ADDRESS=10.0.0.169:78"
                  

But still the Victron-Nodes are empty ... no connection to my Venus seem to be possible:

[image]

[image]

and thats a pitty, because I really would like to see at least ANYTHING :( :( :(

Please help me ...

BR

Gawan

Hi all,

My system: Victron Multiplus II, 48/3000/32-35 Device id 261

2 x BlueSolar 150/35

#1 - 6 AmeriSolar 330W panels (3S2P) Device id 258

#2 - 3 AmeriSolar 330W panels (3S) Device id 260

1 VenusGX

1 Carlo Gavazzi Energy meter / ET112 Device id 30

2 x Pylontech US2000Plus Lithium Ion batteries Device id 512

Electrical Pre paid meter.

Lots of comm cables between all... ;)

Also have some SCT-013-0000 CT's around feeds, feeding into OpenEnergyMonitor

(For reference I consume these topics on the OEM using the NodeRed deployment, and then publish back to the OEM MQTT broker, which then allows me to graph the values).

Rail #1 Power Comes into Electrical Pre Paid meter, then to Master Isolator, Earth Leakage and then into a 2 source switch (switching between Grid Feed or Geni Feed), Feeds into Rail #2

Rail #2 (Non Essentials): Rail Isolator, Earth Leakage, 40 Amp Stove, 2 x 20Amp, Geyser 1 and 2, 20Amp Pool

Into Multiplus II / AC In

Out of Multiplus II AC Out 1 into -> Rail #3 at <Inverter input>

Rail #3 (Essentials): Rail Isolator, <Inverter input>, Isolator, Earth Leakage, 5 x 20Amp isolators (plugs), 3 x 10Amp isolators (lights)

Things I think want to monitor,

Main Grid (Eskom) input, thinking what ever the ET112 allows through.

Power, Voltage, Amperage Feed per Array 1 and Array 2, and then guess a total combined Input values (Power, Voltage and Amperage)

Power going from Inverter back to Rail #2

Power going from Inverter out to Rail #3

Think then... Total usage... and the composition, total usage = Grid + PV + Battery

G

Good day everyone,

Just now, we made v2.60~37 available to be beta tested.

Since the last version, a week ago, a few more issues were found, and now also fixed. Also, (most of) the translations are in. Depending on further findings this will be released any week now.

This post is intended for all people participating in the Venus OS Beta test program.

What to test & how to report?

The updated Marine MFD HTML5 App still needs testing. Especially on different size MFDs, ipads, phones & system configurations.

And as fixed this time, please test (and report!) if Remote VEConfigure works (again) for you.

Check if the new translations are good: for example in the DVCC menu as well as reworked ESS menu and its sub menus and also the canbus menu. If not, let us know below. Not all translators are always knowledgeable enough

Also the user interface improvements around NMEA2000-out & VE.Can/N2K Device Instance configuration would be good if they are tested. Lots of improvements and changes in v2.60, and the most recent change (in v2.60~33 iirc) was the automatic numbering of the N2K data instances for tank levels; see below for details.

If you see issues, please post a new "answer" below; or in case the same issues is already mentioned, then comment on that to say you see it too; or help, and so forth. Please do mention the Venus OS version you have installed; just to prevent confusion.

Complete v2.60 change log

As announced in my previous messages, I've been working on the complete change-log for v2.60, first version is ready. More than two pages full of changes. Attached as a PDF, see link below.

Highlights of v2.60 are the new ESS Feed-in limiter, new Ethernet connected energy meters, better tank monitoring as well as much improved NMEA2000-out feature and other changes mostly benefited from by our Marine customers.

Venus OS - firmware changelog v2.60-37 beta version.pdf

Change log v2.60~36 & v2.60~37

• Fix issue causing the reboot button in the menu to (sometimes) not work - issue was introduced during v2.60 development.
• Fix issue in Remote VEConfigure - broken in v2.60~33.
• Fix incorrect DC loads power calculation when using a Phoenix VE.Direct Inverter - this never worked well; now it does.
• Update language translations
• Fix Shared Temperature Sense (STS) not always used to VE.Bus Inverter/chargers

All the best, Matthijs

How do I make the settings for Temperature scale and Offset permanent for my own temperature dBus services?

I have written a driver for the three spare sensors on an 8 channel DAC connected to my Venus Rpi. (the other 5 channels are driven correctly by the Venus tank and temperature channels)

The service starts OK and implements the Scale and Offest inputs like this:-

            self.add_path('/Scale', 1.0, writeable=True)
            self.add_path('/Offset', 0, writeable=True)

This works fine and the Venus setting UI see the new services and the settings and you can change the scale and offset which my code can then read:

scale = dbusservice['myservicename']['/Scale']
offset = dbusservice['myservicename']['/Offset']
value = offset +round(2.1+(value-2015)*0.135*scale,1)

But when I restart the system the settings are lost

I have tried adding a callback:

self.add_path('/Scale', 1.0, writeable=True, onchangecallback = mycallbackhandler)
self.add_path('/Offset', 0, writeable=True), onchangecallback = mycallbackhandler)

But the callback handler is never called (and now the Venus setting UI can not change the values)

What could I be doing wrong?

I was going to store the changed value in my own local file in /data and then re-read the file when the service restarts but Venus must be doing something like that already?

Do I need to do something with the com.victronenergy.settings service to provide some storage in a local file for the settings to make them non volatile ?

If so what do I do ?

Any code snippets, guidance or reference to some example would be most welcome.

Laurence

Hello,

I am using Victron Energy MPPT100/20s is slightly unconventional way. We are testing new solar panels and so we are hooking each panel up to its own MPPT. Instead of a battery with are using a fixed 2.2 Ohm (1kW) resistor. The panels are 400W bifatials with optimum output voltage~33V. I have set the MPPT output to charge a 24V battery. The MPPT works well most of the time and allows us to record voltage and current to the VRM. One issue is that the output of the panels seems to be capped. They are 400W panels, but the MPPT is capping them at 330W... this is corresponding to 28.3V and 11.2A. I am guessing that there is a limit to the output charging voltage~28V which is limiting this. We are thinking if we change the load to 1 Ohm we should get around this, which would allow 28Vx20A or 560W before causing issues. My question is will the MPPT limit the current below its rated 20A, or could we potentially damage the MPPT operating like this? We will need appropriate cables to deal with the higher current.

Thanks,

Dave

I can't establish no bluetooth connection between my SmartSolar MPPT 100|50 and any of my smart devices with the alternate android operating system LineageOS. On my smart devices I get no prompt to input bluetooth pin code.

Cant anybody explain and eliminate the reason for it?

(Android devices with a stock rom works fine.)

Hi! We have been using the GX line of devices for a while and some of our installations have slightly modified Qt pages.

It is always hard to customise the qml files and in case of a version upgrade porint is also complicate. Therefore, in addition to the gui we would like to customize and show the html5 files from the glassbridge integration on the cerbo itself. Can this be done? Having a browser would open a number of additional opportunities.

Thanks

eliott

Hi Victron developers,

I had a case yesterday when for the first time, I was connected to a remote site via the remote console from the VRM portal, but then a couple of hours later, I was unable to connect again to the same site. The Venus GX is on version 2.54. There is no other device running a local console.

In the device list of the VRM portal, the Gateway way showed :-

Remote Console on VRM - Enabled but offline.

There was no way of connecting remotely, and it stubbornly remained so.

After going out to the site this morning, and connecting via the local console, under Settings -> Remote Console, the "Enable on VRM" was set to be on as it has been for many months, while the line below said "Remote Console on VRM - status" showed "Offline".

Without doing anything else (no rebooting of anything on the network or VenusGX), I changed the "Enable on VRM" to off, and then back to on again, and the status then went back from offline to online. I was then able to again connect remotely via the VRM portal.

My question here is that, surely if merely switching the enable on VRM button to off and back on again fixes this, why can't it be done automatically in the software, so that if it goes off line, but it is supposed to be enabled, then it retries until it can get on line again ? I am a software engineer, so I know this should be possible.

It kind of defeats the purpose of having the remote access if you have to go out to the site to turn it off and on again to get it working again. Btw, I have had three Victron installations, two of which I have installed myself and still own and manage, and never seemed to have this problem before.

Best regards, Steve.

Hi,

I have a Multiplus II, SmartSolar and Pylontech lithium battery bank. The "Minimum SOC" is set to 20%, and BatteryLife is enabled. What transpires is that every evening when the 20% SOC is hit the "Active SOC limit" is increased by 5% to 25%. This has the effect that the system uses grid power the next morning, until the batteries are recharged to the region of 30% (25% + 5% buffer) - even when sufficient solar power is available to carry all the loads. The bulk of this grid power use the next morning is unnecessary, since the batteries will almost always be fully recharged by late morning anyway.

In order to avoid this situation I would like to propose an improved strategy for BatteryLife, as follows:

Once per day (e.g. midnight), check the maximum SOC achieved over the past 24 hours:

1) If a SOC of 85% was not achieved, increase the "Active SOC limit" by 5%

2) If a SOC of 95% was achieved, reduce the "Active SOC limit" by 5% (but not below the "Minimum SOC" setting)

By not bumping the "Active SOC limit" by 5% every evening regardless of SOC history, much of the unnecessary grid power use the next morning is avoided.

Is this doable?

Thanks,

Pierre

Hi all.

I've got Venus 2.42 running on a Pi3 B+, with a 3.5" GPIO LCD. After much faffing, I've got it displaying the output as per this image:

[image]

Unfortunately, that's as far as it gets. I've renamed the headless file, and that makes the last underscore stop flashing at boot, as if it crashes. With the headless file still there, it flashes and is responsive.

Everything else about it works fine - just no display. The remote console is working as it should.

Does anybody have any ideas?

Simon

Hi

I have multiplus 2 -3k inverter, 150/35mppt, Venus gx, 2.4kw pylon battery and e112 meter. When I activate ESS on the inverter via MK3 cable my inverter shows battery low even though my battery is 100% soc. This shutdown the inverter. What must I do?

Hello, I am an installer and am having some trouble with a carlo gavazzi meter. I have a new type that i havent used before that uses ethernet to connect to it rather than rs485(EM24-din.av2.3.x.e1.x). I am just wondering if anyone could help me with some information. i have connected my ccgx to the network via a wireless adapter. and i have plugged my em24 into a network switch on the same network. i can see them both on the network when i open my router gateway but the ccgx isnt picking up anything in the energy meter section. I have enabled dhcp on the energy meter. any help at all would be greatly appreciated.

Hello.

I try install Venus OS on raspberry pi. Working well. But I don't know how to enable 3.5 Inch TFT Display GPIO. Big HDMI monitor work well.
I'm total begginer with linux. I found some discusion on google talk, but i don't understand.

I need some instruction step by step, but I can't find it.

Can anybody help me?

Hi,

We just bought a secondhand BluePower IP20 24/8

The voltage is great, we want to charge two 20Ah accumulators in serie so 8Amp is bit to much. Is there a way to reduce the charging current of this unit?

I am an electronic engineer with a lot of hands on experience, so I an not afraid to open the unit to adjust settings or make changes. We also have the measurement equipment to monitor the charging current.

Thanks for helping out.