Is there a way to monitor the SoC on a single bank from two locations? Currently have a smart BMV installed in close proximity to the battery however I need another device capable of displaying the SOC in a separate area of the building (out of bluetooth range). There is a Cat 5/6 cable running between the two locations. Also I don’t wont the remote location to have access to any configuration settings for the local BMV.
Possibly a remote gx device but can the settings be locked down in these to prevent adjustment ? Or is there a simpler way?
If you have a Cerbo near battery location and it’s connected on local network, any computer on the same network with Cerbo can access the remote console of that Cerbo through any web browser…
If you don’t have a Cerbo, that BMV has an VE-Direct connection. It’s a serial port that it’s broadcasting the BMV status periodically. Get a Serial to Ethernet converter and send that data through the network.
Thanks for the reply Alex, Ive been looking at the ve.direct data format (UART), if I fit a converter at the BMV end and send via ethernet what would you recommend I use at the other end for monitoring purposes? Is it possible to link direct to another BMV’s ve direct port? I only need SOC display so the simpler the better,
Then, a good thing is that you have that cat5 cable in place. How far is from the battery to that separate area of the building?
Because as you can see on the document above, on page 3, you can fit a VE-Direct to RS232 converter that will send over the wire the signal into RS232 format. Then, at the remote location insert that RS232 end into a PC with RS232 port and you can see the info into a terminal. But it won’t be so nice and you’ll need to do some tinkering, but the only cost will be that VE-direct to RS232 converter.
But, as an alternative, the best thing, into the long run, if you want to expand your system, although not so cheap, will be a cerbo gx device.
This way, you can connect the BMV to the gx device, gx device onto the local ethernet lan (through that existing cat5 cable) and you’ll have onto the gx web pages all the info you want. Not to mention the future possibilities for expansion, connection to VRM and possibility to view the info from all over the world. Again, the cerbo gx device has all you need, but it’s expensive.
Maybe a cheaper solution is to buy a raspberry pi and a ve-direct to usb converter (on the same page 3) and, after installing Venus OS on the pi, connect the ve-direct to usb converter on one of the pi’s usb ports and you’ll have the same thing as a cerbo gx.
Thanks again Alex, some really interesting suggestions to explore.
The installation is in a remote rural area with no local internet or network available, the ethernet cable is just for a point to point connection between the bmv and a remote monitoring device.
The remote room is approx. 40m cable run away from the BMV so RS-232 may not have the range, I see Victron suggest an active usb extension but once again Im not sure Id get tbe range with this either? , I was looking at RS 485 conversion of the ve.direct TTL signals from the bmv and sending this over the installed cable then converting back at the other end and potentially using a colour control GX ?
Im trying to keep this as simple as possible but the Rs 485 conversion would need a 3.3/5v power supply so not ideal either as It would mean a separate voltage regulator or psu to covert the 12/24v I have available?
If you already think of buying a CC GX, I would try first, even if it’s 40 meters, just a simple pin to pin connection between BMV VE-direct port and the CC GX VE-direct port. As the signals are slow speed, it may work directly.
I’ve used TTL communication over this distance with no problems, even the specs says otherwise.
Not to mention that the wires in cat5 are in twisted pairs and twisted among them. You can use both wires from a twisted pair in parallel for each signal.
Just a tip, the VEDirect extension cable has a crossover of TX and RX. The outer pins of the PH 4 pin connector are power and the inner pins are crossed over.
