Venus OS - high CPU occupation

Beta testing Venus OS beta testing
1

Hi Victron Team,
Hi @nickdb

What I’m seeing now on Octo GX since the V3.80~4x is high CPU occupation with reboots triggered by the watchdog.

In the V3.7x it was ok I think, at least I have not recognized this.

System Layout:

  • 3xMP-II 5kVA via VE Bus
  • 1xMPPT 250/100 via VEDirect
  • 3xMPPT 150/60 via VEDirect
  • 3xSolarEdge SE3680H via Modbus TCP
  • 3xCarloGavazzi Meter via RS485 over USB
  • 1xVM-3P75CT via VE CAN
  • 1xVictron EV Charger (most of the time in summer in automatic mode)
  • 1xLead GEL battery 22 kWh
  • 1xtypical household with general purpose loads
  • All Victron devices with newest firmware - Octo GX with venus OS on newest Beta (3.80~46)
  • NodeRed installed but not running

after updating to V3.80~4x:
uptime: 09:35:26 up 1:45, load average: 16.47, 14.44, 15.23

therefore I increased settings in /etc/watchdog.conf:
max-load-5 = 30
max-load-15 = 20

but I recognized the system going laggy when the load average is going above 10 (waiting tasks) although the CPU load in % is between 55 and 75%, thus far from 100% occupation.

So I tried to lower the CPU load, I removed the VM-3P75CT and one CarloGavazzi then it goes down to:
uptime: 16:15:02 up 6:36, load average: 5.32, 6.45, 6.39

at this stage the system is at least useable but still sometimes a bit laggy.

Please let me have your oppinion on that.

  • Is the Octo GX now too weak for recent Venus OS?
  • Do I have to switch to a recent more powerful GX device?
  • Or is there a general issue in the Venus OS which needs to be resolved?

Best regards,

Matthias

2

I can’t find specs on that device anymore. Seems to be a venus era device. The CCGX has run out of legs and capped at 3.55 (iirc). Sounds like this may be a similar case. Victron will need to provide guidance on the suitability to run the current generation OS, especially with the large image.

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4

Thanks, aware of that - it’s memory and cpu isn’t obvious and it isn’t included in the GX product comparison table on the main site.
That it is saturated with no obvious mods and a healthy number of devices does tend to support it is upgrade time, and for your implementation, at least, 3.80 probably isn’t a good idea for the device.

There is no official wording on “retirement” for anything other than the CCGX, so hopefully some guidance will follow.

5

To be fair it is in the era of the CCGX. Spec wise it is probably really close. I’m impressed it’s on a beta right now with node red installed even if it is not performing tasks.
It is approaching 10 years in service.

If it isn’t handling a system in basic functions mode, it’s probably best to upgrade to a different GX anyway or back up to a normal release not a beta
Or move the node control to be hosted on a different device.

6

I found my Octo started getting laggy when running Node Red, so I had to factory reset to free up the onboard memory and now accept that if I really need Node Red then I’ll need to upgrade to a newer device. You can go into Settings\General\Support Status and see how much memory is free but not sure if this is your particular issue.

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Single core CPU, 512Mb memory.

8

@mroetzer If you go into settings > general > display and appearance then towards the bottom turn off UI animations you will save some cpu loads but will not see the moving dashes showing current direction on the Overview display.

9

thanks for the hint, disabling UI animations does lower the load average (waiting tasks) a little bit but not enough to make a big difference

10

Thanks for the hint; because of that, I disabled NodeRed long time ago. I have always the large image installed but don’t run NodeRed. Free memory is therefore currently not the issue.

upgrading with a new hardware is probably the most pragmatic option.

I have in mind the

  • Nucleo GX
  • Cerbo GX MK3 which is on the horizon for end of the year. I’ve heared there is a product presentation today.

The Ocoto GX I have now running since 2019, thus 7 years, so I’ll take the one with better CPU performance supposing the next exchange will be in around 7 years.

Because I have 4 VE Direct ports in use, I’ll need then to use USB to VE direct converters.

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The Nucleo is not the best choice for a system that needs VE.Bus.

A Cerbo or Ekrano would be better.

12

With Cerbo or Ekrano you’ll need a USB to ve direct to connect such a large number of components, I count 4 ve direct and two USB or maybe connecting the 250/100 to the can bus with the meter? or you may use this “special” hardware:

PS. I don’t know if I’m allowed to publish this, I’m not affiliated with the company, feel free to warn me in case this needs to be removed…

13

good point!

then I wait for the Cerbo GX MK3

:ok_hand:

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The MK3 will be available soon but will be more expensive than the MK2.

As long as you don’t plan to expand your system and/or use much NodeRed the MK2 should be suitable for you.

15

actually I just turned off the NodeRed because the Octo couldn’t handle it properly

So I’d rather wait for the MK3 even if it will cost me more than the MK2 because I want to use NodeRed in the future and this system will grow over time step by step, that’s natural :wink: