Great video, thanks. For new users of VenusOS who can't seem to find the settings mentioned in the video - from version 3.50 onwards there has been a change to the "Two-way communication" options, "Logging" is has gone, and the two-way communication is gone, and a new setting called "VRM Portal" replaces both old settings. This new setting has three options ; Full, ReadOnly, Off. The default is Full (meaning logging to the VRM portal happens, and two-way comms is enabled so you can make changes locally OR remotely), ReadOnly means logging to VRM happens, but only local users can change settings, and Off means no logging to VRM (but locally everything works as expected).
works really well, thank you. Mine was set up on R Pi3 and also done the shutdown from the gui mod on your other video. It now can see my SMA Sunnyboy inverter after I updated it to the ltest firmware and logged in using Sunny Explorer and Enable the TCP and UDP server, keep the default port. Then I searched for inverters in Venus OS and now showinging my solar power. Keep up the good, very impressed.
Victron should be giving you the BIGGEST thank Andy.... ive been trying for so long to do this and you've explained it so simply.... Bloody legend.... 👍👍🌎
Excellent tutorial, Thank You for saving me hours of my time researching and testing. You are the archetype of what a RUclips video tutorial should convey, just simply amazing useful stuff!!! Not just this video but your entire series!
Hi Andy, this is Phong from California USA. I just started using my old android phone that connected to all my bms through Bluetooth at home then I use my new android phone and downloaded unattended teamviewer app and connect the new phone to old phone at home so you can monitor all your bms. Now I can fully monitor and control my devices at home. Phong
I've been wanting to do something with these tiny computers for awhile - but something practical as well. Doesn't get any better than this - simply AWESOME! You must really be happy that Jason convinced you to move forward with this part of the project.
Yes, Jason's email was certainly a trigger. I watched some videos about the setup before and they were all complicated. His 'list' was so simple, I had to try it...
Glad I watched this. I was about to buy 4 $28USD Victron cables. Ordered from amazon enough parts to make 6 cables for the price of 1 Victron and delivered the next day to boot! Thank you from California.
Andy, your most excellent content helped me quickly setup a spare RPi to monitor the Victron gear in my RV. I also added the RPi shutdown feature from one of your other videos. Both tutorials were clear and concise, and easy to follow. You are a great teacher. Left a little deposit in your S.P.A.T. account, as a token of my appreciation. Thanks a bunch, Partner! 👏👏
I started googling this several times, everytime i got confused and frustrated so i skipped it. And now of course you came along, 30 min funny video - simpel, works, great! Thanks a lot Andy! Maybe i also should place a picture of you, the battery and the garage in my bedroom. My wife could not confused any further because i even concentrated on your videos when baywatch-like scenes in tv nearby... 😍maybe you should be concerned now...😳😯🤣
Andy, this is the most common sense, straight forward video (this subject) on RUclips. You Sir, are a rock star and produce brilliance!!! Thank you for saving me so much frustration and expense...CHEERS!!!
This is one of the very best and most useful videos I've seen on RUclips! Subbed, Alarmed and Liked! Thank you!!! PS. I love your style. You are very natural on the video, and it makes watching them so much more interesting than the perfectly edited YT videos that feel like some professional movie makers have made it, and so they are not so believable and honest feeling. Thanks again! Barry.
Thank you very much for this tutorial. I downloaded Venus last week but I wasn't really getting anywhere with it. Followed this tutorial today and it's now working.
If you use the VictronConnect app, you can connect via Bluetooth, then connect it to the VRM Portal without having to write the serial number across. Great stuff.
The victron cables have an opto-coupler to prevent stray interference from damaging equipment or creating garbled comms. Some people who tried generic cables had problems and changed to the victron opto-coupled galvanic isolated ones
Hi Andy, all the way from sunny Malta. Thanks for these PV solar off-grid informative videos. You have just helped me in operating successfuly Victron Venus ver3.4 with Raspberry pi and now I am just waiting to receive the rest of my Victron equipment and connect them to the VRM Portal. You are an inspiration to us all.
You are the man!!! Followed your videos step by step and have my first off grid system running with the Pi.....and you're right, it's addicting to watch! Many thanks!!
Thanks again Andy, last week i got my raspberry pi4 all connected to my victron multiplus 3k 24v Invertor charger and just got the cables you linked and in ten minutes I had added my smart link.... now to figure out how to link my non victron stuff... keep em coming pal!
Moin Andy, you made my day! Untüddel the cable👍 Your explanation inspired me to buy all the stuff needed to see and log my installation in our little caravan. It took two days to get the most things needed, and two hours later my installation is registered in Victron's VRM portal. It's easy as you described, no problems occured, simply insane! Now I've still to prepare cables to connect all devices, as soon as I've got the JST-plugs. Your videos are a great help to understand things about LiFePO4 behaviour, loading, unloading and so on. Greats form Cologne (Germany)
Thanks for your great feedback, Paul. I'm glad the setup worked for you and you could follow the instructions. It's much easier than we all thought, I guess. All the best and stay save Gruesse nach Koeln.
Excellent, this brought it all together. Thank you Andy. I use RPI for my HA setup so it was easy to follow. Now to add it to the Energy section of HA. Thanks ... and figure out an optional way to buy you a coffee 👍
all done thanks to Kevin for working out a Guimod issue with Venus OS3.20 and Andy for all his great content and motivating me to get my little off grid shed system connected to VRM with an Rpi👍
@@OffGridGarageAustralia yeah I like having redundancy and even though my charge controller does a good job at this its a nice way for me to control the flow of power to my batteries and I can run a simple python program to turn them on or off from anywhere. I'm so happy I figured out that I could do this. Have a great day Andy!
Hi, I was looking fior this Raspbery installation of Venus OS in the internet and found your video. Apart from the meritholical content, I found you very positive and open person. Keep up doing good work. Garage is also my place to live :)
I've been using the Raspberry Pi 3b for over a year now. My next project will be trying to figure out how to connect my generator for auto-start to the Raspberry Pi.
I've been watching a ton of your videos over the last few days and I just had to say I haven't laughed like I just did in a long time at 3:04. I think your content is fantastic and informative and you made my morning here in Sunny South Africa! Looking forward to seeing more of your content.
Please take care when using non-isolated USB dongles like those. They work just fine, but you need to be sure that the big battery negative cable never becomes disconnected. If battery negative becomes disconnected from the MPPT in some way then the next available negative path will be via the data cable, a situation which will very likely result in misfortune.
Yep, the Victron genuine cables galvanically isolate the different devices from one another to eliminate this. Just something to be aware of with the cheap usb adaptors.
@@smdindustries3699 I had an original Victron Battery-BMS-CAN cable to connect the CERBO and the PYLONTECH. I disconnected the (original) CERBO power cable by pulling the small power plug while I left the BMS-CAN cable . A little "fump" noise and off goes the CERBO for 330,- Euro worth. So far for the "original" cables!
So, you need constant internet service to use this, Correct? If you do, then I'm left out in the cold, I boondock camp mostly and there is NO Cell Phone or Internet where we go and stay for two or three weeks a month. I'll continue to use my MPPT EPEVER Solar Controller. I downloaded the LiFePo 4 soft ware at home onto my laptop and set the parameters and all is good in the world. Andy, you are doing a Great Job and a very informative service for everyone, keep it going.
Thank you Rick! No, you don't need to be connected constantly. The Raspy saves all data and transfers it to the portal when online again. There was a section in the video, where I talked about how much memory you need with your SD card if you are not connected all the time. It's like 20MB/day only
It doesn't need to be connected constantly, the data will be saved and uploaded when the connection is available, The last 30 days is available to view via Bluetooth if available or local network, VRM stores it long term.
Thanks for the videos Andy and sharing your expierence! I can only add my own expierence with RPi's (have been playing with them for last years): 1) don't turn it off unplugging cable - that can damage your data on SD card 2) better don't use cheap microSD cards, they will get corrupted quite soon and also cause RPi just to hang up. I have found so far best expierence with Samsung Pro Endurance (video surveillance cards). For best you can also use the USB HDD for booting/storing the system. 3) I would better buy model Pi4 with 2GB RAM, it's not more expensive than Pi3, but it's more reliable, has USB HDD boot support and also more powerful. You can add other stuff to it (e.g., saw you have some network server (?) for file share - you can make a Pi as a backup server in garage - to be safe if something happens in house :))
thanks Jason thanks Andy - I've been looking for this type of solution for my off grid victron set up and will be giving it a go over the next few weeks. Danke - tschüss
@@OffGridGarageAustralia so far, so good. I'm 2/3rds of the way through this process and have only had one minor issue so far - after booting up the Pi with VenusOS for the 1st time. venus.local didn't work. So I looked up my DHCP table on the router, saw that my Pi had a local IP address and typed that in the search bar. This then allowed me to complete the online set up with the VRM portal. Now I need to run a network connection to where my Victron Control equipment lives and complete Stage 3 of this install. To be continued............ Thanks again Jason/Andy
@@mikeKirwin thank you so much for your feedback and sharing. You're right, venus.local may not show up immediately after booting. It could take a while until this address is associated with the network IP and published through your router. This all depends on the network equipment used. Looking for the correct IP in a router is almost a video tutorial by itself ☺️
You can run the RPi directly off the battery with a buck converter (48v => 5v) it is more efficient than running off the inverter with a phone charger.
Andy, It's best practice to power off the Raspberry Pi before you unplug it. You might corrupt the SD card if it's writing to it. Also you need to put some photo's of your setup on your portal!
@@OffGridGarageAustralia I suppose i should have said shutdown. 😄 Just go desktop, menu, shutdown, shutdown. That way, the system shuts down so you can safely power it off.
@@OffGridGarageAustralia Ah. That OS does not have that option. Oh well, you just have to unplug it then! 😁 Or you may be able to shutdown via command line with: sudo shutdown -h now
From one old fart to another. I've got a Pi B4 running, works great but I'm adding a Victron smart shunt to the system and the I'll reconfigure the Pi to run this. Loving your videos mate, great work.
Of course, it will be even easier if you buy Victron's finished cables so you do not have to move the green, black, white strands as you did. The cable is called "VE . Direct to USB interface." Respect for your cable solution. It saves you about 20 USD per cable.
Thank you so much for this video. I had it setup and working in no time. Only thing I did differently was to use the VE Direct cable, makes it truly plug and play. Now I'm thinking about selling all my non Victron gear and replacing it all with the Victron equivalent.
super helpful sir! I was able to use an old Raspberry Pi with a USB dongle. Everything works beautifully except for the AC load stuff my inverter is Magnum not Victron. That's okay as that information isn't all that important. Mainly I'd like to look at the PV charging history and battery consumption. Thanks again.
Hi I have a Stetson HAT design for the raspi to allow a complete interface with 6 relays outputs 6 DIO ports and 8 Analog ports 4 tanks and 4 temps, canbus for BMS for Pylontech BYD etc. has full raspi touch screen etc. It all works with the raspi3B+ the raspi 4 is all working OK on all functions now. Regards Rob D NZ
Another great video thanks. I purchased a colour control GX (thankfully used, so a lot cheaper than new) but the original owner hadn’t released the Portal ID so I couldn’t use it - thankfully sorted with a few emails back and forth. I’ve also used the RasPi this way and the result is pretty similar to the colour control, especially if you add a touch screen to the RasPi. With a touch screen connected it’s pretty much a mini Cerbo GX - but the screen does need one of the USB ports for the touch functionality to work.
@@OffGridGarageAustralia I think you would need that Octo GX box if you end up going with your plan of one charge controller per string :) it also looks pretty similar to your existing box I believe so would fit right in. Nice work with the pi though. No point buying the GX unless you need it!
Great video! I connected half of my Victron stuff with the DIY VE direct to USB cables, it does work but within 3days connections to these are lost. Connection with Victron original cables works fine. Cannot recommend using the DIY version continiously - though its good for testing
Great video, Andy! Congratulations. I want to do the same in my system . I have one hybrid solar inverter, one additional solar charge controller and 3 battery banks (Lifepo4) with JK BMS. This will be a big challenge for me, to connect all these system to raspberry PI with Venus.OS …
Great video Andy. Makes me wonder why I got the Cerbo GX. The Victron VRM portal is terrific and it is one of the main reasons I set my system up using Victron equipment.
Thanks Bruce. The Cerbo has some other features which the Pi does not provide. Also, it's easier to setup, some people are not into computer stuff at all and the Cerbo is just a plug'n play.
You can go for the Victron GX and you can view all you want online. At the same time i have a 7s120p 18650 power wall and Victron cannot see the BMS i have. So I am interested how you get on with the Piy. Also you’re a great guy really like your videos.
A good system is one you don't have to keep tabs on. This is great for geeks like us but really, a system should be worry free. The only thing I'd actually want to monitor in this fashion is cell voltages but this doesn't give you that. Even then, the system should be designed so that it just works and and cell voltages should be a non issues. This is great for installers though to troubleshoot their customer's system quickly without traveling. I use to think it was much harder to set up but wow, actually super easy! Being a geek myself, now cant help but to hook this up just for fun. 😎
Yep, I always thought it takes a lot to setup. But in fact it's very easy and works since then without any problems at all. 24/7 runtime, no issues. It even does new firmware updates automatically.
Thanks for the great video, however, I've been Raspberry Pi user since the model B, and the early ones can get by with 1 amp, but not the V3 or later. The V3 needs at least 2.5amps for the wifi and the V4 needs at least 3amps due to the additional bluetooth and faster processor. Additional power will be needed for thumb-drives and other parasitic powered devices, like mice and keyboards etc.
Absolutely brilliant!! Very clearly explained. I was trying to do this for my boat but was missing the vital information about the connections between the Pi and my smart Battery monitor, Inverter and MPPT. Thank you very much!!
Awesome! Quick question if I'm using a DC to DC charger while driving will the Victron app still update the battery % accurately or only what's coming in from the panels?
That depends where you shunt has been installed. The shunt is what reports the data to the app/VRM. It should be installed close to the battery so measures all energy in and out, regardless where the power comes from.
It caches all data and connects back to the VRM when it is online again. You can also create a mobile hotspot on your mobile it can connect to while you're on the go.
Hi! Excellent tutorial, thank you very much! I did that, and everything was fine except 1 thing: devices keep disconnecting, for ex charge controller & inverter disconnects all the time after a while. Used same cables, same ends connectors etc. Rpi3b, checked cables - all crimped right, have you seen this problem on your side?
I use the exact same cables to connect 2 bluesolar chargers 150/45 and 1 smartshunt for a month now and I experience frequent disconnections at least once a day. The only way I have found so far to continue charging is to unplug and plug in the usb to raspby. From what I imagine it will be a very common problem in victron community. I would be very grateful if there was a solution
Great! You are the man! Your style of presenting that stuff is so motivating - I will try this now myself. I already got a CERBO-GX device to control my Victron stuff But I already lost one CERBO - don´t know how that happened - and returned it for good. But if this happens again, I don´t have the intention to buy a third one - better the Raspi! Congrats to me for finding your great channel!!! :)
Thnx for your excellent walkthrough! Was able to setup a working system instantly. Question: The ve.direct-interface on my 150/35 solar charge controller is occupied by a victron bluetooth dongle. This probably means to switch cables whenever carrying out adjustments to the controller. Anyone who got the same configuration and hopefully a solution (without replacing the charge controller with built-in bluetooth)?
Thank you Martin, good to hear it worked for you as well. You probably don't need the BT dongle any more as you can now access and configure the controller via the VRM from wherever you are.
Hey Andy, so after doing this with the pi in my setup thanks to this video, but having internet failure the last few days, I discovered that you actually need to either partition the sd card you insert so that the venus software sees a separate disk to log to, OR you can simply insert a blank usb memory stick into one of the empty usb ports and it will show in the vrm online portal menu on the Pi, with the storage size and the option to eject the storage if you want to remove it. I hope this helps because I imagine im not the only one who's wondering why there's gaps in their logs on vrm portal!
@@OffGridGarageAustralia AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH ok thanks ! big plans on a small setup for our new trailer ( well old trailer ) and watching your videos, we don't have the money to make mistakes so learning from the best ! so thank you!
Great video, and really informative. We have been looking at installing Victron gear in our Hilux and your video are really informative and helpful Thank you 😊
That was the best R...PI tutorial I have ever seen. Really. Do one on R..PI controlled back yard Nuclear Reactor fueled by yard debris. Just kidding. :)
Do you know if I can access the rasp pi interface via hdmi touch screen on the pi, or is it only accesible via local network access? My goal is to monitor the system real time at my location.thank you for the helpful vid!
I noticed that you wired it so that all the colors matched, but could you also just simply connect them with mismatched colors but oriented properly to communicate Tx/Rx, etc?
I thought you had to be able to connect to the OS to do that? Using putty or similiar? Fair # of lines of code needed to get touchscreen configured. Do you have a recommended tutorial? I would like to do this.
I think you need to code a bit for this, yes. It's not too complicated but maybe worth another video in the future. I use my old tablet now to simply connect to venus.local and it shows me the console as well. Including touch 😉
Andy, can you output the data directly to a screen and not go through the victron portal. I want to put this in a rv and will not have internet connection or cell phone connectivity much of the time. I was wondering if I could attach a small screen directly to the raspi and monitor my system locally, perhaps through a local network.
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Great video, thanks. For new users of VenusOS who can't seem to find the settings mentioned in the video - from version 3.50 onwards there has been a change to the "Two-way communication" options, "Logging" is has gone, and the two-way communication is gone, and a new setting called "VRM Portal" replaces both old settings. This new setting has three options ; Full, ReadOnly, Off. The default is Full (meaning logging to the VRM portal happens, and two-way comms is enabled so you can make changes locally OR remotely), ReadOnly means logging to VRM happens, but only local users can change settings, and Off means no logging to VRM (but locally everything works as expected).
works really well, thank you. Mine was set up on R Pi3 and also done the shutdown from the gui mod on your other video. It now can see my SMA Sunnyboy inverter after I updated it to the ltest firmware and logged in using Sunny Explorer and Enable the TCP and UDP server, keep the default port. Then I searched for inverters in Venus OS and now showinging my solar power. Keep up the good, very impressed.
Thanks a lot for your feedback!
Victron should be giving you the BIGGEST thank Andy.... ive been trying for so long to do this and you've explained it so simply.... Bloody legend.... 👍👍🌎
Oh, thank you so much. I hope you can work it out now.
@@OffGridGarageAustralia Already ready done.... thanks again.... what's the next thing we are building.... ha ha 👍
Excellent tutorial, Thank You for saving me hours of my time researching and testing. You are the archetype of what a RUclips video tutorial should convey, just simply amazing useful stuff!!! Not just this video but your entire series!
Thank you very much Jim!
Hi Andy, this is Phong from California USA. I just started using my old android phone that connected to all my bms through Bluetooth at home then I use my new android phone and downloaded unattended teamviewer app and connect the new phone to old phone at home so you can monitor all your bms. Now I can fully monitor and control my devices at home.
Phong
I've been wanting to do something with these tiny computers for awhile - but something practical as well. Doesn't get any better than this - simply AWESOME! You must really be happy that Jason convinced you to move forward with this part of the project.
Yes, Jason's email was certainly a trigger. I watched some videos about the setup before and they were all complicated. His 'list' was so simple, I had to try it...
Glad I watched this. I was about to buy 4 $28USD Victron cables. Ordered from amazon enough parts to make 6 cables for the price of 1 Victron and delivered the next day to boot!
Thank you from California.
Andy, your most excellent content helped me quickly setup a spare RPi to monitor the Victron gear in my RV. I also added the RPi shutdown feature from one of your other videos. Both tutorials were clear and concise, and easy to follow. You are a great teacher. Left a little deposit in your S.P.A.T. account, as a token of my appreciation. Thanks a bunch, Partner! 👏👏
My Raspi is ALIVE! 😁I am very excited to monitor and manage my environment from anywhere. Many thanks to your awesome tutorial 🍻
I started googling this several times, everytime i got confused and frustrated so i skipped it. And now of course you came along, 30 min funny video - simpel, works, great! Thanks a lot Andy! Maybe i also should place a picture of you, the battery and the garage in my bedroom. My wife could not confused any further because i even concentrated on your videos when baywatch-like scenes in tv nearby... 😍maybe you should be concerned now...😳😯🤣
Andy, this is the most common sense, straight forward video (this subject) on RUclips. You Sir, are a rock star and produce brilliance!!! Thank you for saving me so much frustration and expense...CHEERS!!!
Thank you for the great feedback, Paul. Much appreciated.
Haven't even finished watching the video but had to make a post saying that I really dig your sense of humor - keep it up!
Thanks a lot!
This is one of the very best and most useful videos I've seen on RUclips! Subbed, Alarmed and Liked! Thank you!!! PS. I love your style. You are very natural on the video, and it makes watching them so much more interesting than the perfectly edited YT videos that feel like some professional movie makers have made it, and so they are not so believable and honest feeling. Thanks again! Barry.
Thank you very much for this tutorial. I downloaded Venus last week but I wasn't really getting anywhere with it. Followed this tutorial today and it's now working.
This has to be the best part of a Victron system now you are officially a solar GEEK
It is so cool, I'm really addicted now to this. Victron costs more than other solution but you get all this for free.
Fabulous info. A great help getting my system online. Many Thanks.
Thanks a lot, Matt. Great support.
If you use the VictronConnect app, you can connect via Bluetooth, then connect it to the VRM Portal without having to write the serial number across. Great stuff.
Nice! I did the same, but with Victron VE Direct to USB cables. Expensive at $28 USD, but very easy and the connectors are normal USB size.
The victron cables have an opto-coupler to prevent stray interference from damaging equipment or creating garbled comms.
Some people who tried generic cables had problems and changed to the victron opto-coupled galvanic isolated ones
The funny thing is, i bought one too, 2 days before. It is so damn easy to setup. Great that its open source!
I thought it's really complicated, but it's really easy...
Hi Andy, all the way from sunny Malta. Thanks for these PV solar off-grid informative videos. You have just helped me in operating successfuly Victron Venus ver3.4 with Raspberry pi and now I am just waiting to receive the rest of my Victron equipment and connect them to the VRM Portal. You are an inspiration to us all.
You are the man!!! Followed your videos step by step and have my first off grid system running with the Pi.....and you're right, it's addicting to watch! Many thanks!!
Absolutely excellent Andy! You put in a ton of work into this and your website info. This really helps the community!!!
Thank you very much. Yeah that was a bit of work actually. Especially recording it twice 😂
Thanks again Andy, last week i got my raspberry pi4 all connected to my victron multiplus 3k 24v Invertor charger and just got the cables you linked and in ten minutes I had added my smart link.... now to figure out how to link my non victron stuff... keep em coming pal!
Moin Andy,
you made my day!
Untüddel the cable👍
Your explanation inspired me to buy all the stuff needed to see and log my installation in our little caravan.
It took two days to get the most things needed, and two hours later my installation is registered in Victron's VRM portal.
It's easy as you described, no problems occured, simply insane!
Now I've still to prepare cables to connect all devices, as soon as I've got the JST-plugs.
Your videos are a great help to understand things about LiFePO4 behaviour, loading, unloading and so on.
Greats form Cologne (Germany)
Thanks for your great feedback, Paul. I'm glad the setup worked for you and you could follow the instructions. It's much easier than we all thought, I guess.
All the best and stay save
Gruesse nach Koeln.
Excellent, this brought it all together. Thank you Andy.
I use RPI for my HA setup so it was easy to follow. Now to add it to the Energy section of HA.
Thanks ... and figure out an optional way to buy you a coffee 👍
Great video, Andy… Just installed all this stuff on my sailboat, Glorious and everything came up beautifully
Awesome, The clearest and most straightforward explanation from beginning to end. WOW!!! 5 stars
all done thanks to Kevin for working out a Guimod issue with Venus OS3.20 and Andy for all his great content and motivating me to get my little off grid shed system connected to VRM with an Rpi👍
Nice... I'll be doing this over Dec/Jan. Just bought your list from AliExpress. Got the Raspberry Pi 4.
I got a pi3b+ running a solid state relay for me to turn off my panels. Works like a charm.
Oh, wow, great, that sound interesting.
@@OffGridGarageAustralia yeah I like having redundancy and even though my charge controller does a good job at this its a nice way for me to control the flow of power to my batteries and I can run a simple python program to turn them on or off from anywhere. I'm so happy I figured out that I could do this. Have a great day Andy!
Hi, I was looking fior this Raspbery installation of Venus OS in the internet and found your video. Apart from the meritholical content, I found you very positive and open person. Keep up doing good work. Garage is also my place to live :)
I've been using the Raspberry Pi 3b for over a year now. My next project will be trying to figure out how to connect my generator for auto-start to the Raspberry Pi.
It was a very pleasant experience to follow your tutorial ! Many thanks. For RPI 4 the only challenge was to get the VRM code for version 3.0.
I have a RPI 4 with 2 miniHDMI. What image do I need for this? Is this version 3.0 that I need? Link to that?
I've been watching a ton of your videos over the last few days and I just had to say I haven't laughed like I just did in a long time at 3:04. I think your content is fantastic and informative and you made my morning here in Sunny South Africa! Looking forward to seeing more of your content.
Thanks!
Thank you very much for your support!
Please take care when using non-isolated USB dongles like those. They work just fine, but you need to be sure that the big battery negative cable never becomes disconnected. If battery negative becomes disconnected from the MPPT in some way then the next available negative path will be via the data cable, a situation which will very likely result in misfortune.
Great tip and info. The thin cable will work like fuse then 😉
Yep, the Victron genuine cables galvanically isolate the different devices from one another to eliminate this.
Just something to be aware of with the cheap usb adaptors.
@@smdindustries3699 I had an original Victron Battery-BMS-CAN cable to connect the CERBO and the PYLONTECH. I disconnected the (original) CERBO power cable by pulling the small power plug while I left the BMS-CAN cable . A little "fump" noise and off goes the CERBO for 330,- Euro worth.
So far for the "original" cables!
Thanks
Thank you very much for your support!
So, you need constant internet service to use this, Correct?
If you do, then I'm left out in the cold, I boondock camp mostly and there is NO Cell Phone or Internet where we go and stay for two or three weeks a month.
I'll continue to use my MPPT EPEVER Solar Controller. I downloaded the LiFePo 4 soft ware at home onto my laptop and set the parameters and all is good in the world.
Andy, you are doing a Great Job and a very informative service for everyone, keep it going.
Thank you Rick! No, you don't need to be connected constantly. The Raspy saves all data and transfers it to the portal when online again. There was a section in the video, where I talked about how much memory you need with your SD card if you are not connected all the time. It's like 20MB/day only
It doesn't need to be connected constantly, the data will be saved and uploaded when the connection is available, The last 30 days is available to view via Bluetooth if available or local network, VRM stores it long term.
@@OffGridGarageAustralia OK, I remember you mentioning that now. I'm wrong.
Thanks
Super easy! Done on a RPi2A. Next the soft shut down button....😀
no need spitting on the lens - P in rasPberry is silent. Zuper! :) Thank you for the video.
Thanks for the videos Andy and sharing your expierence!
I can only add my own expierence with RPi's (have been playing with them for last years):
1) don't turn it off unplugging cable - that can damage your data on SD card
2) better don't use cheap microSD cards, they will get corrupted quite soon and also cause RPi just to hang up. I have found so far best expierence with Samsung Pro Endurance (video surveillance cards). For best you can also use the USB HDD for booting/storing the system.
3) I would better buy model Pi4 with 2GB RAM, it's not more expensive than Pi3, but it's more reliable, has USB HDD boot support and also more powerful. You can add other stuff to it (e.g., saw you have some network server (?) for file share - you can make a Pi as a backup server in garage - to be safe if something happens in house :))
That was great. Thanks! I am gonna order all this stuff instead of a cerbo GX
Thank you. It works for almost a year now without problems and far more flexible than a GX.
thanks Jason thanks Andy - I've been looking for this type of solution for my off grid victron set up and will be giving it a go over the next few weeks. Danke - tschüss
Thanks, Mike. It's really easy to do and worth the time.
@@OffGridGarageAustralia so far, so good. I'm 2/3rds of the way through this process and have only had one minor issue so far - after booting up the Pi with VenusOS for the 1st time. venus.local didn't work. So I looked up my DHCP table on the router, saw that my Pi had a local IP address and typed that in the search bar. This then allowed me to complete the online set up with the VRM portal. Now I need to run a network connection to where my Victron Control equipment lives and complete Stage 3 of this install. To be continued............
Thanks again Jason/Andy
@@mikeKirwin thank you so much for your feedback and sharing.
You're right, venus.local may not show up immediately after booting. It could take a while until this address is associated with the network IP and published through your router. This all depends on the network equipment used. Looking for the correct IP in a router is almost a video tutorial by itself ☺️
You can run the RPi directly off the battery with a buck converter (48v => 5v) it is more efficient than running off the inverter with a phone charger.
Coming soon!
Ďakujeme.
Thanks a lot, Miroslav. Great support.
Great video Andy!!! Keep on!
Thank you very much.
Andy, It's best practice to power off the Raspberry Pi before you unplug it. You might corrupt the SD card if it's writing to it. Also you need to put some photo's of your setup on your portal!
How do you power it off?
@@OffGridGarageAustralia I suppose i should have said shutdown. 😄 Just go desktop, menu, shutdown, shutdown. That way, the system shuts down so you can safely power it off.
I don't have 'desktop'. I'm running the Venus OS. I looked through the menus but could not see a shutdown anywhere.
@@OffGridGarageAustralia Ah. That OS does not have that option. Oh well, you just have to unplug it then! 😁 Or you may be able to shutdown via command line with: sudo shutdown -h now
@@BrazzaB1 there is no console either. Once Venus OS is booted, that's it. I'll ask the developer to add this into the menu structure.
From one old fart to another.
I've got a Pi B4 running, works great but I'm adding a Victron smart shunt to the system and the I'll reconfigure the Pi to run this.
Loving your videos mate, great work.
Lookin good Andy. Final step i think sunny weather , shorts, dark beer, poolhang and victron vrm.
That's the way!
What a GREAT VIDEO, thank you so much Sr. for your effort and sharing with us your knowleadge. Warms Regards since Queretaro in México.
Thanks for your kind comment.
Of course, it will be even easier if you buy Victron's finished cables so you do not have to move the green, black, white strands as you did.
The cable is called "VE . Direct to USB interface."
Respect for your cable solution. It saves you about 20 USD per cable.
The solution came from Jason. Saved me $80.... 😉
Love the accent :). Very informative. Love your videos. Very easy to follow and understand. Keep up the good work.
Thanks a lot!
I'm still thinking to buy one PI cause I don't have any idea on that this helps me a little.
I added to watch later. 😁👍
Thank you so much for this video. I had it setup and working in no time. Only thing I did differently was to use the VE Direct cable, makes it truly plug and play.
Now I'm thinking about selling all my non Victron gear and replacing it all with the Victron equivalent.
Greate video! But how do you connect the Raspi to the Victron Multiplus Inverter?
That's in a different video: ruclips.net/video/SsTkgoN6ENM/видео.html
super helpful sir! I was able to use an old Raspberry Pi with a USB dongle. Everything works beautifully except for the AC load stuff my inverter is Magnum not Victron. That's okay as that information isn't all that important. Mainly I'd like to look at the PV charging history and battery consumption. Thanks again.
Thanks for your feedback. Great you've got it working...
Hi
I have a Stetson HAT design for the raspi to allow a complete interface with 6 relays outputs 6 DIO ports and 8 Analog ports 4 tanks and 4 temps, canbus for BMS for Pylontech BYD etc. has full raspi touch screen etc. It all works with the raspi3B+ the raspi 4 is all working OK on all functions now.
Regards
Rob D
NZ
Another great video thanks. I purchased a colour control GX (thankfully used, so a lot cheaper than new) but the original owner hadn’t released the Portal ID so I couldn’t use it - thankfully sorted with a few emails back and forth. I’ve also used the RasPi this way and the result is pretty similar to the colour control, especially if you add a touch screen to the RasPi. With a touch screen connected it’s pretty much a mini Cerbo GX - but the screen does need one of the USB ports for the touch functionality to work.
Great, Ian. I was going to purchase a GX device to and looked at the Octo GX as it has many VE.Direct ports for future gear.
@@OffGridGarageAustralia I think you would need that Octo GX box if you end up going with your plan of one charge controller per string :) it also looks pretty similar to your existing box I believe so would fit right in.
Nice work with the pi though.
No point buying the GX unless you need it!
Great video! I connected half of my Victron stuff with the DIY VE direct to USB cables, it does work but within 3days connections to these are lost. Connection with Victron original cables works fine.
Cannot recommend using the DIY version continiously - though its good for testing
The DIY cables are not isolated and could transfer some interferences across. It may depend how much AC power you have in the same area for example
Best video yet - looking forward to you messing around with RAS-P in future episodes...
Thank you Dan!
Great video, Andy! Congratulations.
I want to do the same in my system . I have one hybrid solar inverter, one additional solar charge controller and 3 battery banks (Lifepo4) with JK BMS. This will be a big challenge for me, to connect all these system to raspberry PI with Venus.OS …
I look forward to seeing more videos on this system. Thanks!
More to come!
Excellent video! You did a great job explaining the setup! Thank you!
Thank you Peter!
I love your site I have been watching you for a while now and find you interesting and informative. Keep up your doing great
Thanks for the nice feedback, David!
Great video Andy. Makes me wonder why I got the Cerbo GX. The Victron VRM portal is terrific and it is one of the main reasons I set my system up using Victron equipment.
Thanks Bruce. The Cerbo has some other features which the Pi does not provide. Also, it's easier to setup, some people are not into computer stuff at all and the Cerbo is just a plug'n play.
You can go for the Victron GX and you can view all you want online. At the same time i have a 7s120p 18650 power wall and Victron cannot see the BMS i have. So I am interested how you get on with the Piy. Also you’re a great guy really like your videos.
Thank you very much!
Maybe Victron Smart Battery Sense would help? The controller would know the battery temperature and overall voltage, at the battery terminals
A good system is one you don't have to keep tabs on. This is great for geeks like us but really, a system should be worry free. The only thing I'd actually want to monitor in this fashion is cell voltages but this doesn't give you that. Even then, the system should be designed so that it just works and and cell voltages should be a non issues. This is great for installers though to troubleshoot their customer's system quickly without traveling. I use to think it was much harder to set up but wow, actually super easy! Being a geek myself, now cant help but to hook this up just for fun. 😎
Yep, I always thought it takes a lot to setup. But in fact it's very easy and works since then without any problems at all. 24/7 runtime, no issues. It even does new firmware updates automatically.
Thank you for share it! 🙂
My pleasure!
Thanks for the great video, however, I've been Raspberry Pi user since the model B, and the early ones can get by with 1 amp, but not the V3 or later.
The V3 needs at least 2.5amps for the wifi and the V4 needs at least 3amps due to the additional bluetooth and faster processor.
Additional power will be needed for thumb-drives and other parasitic powered devices, like mice and keyboards etc.
Thank you very much. Is it also possible to connect a lcd monitor aswell?
Absolutely brilliant!! Very clearly explained. I was trying to do this for my boat but was missing the vital information about the connections between the Pi and my smart Battery monitor, Inverter and MPPT. Thank you very much!!
Glad it was helpful! Thanks, Dave.
Awesome! Quick question if I'm using a DC to DC charger while driving will the Victron app still update the battery % accurately or only what's coming in from the panels?
That depends where you shunt has been installed. The shunt is what reports the data to the app/VRM. It should be installed close to the battery so measures all energy in and out, regardless where the power comes from.
Great video. Using pie3 and works as long as I have Wi-Fi. Should it work only on Bluetooth while driving my van?
It caches all data and connects back to the VRM when it is online again. You can also create a mobile hotspot on your mobile it can connect to while you're on the go.
i like "untüdel" - lovely! greetings from germany!!! René
Great job but one question, how can you turn on and off the multi plus ? I thought you could do it from the screen… thanks
Yes, you can. You need to go into the settings for that. I can turn my inverter (and all other components) on and off through the VRM website.
@@OffGridGarageAustralia thank you I now found it !! Thanks for your great videos!!!
I LOVE RASPBERRY PI'S!!!!?!?!? Such an awesome little computer.
Your tutorials are highly informative
Four words after this. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!
Andy u are a great guy thanks again for the videos
Hi! Excellent tutorial, thank you very much! I did that, and everything was fine except 1 thing: devices keep disconnecting, for ex charge controller & inverter disconnects all the time after a while. Used same cables, same ends connectors etc. Rpi3b, checked cables - all crimped right, have you seen this problem on your side?
I use the exact same cables to connect 2 bluesolar chargers 150/45 and 1 smartshunt for a month now and I experience frequent disconnections at least once a day. The only way I have found so far to continue charging is to unplug and plug in the usb to raspby. From what I imagine it will be a very common problem in victron community. I would be very grateful if there was a solution
Great! You are the man!
Your style of presenting that stuff is so motivating - I will try this now myself.
I already got a CERBO-GX device to control my Victron stuff
But I already lost one CERBO - don´t know how that happened - and returned it for good.
But if this happens again, I don´t have the intention to buy a third one - better the Raspi!
Congrats to me for finding your great channel!!! :)
Thnx for your excellent walkthrough! Was able to setup a working system instantly. Question: The ve.direct-interface on my 150/35 solar charge controller is occupied by a victron bluetooth dongle. This probably means to switch cables whenever carrying out adjustments to the controller. Anyone who got the same configuration and hopefully a solution (without replacing the charge controller with built-in bluetooth)?
Thank you Martin, good to hear it worked for you as well. You probably don't need the BT dongle any more as you can now access and configure the controller via the VRM from wherever you are.
Hey Andy, so after doing this with the pi in my setup thanks to this video, but having internet failure the last few days, I discovered that you actually need to either partition the sd card you insert so that the venus software sees a separate disk to log to, OR you can simply insert a blank usb memory stick into one of the empty usb ports and it will show in the vrm online portal menu on the Pi, with the storage size and the option to eject the storage if you want to remove it.
I hope this helps because I imagine im not the only one who's wondering why there's gaps in their logs on vrm portal!
Thanks for this Lexi!
Do you know what the additional partition has to be formatted as?
Following your guide, to get all this setup, but .. is there a way you can show the battery USB hook up part ? im confused on this part
The battery is connected to a Victron Smart Shunt which also has a VE.Direct port like the charge controllers and the inverter.
@@OffGridGarageAustralia AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH ok thanks ! big plans on a small setup for our new trailer ( well old trailer ) and watching your videos, we don't have the money to make mistakes so learning from the best ! so thank you!
Thanks for helping to create low cost VE.Drirect cable
Bare in mind, it is not isolated like the original Ve.direct cables.
@@OffGridGarageAustralia thanks, I have not used the red cable
Excellent !!! Can you show me how you made MultiplusII cable - usb to rj45
Best tutorial I’ve seen great job 👏
Wow, thank you!
Great video, and really informative. We have been looking at installing Victron gear in our Hilux and your video are really informative and helpful
Thank you 😊
Thank you very much!
That was the best R...PI tutorial I have ever seen. Really.
Do one on R..PI controlled back yard Nuclear Reactor fueled by yard debris. Just kidding. :)
'R..PI controlled back yard Nuclear Reactor fueled by yard debris' That would be amazing. I have a lot of that stuff laying around.
@@OffGridGarageAustralia "The stuff that dreams are made of." Humphrey Bogart :)
You have a great system going in your garage. Good job.
Thank you!
Great video 👌 Hopefully now more people will just do this as it's super easy! 👍
It is easy, right. I did it 3 times now. Twice for this video 😊
This is really great! A must have for my system (eventually)! Thanks for the awesome info guys! Big up!!!
Happy to help!
Do you know if I can access the rasp pi interface via hdmi touch screen on the pi, or is it only accesible via local network access? My goal is to monitor the system real time at my location.thank you for the helpful vid!
I noticed that you wired it so that all the colors matched, but could you also just simply connect them with mismatched colors but oriented properly to communicate Tx/Rx, etc?
Now add a 7" touchscreen to it, easy enough to setup (google steps) and works well :)
I thought you had to be able to connect to the OS to do that? Using putty or similiar? Fair # of lines of code needed to get touchscreen configured. Do you have a recommended tutorial? I would like to do this.
I think you need to code a bit for this, yes. It's not too complicated but maybe worth another video in the future.
I use my old tablet now to simply connect to venus.local and it shows me the console as well. Including touch 😉
Hi have you been able to get your Pi Venus to talk CAN to the BMS ? (Thanks for the clarity your brought to this project)
very interesting and useful, could you give me the links of where to buy the 2 cables?
Hi Andrea, all links are in the video description or here on my website: off-grid-garage.com/victron-connect-through-raspberry-pi/
Andy, can you output the data directly to a screen and not go through the victron portal. I want to put this in a rv and will not have internet connection or cell phone connectivity much of the time. I was wondering if I could attach a small screen directly to the raspi and monitor my system locally, perhaps through a local network.
Thanks - kit ordered, should be all up & running in 3 days from now...
...I hope 🤞🤣