I have been having poor luck with my Ekrano, as the ethernet ports have gone out multiple times, causing system killing problems. I decided to try running a fiber optic cable with media converters instead. I have verified that the fiber and converters are working with a little WiFi hotspot in my shed.
The problem lies that if I hook it up between the Ve.Can of my solar charger and the Ve.Can of the Ekrano, the Ekrano does not recognize the connection. And just plugging in an inverter between the Ve.Bus and the fiber converter immediately triggers a system shutdown.
Has anyone successfully connected either their Ve.Can or Ve.Bus using fiber? I certainly did not go top of the line when choosing my media converter. And yes, I understand I can just use the aforementioned WiFi to bridge the gap between the house and shed, but that would lock my poor Ekrano away in the shed… which looks like my only option unless anyone has a success story.
Yeah, I just figured it would just read what signals are coming in on pins 1 through 8 and put them out on the other end… but I guess if If pin 1 is power on an ethernet port and anything else on the Ve.Bus/Can port, that would equal angry system.
For the canbus a can to fiber and reverse converter should work
Ve bus is a victron protocol based on rs485, there are rs485 to fiber converters, but without a ve bus pinout (couldnt find one fast) its not possible to convert that
They are media converters, but they are still bound to a specific protocol/bus. So an ethernet media converter will only work for ethernet (well usually, there are some unicorns that are multi-protocol).
For Canbus you will need a Canbus media converter. For example Phoenix 2708083 or Moxa 1170. However, i have not tried this with VE.Can/Victron devices, only with other Canbus devices.
An RS485 converter should work for the data part, but the VE.bus uses at least three of the leftover pins for physical signals, controlling VE.bus devices in terms of power state/standby. One could possibly bridge those as needed on the MP/Quattro side, but this would mean that the GX has no basic control over the VE.bus device anymore. VE.bus spec is proprietary, so theres no spec or pinout available officially.
I guess the only way would be to use a GX device out in the shed. Now it does not need to be the Ekrano if thats a concern
Yeah, I just made an assumption. More research it is. But looking at the prices I am seeing for media converters other than basic ethernet… ouch.
I do know VIctron makes a VE.Can to Can cable, and I do have one for my batteries, though I am not sure it is actually doing anything. Would probably work. Perhaps in the future I will try things out. I am not particularly worried about any of the advanced features of the GX devices, I am just using it as data logging and to monitor the system. I run configurations, updates, and such at the boxes themselves.
For now, my Ekrano is partially broken and I am waiting going through the back and forth for getting it repaired. Anywho, I bought a Cerbo and will just use the fiber and converters to connect it to my router via its ethernet port. Worst case, tie it in to the WiFi. Will have three separate systems when all is said and done, so the Ekrano will eventually find a home again.
I wonder if that is something the MK3 interface can deal with. Turn it to USB and use a USB to fiber converter and then turn it back. Maybe one day I will experiment with another system that is not running my air conditioner in the summer heat. But, I think I have a good path forward for now thanks to you all.