Victron Venus OS and a Rasberry

[Two on Tour]

I have connected all the negatives for my hab circuits and the negatives for my chargers (solar, EHU and B2B) to the load side of my shunt and the only cable from the battery side of my shunt goes to the battery negative so the shunt can accurately calculate the SOC by knowing all the charge and discharge that passes through it.

 

[autorouter]

The way I think of it is, imagine the shunt is an extension of the battery terminal. Everything goes to the load side of the shunt, including any chassis connections. A lithium battery has a shunt built into it, as part of its BMS. You don't get the chance to make a mistake and connect on the wrong side of it.

The single exception to this is if you are connecting two or more batteries together in parallel, to make one big battery bank. Then the negative link wires go directly between the battery terminals, ie they stay on the battery side of the shunt. Everything else, including the chassis connection, goes to the load side.

 

[Raul]

Load side of the terminal is also called battery side as that's where you connect the battery.
I think he got it right, the reason the XS trows those notifications needs looking into settings. You have to somehow test that the XS IS charging, and why no history?

 

[Raul]

Load side of the terminal is also called battery side as that's where you connect the battery.
I think he got it right, the reason the XS trows those notifications needs looking into settings. You have to somehow test that the XS IS charging, and why no history?

I just realised my mistake, phew;
Load side IS the opposite of the battery side, sorry for the confusion , it must be the heat.
I must ho a grab a cold beer from the fridge it may help.

So, if your XS output is on the battery side connected is wrong. It has to be on the opposite end. Maybe that has to do with the missing history.

 

[autorouter]

deleted

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[OldAgeTravellers]

I just realised my mistake, phew;
Load side IS the opposite of the battery side, sorry for the confusion , it must be the heat.
I must ho a grab a cold beer from the fridge it may help.

So, if your XS output is on the battery side connected is wrong. It has to be on the opposite end. Maybe that has to do with the missing history.

Thanks Raul and everybody else. My mistake, I have just checked, one cable from the negative side of the battery goes to one side of the shunt, then all others go to the other side of the shunt and chassis. So the shunt is correctly connected, I blame old age and driving round the incredible Norwegian scenery for the last 50 days and forgetting everything I had done.
So the shunt is connected properly,
Just looking at the Connect app I found the Clock icon on the top right which was reset all history. However I still have a flashing triangle on the Details page of the PiGX next to the time.
So I will find out when I move on later. Thanks for all the help.

 

[Raul]

The flashing triangle is a notification alert. It tells you to check what that notification is. I had notifications when more than one controller was connected to GX, but the notification said they are not compatible. All it was the settings did not match on the controllers. So I copied the setting for both and that notification did not return. When you read the notification it will disappear, but, if you not cure the cause, you will have them coming each time those conditions are met to trigger it.

 

[Vansflyer]

Generic 7" touchscreen purchased (from Wissel a while back, great to deal with btw.) , 3d case design downloaded and modified. Printed on sons machine at home (13 hours total time), trimmed and painted. Board cut for an "interference fit" down the back of the couch and secured with velcro so no screw holes and job done.
I will fit a swivel mount so I can point it towards me when I need to fiddle with it.
Overall quite happy with it and easier than viewing on my phone / TV.

 

[OldAgeTravellers]

I'm probably late to the party here and the last to discover it, but I noticed on RogerIvy stand at Malvern that he had a much nicer display on his GX. He said it was the new Beta version so I downloaded it but initially there was no change then I found out that http://(ip address)/gui-beta/ needs to go into the browser. From then on it seems as if you can use (ip address)/gui-v2/ for the new display or (ip address)/gui-v1/ to use the old display but GUI Mods is not compatible. The Firmware Version is v3.5~28 the "~" meaning it is a beta version. The new screen also automatically fills the whole of the browser screen which is great. There is also a light version in settings.
The screen views on mine are as below. The low battery % is because we have just had 4 nights off-grid and I forgot to charge the Lithium's before we went. But they held up well most others were running their engines. (he says smugly)

 

[Driventemple]

I'm probably late to the party here and the last to discover it, but I noticed on RogerIvy stand at Malvern that he had a much nicer display on his GX. He said it was the new Beta version

I thought the new display was not compatible with Raspberry Pi?

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[OldAgeTravellers]

I thought the new display was not compatible with Raspberry Pi?

Well I amusing a Pi2+ so it certinaly is.

 

[Soots]

I have just been setting up a 4B in our van and made some cables from Pi Hut.

JST-PH Jumper Assembly (4 Wire)

JST-PH jumper wires are our favorite type of "crimp" connector. They're solid, reliable, compact, low-cost, easy to connect/disconnect, and simple to solder on most projects! JST-PH connectors are 8.0mm (.295") in height after mounting, 4.5mm (.177") in width and feature a low-profile 2.0mm...

thepihut.com

USB to TTL Serial Cable for Raspberry Pi

USB to TTL serial cables allow you to connect to your Raspberry Pi or microcontroller serial console port. The main body has a USB serial conversion chip, and the other end has four wires to hook up to your target board: Red = power Black - GND White = RX (into USB port) Green = TX (out of USB...

thepihut.com

Ignored the colour coding and wired to the pin outs. All good but the smartshunt wasn't happy with the 5v feed so disconnected that and has worked fine since with that and the MPPT controller.
Also found some code to BT to the Fogstar battery, took a while to work out (I am not a programmer or familiar with code) but got there in the end. Been on test since for 5 days or so and all good. Fogstar doesn't give "time to go" anywhere on the Venus display but can live without that and you can't have the Fogstar and the Smart shunt on the screen display at the same time but it is available on VRM.
Works with my BT keyboard and hopefully will be good with some Ruuvi tags and a Mopeka LPG unit. I am concerned that the BT stack will lock out with the Fogstar constant code but will see when testing.



View attachment 884096

View attachment 884097

Hi ,I've bought the cables as you did.
But I can connect it to my victron mppt 100/50 charger . But getting the correct wires together is eluding me. Can you remember which way you did it ,please? Error 21 came up twice!

 

[Vansflyer]

Hi ,I've bought the cables as you did.
But I can connect it to my victron mppt 100/50 charger . But getting the correct wires together is eluding me. Can you remember which way you did it ,please? Error 21 came up twice!

Hi. Just dug through my photos and found these but from memory one wiring diagram was not correct so proceed with caution. As commented on earlier in this thread you also don't attach the 5v feed to the Victron device from memory.
Photos of cable join was in my test phase, I did it neater when I was happy with it and they are now buried in the van.
Good luck.

 

[Soots]

Hi. Just dug through my photos and found these but from memory one wiring diagram was not correct so proceed with caution. As commented on earlier in this thread you also don't attach the 5v feed to the Victron device from memory.
Photos of cable join was in my test phase, I did it neater when I was happy with it and they are now buried in the van.
Good luck.



View attachment 970685

View attachment 970686

View attachment 970687

Thanks for getting back, the jst wiring doesn't make sense, to me anyway!
So I won't connect red to yellow 5v +.
I don't have a shunt, only multi plus 2 and mppt.
Not certain how to connect to the multiplus2 yet.
Google will get some hammer tonight.
Thanks again. Martin

 

[Raul]

You need to use a usb serial converter at the PI end, the victron VE direct socked does not use positive supply, only tx rx and ground. It gets its power via battery cable.

I have used the above schematic with great success on 4 separate cables.

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[Two on Tour]

I have found that there is no set convention for the order in which the wire colours are in the JST connectors, as I have had different colour order from left to right from different suppliers. What I do is I de-pin the wires from the JST connector and then reinsert the wires in the JST connector to best match the colours of the USB to UART cable to suit the required order for the Victron device, i.e. black to black green to green and yellow to white, leaving out the red. It's easy to de-pin the JST connector by just lifting the little white locking tab with a fine watchmakers screwdriver or the tip of a scalpel blade and pulling out the wire.

 

[Raul]

Thanks for getting back, the jst wiring doesn't make sense, to me anyway!
So I won't connect red to yellow 5v +.
I don't have a shunt, only multi plus 2 and mppt.
Not certain how to connect to the multiplus2 yet.
Google will get some hammer tonight.
Thanks again. Martin

The multiplus to PI will need a VE bus to usb from victron only, the mk3 ve bus is the later and slimmer one. The MK2 is bigger and older model, will work if you find a second hand. I would go for a mk3 second, they pop up on ebay.

 

[Soots]

You need to use a usb serial converter at the PI end, the victron VE direct socked does not use positive supply, only tx rx and ground. It gets its power via battery cable.

View attachment 970715

I have used the above schematic with great success on 4 separate cables.

Hi Raul, sorry to take so long dinner beckoned!
Thanks for the info, your victron connector is different to mine!
This how I've done it , but can't get anything on my screen!
I've got a usb smart dongle. Is that the same?

 

[Soots]

You need to use a usb serial converter at the PI end, the victron VE direct socked does not use positive supply, only tx rx and ground. It gets its power via battery cable.

View attachment 970715

I have used the above schematic with great success on 4 separate cables.

Hi Raul, sorry to take so long dinner beckoned!
Thanks for the info, your victron connector is different to mine!
This how I've done it , but can't get anything on my screen!

 

[Raul]

This is the one you need, not the one you have in the photo.

Pardon our interruption...

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[jmbigland]

Have managed to build & test the software but without connection to victron in van
I have used powerbank power at home to set up

Interested how people power when in situ in vehicle & photo examples please
Do you run step down 12v to 5v or separate wiring or from a power bank ?

Thanks for help

 

[landranger]

Have managed to build & test the software but without connection to victron in van
I have used powerbank power at home to set up

Interested how people power when in situ in vehicle & photo examples please
Do you run step down 12v to 5v or separate wiring or from a power bank ?

Thanks for help

I used one of these, basically fit and forget.

Micro USB 12V to 5V 3A 15W Car Stepdown Converter Reverse Protection - UK STOCK | eBay

Micro USB output (3 amp).

www.ebay.co.uk

Edit
For some reason my link has picked up Raul's words ??

 

[Diabalo]

Have managed to build & test the software but without connection to victron in van
I have used powerbank power at home to set up

Interested how people power when in situ in vehicle & photo examples please
Do you run step down 12v to 5v or separate wiring or from a power bank ?

Thanks for help

I use one similar to this,
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/39418698...pid=5339023013&customid=&toolid=10001&mkevt=1

 

[Raul]

I used one of these, basically fit and forget.

Micro USB 12V to 5V 3A 15W Car Stepdown Converter Reverse Protection - UK STOCK | eBay

Micro USB output (3 amp).

www.ebay.co.uk

Edit
For some reason my link has picked up Raul's words ??

They are not mine, every time I put a link on this site, come's up with that. Don't know why, as on other sites does not happen.

 

[Two on Tour]

Have managed to build & test the software but without connection to victron in van
I have used powerbank power at home to set up

Interested how people power when in situ in vehicle & photo examples please
Do you run step down 12v to 5v or separate wiring or from a power bank ?

Thanks for help

I use the same as Diabalo, in fact In bought mine from the same seller that Diabalo has link too.

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[Raul]

I'm I the only one powering the PI directly from leisure batt connected USB? Sometimes the screen displays the low power symbol, other than that no hick-ups.

 

[landranger]

I'm I the only one powering the PI directly from leisure batt connected USB? Sometimes the screen displays the low power symbol, other than that no hick-ups.

Sorry Raul, can I just clarify, are you saying that you connect a USB lead to the 12v leisure battery? So effectively you're giving the Pi 12v?

 

[Raul]

Sorry Raul, can I just clarify, are you saying that you connect a USB lead to the 12v leisure battery? So effectively you're giving the Pi 12v?

No, it's a usb socket connected to 12v. And I plug the PI into that socket.

 

[Vansflyer]

I'm I the only one powering the PI directly from leisure batt connected USB? Sometimes the screen displays the low power symbol, other than that no hick-ups.

Nope you are not alone, I do it that way as well. Pi has been on for months now without issue.

 

[Driventemple]

I'm I the only one powering the PI directly from leisure batt connected USB? Sometimes the screen displays the low power symbol, other than that no hick-ups.

I used the same method for a year then, when I fitted a screen (on a 5m usb lead!) I started getting the low voltage signal. I purchased one of these:

Pardon our interruption...

I then adjusted it, under load, to exactly 5.1V because that is what the Pi needs.

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