A “Simulated Victron Palette” for Node‑RED Development on External Machines

Node-RED
1

I’d like to propose an idea that could really help developers working with Victron systems.

At the moment, the Victron Node‑RED palette depends on dbus and the Victron services inside Venus OS, which means it cannot be installed on external machines like macOS or Windows. This makes sense technically, but it also means that any development or testing has to be done directly on a GX device.

Most professional development environments (electronics, Arduino, etc.) offer some form of simulation or “dummy” environment so developers can test logic safely without risking a live system. It would be extremely useful if Victron provided a lightweight simulated dbus environment or a “dummy Victron palette” that could be installed on external machines purely for development and testing.

This would allow:

  • safer experimentation

  • offline development

  • easier debugging

  • reduced risk to production GX devices

  • a smoother workflow for advanced users and installers

I understand that fully simulating dbus and hardware behaviour is complex, but even a minimal mock environment would be a huge step forward.

Is this something Victron might consider for future development?

2 Likes
2

You can run node red on a separate device, many do, this has been a documented process for as long as it’s been around.

From a test perspective, inject nodes work perfectly as a test source of data and debug nodes as output, when there is no access to an actual system.

3

Thanks, are you saying that the Victron pallet will happily install in the Node Red installation on my Macbook Pro exactly the same has it installed on Venus-GX?

That was not the case when I tried last, only on node appeared and refused to load any flow containing Victron devices; i t was so bad that I had to uninstal the whole Nor-Red and re installe it.

4

Look at option 2 here:

1 Like
5

Thank you, I have no problem with node red in my Venus GX installed version, I’ve been using it for months now with no issues whatsoever.

I only had a problem installing the Victron pallet locally on my Macintosh but having said so, I’ve tried again today and unexpectedly this time it worked.

I can only assume that the previous attempt failure was due to the node-red version.

Thanks for your prompt reply.