Supporting multiple Victron Multiplus II's?
- Thread starter KevinC_63559
- Start date
KevinC_63559
New Member
Hard to get cheaper than "virtually nothing" since I already have the MK3 and RPi. But agree if I had to purchase anything significant.
sunshine_eggo
Happy Breffast!
For a small, simple system, an RPi is fine. You might have noticed "Steve's RPi" in my VRM list. That's just an RPi I'm using to monitor a JBD BMS battery.
Brucey
Solar Wizard
Your VRM link goes to the HBR instance and I can't see a way to see a bigger listing? That forecast section is pretty sweet looks like I'll have to get a cerbo-s versus making do with bt connectivity and virtual connect.
sunshine_eggo
Happy Breffast!
Yep. My VRM link is only to my VRM instance. The other installations are only visible from my user login as they belong to other people.
Using a pi instead of a Cerbo doesn't get you the included relays in the Cerbo for controlling external devices, generators, etc, (but you could add external ones) but if you were looking at the smaller -S Cerbo you are probably ok. Take a look here, be careful of which pi you use, etc, and enjoy:
raspberrypi install venus image
Victron Energy Unix/Linux OS. Contribute to victronenergy/venus development by creating an account on GitHub.
github.com
KevinC_63559
New Member
Ah, sorry... posted my results in my signature thread, but to summarize:
It was extremely easy to do. Connection via the VictronConnect app was painless. Only required the slightest Linux knowledge to enable the monitor for output. Next step will be to install a very cheap 7" touchscreen in place of regular monitor - should know the results of that next week after it arrives.
Again, this is just for my UPS system with just a single VE-BUS connection. No need for relays, or tank monitoring, etc. Since I already had the MK3-USB and all the other parts, it was just a couple hour project - mostly spent hunting down those parts. Actually burning of the OS image and enabling the monitor was perhaps 15, no more than 20, minutes.
It was extremely easy to do. Connection via the VictronConnect app was painless. Only required the slightest Linux knowledge to enable the monitor for output. Next step will be to install a very cheap 7" touchscreen in place of regular monitor - should know the results of that next week after it arrives.
Again, this is just for my UPS system with just a single VE-BUS connection. No need for relays, or tank monitoring, etc. Since I already had the MK3-USB and all the other parts, it was just a couple hour project - mostly spent hunting down those parts. Actually burning of the OS image and enabling the monitor was perhaps 15, no more than 20, minutes.
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Brucey
Solar Wizard
There was a big surge in pi pricing that's just recently eased off to reality levels
sunshine_eggo
Happy Breffast!
Off the top of my head...
RPi were almost impossible to get for a few years, and are still comparatively "rare" and expensive.
It's crazy easy to do.
RPi people are already cheap, somewhat savvy and aren't likely to pay a premium for the effort.
robbob2112
Doing more research, mosty harmless
Wow, RPi has come a long way since my trusty RPi1a running raspbiene - it takes the temperature of air and the aquarium water ever second and notifies me if the tank heater stops working. And of course the trust 2B model with the western digital PiDrive running my weather station - Last one is the media server in an unused bedroom attached to a dumb TV. No idea what that one is. Haven't touched any of that since the start of covid and you couldn't get one at any price.
Yer right that us peeps are cheap.
I remember looking and small kits on Amazon in 2022 were almost a wash price wise with a cerbo (minus the display) once you factored in all the USB converters.
robbob2112
Doing more research, mosty harmless
I like the canakits generally if you want to make sure you get everything you need at once verse learning you are missing something when you finally have a moment without the wife needing help with something. Then the pihats for the stuff they left out, like the pesky sata connector that would be really nice. Assuming they still make that hat, I have a bin full from when I discovered the RPi.
KevinC_63559
New Member
Biggie for me is the Pi's lack of relay ports. Yeah, one can add them to the GPIO pins, but by then its likely the Cerbo is cost competitive. Close already once, as someone else pointed out, you factor in cableing. Plus no CAN support for batteries.
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robbob2112
Doing more research, mosty harmless
You cab get a relay hat with a variety of specs and voltages. Slide it over the gpio and it works. Wouldn't surpries me if the common used pi ve software isnt already coded for a specific one.
As a Linux guy, when I was investigating doing Solar and came across Victron and later realized I could do the Cerbo with a pi, I was overjoyed. My use case for solar is an off-grid barn 150 ft from the house.
For what it is worth, I power my pi via a POE Hat, which is connected to a DC-powered POE network switch which itself is connected to my battery. I have a PtP WiFi antenna back to the house, also on the same switch....For a real cerbo, I'd probably do USB power from the battery if I didn't want to go AC for the Cerbo with a small ac-dc power supply.
For what it is worth, I power my pi via a POE Hat, which is connected to a DC-powered POE network switch which itself is connected to my battery. I have a PtP WiFi antenna back to the house, also on the same switch....For a real cerbo, I'd probably do USB power from the battery if I didn't want to go AC for the Cerbo with a small ac-dc power supply.
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sunshine_eggo
Happy Breffast!
CAN hat
The only issue I've heard about is the double sometimes switches addresses during reboot and changes the battery device ID number.
KevinC_63559
New Member
Got to be just a bit careful is your using a AC-DC power supply for the Cerbo and that power supply is on the AC OUT side of inverter. Apparently the inverter won't power up until the Cerbo does, so you can get yourself in a catch 22 situation - or so I've read. Therefore, powering off the batteries directly is superior. That's easily said with 12V systems, not sure what to do for a 24V or 48V system.
btw - thanks for bringing this up. Just ordered a cable so I can power my Pi off my 12V USB charger box... One less brick on my wall is a GOOD thing.
I use one of these:
Here is what I do for CANBus to my EG4 LLv2 from the pi:
EG4 LL BMS to Victron Cerbo
It is just a matter of time before one of those EG4-LL batteries would set someone's house on fire and they will find themselves out of business due to a class action lawsuit. See my post...
diysolarforum.com
KevinC_63559
New Member
<sorry, posted on wrong thread. Unsure how to completely delete a post>
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