RVSC File Format Specification

Modifications
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1

Hi, I’d like to be able to edit the RVSC files without using a Windows computer. I do not own one, I borrowed one to do my initial hardware configure.

It would be fairly trivial for me write my own editor, if I had the specification. It will take me a long time if I have to reverse engineer the spec.

Does/can Victron publish the binary specification?

2

I don’t have Windows and I can edit them in VEconfigure by using Wine. https://www.winehq.org

3

Good to know that works. It works just for editing the RVSC, or were you able to pass through the COM port as well?

4

Ive never used VEconfigure with the com port or USB-MK3 cable, always via the remote VEconfigure option via VRM.

Hopefully someone else will chip in to confirm that the USB-MK3 cable also works through Wine.

5

I needed the same thing, so I did the reverse engineering and I am releasing it:

What it is. A zero-dependency Python library and command-line tool that reads, validates, decodes,
diffs and edits the .rvms configuration files you download from VRM’s Remote VEConfigure, on any
operating system, without VEConfigure. It never uploads anything; you still upload through VRM as before.

What is in it

  • The file format written down: section structure, the integrity checksum (a plain 32-bit word sum over
    each section, not a CRC, validated on every file we hold), and the per-inverter block layout.
  • The settings table. The per-inverter block is a flat array of 190 u16 values indexed by the public
    VE.Bus setting IDs (the same numbers the MK2/MK3 protocol uses), so absorption, float, charge current,
    AC input limit, low-battery shutdown, battery capacity, the Virtual Switch thresholds and more are
    labelled, each with a confidence level and the evidence behind it.
  • A guarded editor: change a setting on every inverter by serial, recompute the checksums, and prove
    that nothing else in the file moved. We have used this on four two-inverter MultiPlus systems since
    July 2026 for charge voltages and Virtual Switch thresholds; every file was accepted by VRM and read
    back correct.
  • A diff that compares files by inverter serial (the two blocks of a parallel pair swap position between
    downloads, which fooled us for a while), and a qualifier that checks a file against the values you
    intended before you upload and again after you re-download.
  • 84 real files as fixtures and about 470 tests that check every documented claim against them, so
    you can run the suite and see which claims hold on your own downloads.
  • Written-up mistakes: what the error codes mk2vsc-36/47/49 actually meant for us, why a month-old
    file gets rejected, and how an upload silently reverted a fix we had made a month earlier.

What it does not do. Install or remove assistants (ESS etc.). We tried hard to do this by file and
documented every attempt: the device accepts and stores our files but the system never starts, and one
early attempt was replaced by an empty stub. That code ships as an explicitly experimental, gated module
with a long write-up of what was tried, the remaining hypotheses, and the one experiment we would run
next. If you understand the assistant record format or the device-side install procedure, that document
is where a contribution would matter most. Grid codes and the dealer password are out of scope.

Caveats, stated plainly. Everything was derived from one product family (48 V / 120 V MultiPlus
pairs, split phase), one firmware (2729560) and one format version (1.33). We hold no single-unit
.rvsc, no three-phase files, and nothing from a Quattro. The most useful thing you can do is run
mk2vsc validate and mk2vsc info on your own downloads and open an issue with the result, especially
if a test fails. A download, one setting changed in VEConfigure, and a second download, plus a
screenshot of the tab, names a field for everyone.

MIT licensed. Not affiliated with Victron.

Kyle

6

As per always, exercise caution when using third-party tools. Config files may also change with version updates.

7

Hi @kylehart
As you say that I’ve tested only on one type of inverter, I can send you a few files for MP2 3000 GX for your tests.
Do you need them?

8

Probably best to keep those activities on github.

9

Nick is right - github is best for this. Sorry, this is intended mostly for software developers who wish to automate the file editing process.