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jimmym avatar image
jimmym asked

Venus OS on RPi 4 Remote Console over WiFi

I have Venus OS up and running on a RPi 4B-2GB, 32GB micro SD. It starts up just fine and I can connect to the remote console via browser & IP address when the ethernet cord is plugged in. But after starting up without ethernet connected, the WiFi connects to my home network and the RPi shows up in VRM. But when I try to connect to the remote console via browser when using WiFi, it times out.

Oddly, if it's connected via ethernet and WiFi, I can connect to the remote console by both the ethernet IP and the WiFi IP.

Thoughts?

Raspberry Piremote consolewifi
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4 Answers
elvis avatar image
elvis answered ·

make sure the wifi IP is correct.

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jimmym avatar image jimmym commented ·

It is indeed correct. x.x.x.95 is assigned by DHCP to the ethernet MAC. x.x.x.93 is assigned to the WiFi MAC.



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Kevin Windrem avatar image
Kevin Windrem answered ·

If you are running the new kernel (not the image from the Victron feeds) on your RPI4, you may need to update the EEPROM to get all I/O to function properly.

You'll need to flash an SD card with Raspberry PI OS and run that. Then you can the update from a terminal window:

sudo rpi-eeprom-update

Then you can shutdown and put the Venus OS SD card back in.

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jimmym avatar image jimmym commented ·

I used a Victron image (venus-image-raspberrypi4-20220215235310-v2.84.rootfs.wic) and replaced fixup4.dat and start4.elf on the SD card after burning the image.

I didn't know about the eeprom. I'll give it a shot. Thanks.

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Kevin Windrem avatar image Kevin Windrem jimmym commented ·
Replacing the start and mixup files allows the PI to boot but does not activate all the I/O. A new kernel is needed. Some development work has been done on this kernel but Victron is reviewing those changes now but has not officially approved them for inclusion in the released or beta feeds.


For now, you need to switch to an older RPI 4 board or an RPI 3

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Kevin Windrem avatar image Kevin Windrem jimmym commented ·

I found this post from @Johnny Brusevold that has links to the new kernel under development:

https://community.victronenergy.com/questions/117180/raspberry-pi-4-version-14-images.html

There may still be issues with the RPI 4 v1.5 board but I think this working on v1.1, v1.2 and v1.4 boards. Use at your own risk.

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jimmym avatar image jimmym Kevin Windrem commented ·
Thanks for the info, Kevin. I don't know what version my RPi4 board is. And finding an RPi3 is difficult to say the least.
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Kevin Windrem avatar image
Kevin Windrem answered ·

It is not possible for VRM to get data and not be able to ping the GX device or show the GUI on a local browser unless it is connecting and disconnecting from the network. You should see this in the GX device's menus.

Are you sure you are using the correct IP address to pint and connect via a local browser?

Have you tried venus.local as opposed to an IP address?

How about signal strength? Interference?


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jimmym avatar image jimmym commented ·
If you want to get on a screen share with me I can show you that the Venus connects to VRM and I can connect to a remote console via VRM. I can see the WiFi IP address/Gateway, DNS. But the RPi does not answer pings nor can I connect to the device's remote console using the IP address in my browser(http://x.x.x.95) .

ping venus.local cannot resolve host.

WiFi signal shows 75%

ping x.x.x.95 returns Destination host unreachable

I KNOW it's the right IP, the browser shortcut/IP has worked before.

I stated above that the ethernet IP was x.95, but that's incorrect. it's x.93. Again. I can see the RPi WiFi IP address in the VRM remote console.

I tried setting the IP address manually to x.x.x.95 and it still doesn't respond locally.

I manually set the IP to x.x.x.211 and it started to respond to pings and I can connect to it locally.

I manually set it back to x.x.x.95 and can connect again locally.

Reboot... Now responds locally using the x.x.x.95 IP

I reset the IP to x.x.x.211 and it no longer responds. Shows up in VRM.

Set the WiFi back to Automatic IP config and lost connectivity entirely.

Power cycle. Connected to VRM as x.x.x.95 and I can connect to the console locally.

Reboot. Shows up in VRM and can connect locally.

Reboot, but do power cycle when red light blinks. Connect sto VRM and responds locally.

I'm going to shut it down and leave it. I'll try again later.






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jimmym avatar image jimmym commented ·
Started it up again today, no access to the console via WiFi. Was working yesterday when I shut it off.
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jimmym avatar image
jimmym answered ·

This is still a problem.

Now on version 3.12 I have a Pi 3 and a Pi4. Both connected to the same WiFi router.

BOTH are available on VRM but neither can be pinged on the network. Either Timeout or Destination Host Unreachable.

Neither can be reached via remote console when WiFi is connected and ethernet is not.

Once in a while, it will be pingable and console reachable after a reboot.

Wired ethernet always works perfectly.

I can't be the only one with this issue.



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