Victron VE.bus-

[nab2]

Is VE.bus a standard RS232 connection such that I could use a standard USB:serial dongle and Cisco serial cable I have from my day job?

 

[sunshine_eggo]

No. It's a RJ45 port to start with, and it's completely proprietary.

https://www.victronenergy.com/upload/documents/Technical-Information-Data-communication-with-Victron-Energy-products_EN.pdf

 

[hotnoob]

followed the above pdf to this:

https://www.victronenergy.com/upload/documents/Technical-Information-Interfacing-with-VE-Bus-products-MK2-Protocol-3-14.pdf

cool.

i could probably implement it in my project... when i have the time maybe next fall/winter.
ima add this to my list.

edit: oops didnt answer the question

"Communication with VE.Bus devices is achieved by using an MK2 interface (eitherMK2.2 or MK2 USB or MK3 USB). The MK2 provides a galvanically isolated serialconnection."

So yes you can probably use a usb-serial adapter if no usb port is provided on the device. the usb port would probably just be an built-in adapter. like newer cisco switches and their usb ports. as for the cisco cable thing. there is a chance, also a chance it's non-standard pinout... cause solar hardware companies just love to do random pinouts

Baud rate: 2400 Parity: NoneData bits: 8 Stop bits: 1