I am trying to resolve an issue in my RV. I am running two Multiplus II in parallel along with smart shunt, mppt solar controller, BMV 712 and various DC-DC chargers. I was running Venus Large with Node Red flows to provide load monitoring and load shed. This proved to much for my Cerbo Gx and caused multiple rebooting issues.
I have gone back to a clean v3.54 install and the Cerbo seems to be much happier. But I have zero load monitoring, load shed, and other features available using Node Red.
I just purchased a Raspberry Pi 4, loaded Venus Large, and restored my flows.
What I would like to do is use the RPI to monitor the Multiplus IIs and then to provide my load shedding routines. The load shedding routines look for overloads or other issues and send signals to Shelly relays to turn certain loads off or on.
I believe that the Multiplus IIs connect to the Cerbo via Ve bus. But it appears that connecting the RPI to that same bus is not recommended. The other option appears to be using modbus tcp.
I guess the Cerbo would be the server and the RPI would be a client. Has anyone set something up similar to this?
I also know that I could simply replace the Cerbo but that involves lots of adapters and then I would be running Venus Large on my Cerbo replacement. It seems to me that letting the Cerbo focus on things like monitoring charge and running the generator with stock software and haviing the RPI doing other stuff would be workable. Any thoughts and pointers are appreciated.
Here is an update. I loaded my Raspberry Pi 5 (RPI5) with node red and have been looking at my Cerbo GX via Modbus tcp. For the most part, about 90%, this has worked well. My Cerbo seems happy and only reboots every 2 to 4 days, a super improvement.
I have been able to write the node red flows to monitor my power usage and to implement load shedding routines when my power usage meets certain conditions.
Today, I ran my generator to test those flows and, of course, complete failure. The Cerbo handled the generator operation without problem. Hip, Hip, Hurray for the Cerbo. My node red flows did not recognize that the generator was running.
I am hoping that a true Victron Guru can point me in the correct direction. Here is my setup.
the Cerbo handles the logic to start and stop the my generator. (The warm up and cool down times have never worked, but I can achieve those functions via Multiplus Assistants and external relays.) To start the generator, the Cerbo responds to certain conditions: 1) manual run, timed manual run, 2) periodic run, or 3) meeting a programmed condition such as SOC. My Cerbo handles these requirements like a CHAMP.
Today, when I ran my generator, Node Red did NOT detect that the generator was running and reported that I was on grid. I have poured over the “CCGX-Modbus-TCP-register-list-3.50” excel spreadsheet looking for a modbus tcp register that might contain the information that I need, but I am very confused. I find that “com.victronenergy.system CCGX Relay 1 state 806 uint16 1 0 to 1 /Relay/0/State yes 0=Open;1=Closed” should give me the status of the relay. If the relay is picked, the generator SHOULD BE RUNNING. On the Cerbo GX, I have a signal from my transfer switch to digital input #1 on the Cerbo to indicate that the generator is running. That signal is working, and the Cerbo knows it.
Where in modbus can I monitor that signal??? Some of my research suggests that this digital signal is not reported via modbus. Is this True? For now, I can program around this verification, but monitoring the relay status only indicates that the generator start was issued–not that the generator actually started.
I hope someone can point me to what I am missing.