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Michael Riley avatar image
Michael Riley asked

Venus WIFI turned off

I turned off the WIFI accidentally when using a mobile phone and 'pre-empting the next field as there is a slight delay in my user interface. I have been able to establish an Ethernet connection to the VenusGX (latest software) from my MacBook Pro - USB3-Ethernet adaptor as I can ping the connection (using either the built-in network utility or a terminal app and get a valid response to the IP address (see attached).The documentation advises Windows users to 'double click the icon' but this is not applicable to a Mac. I tried to enter the valid IP address into Safari (browser) but this has no result.

Any idea's please?

Venus OSwifi
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Michael Riley avatar image
Michael Riley answered ·

@JohnC; @Guy Stewart (Victron Energy Staff); @Margreet Leeftink (Victron Energy Staff)

Thanks Guy for the 'share' approach. This was instrumental in the 'final solution' :-)

Thanks a heap JohnC for the VRM Portal refresh. Finally after 45 minutes of trying I actually powered down everything (MacBook, Venus, Mobile phone, disconnected USB-Ethernet adaptor). Reset my 'share' by turning it off and then on (with Venus off but cables plugged into MacBook). Turned on the share and then turned on the Venus. Went to VRM and there was the IP address. Quickly opened a browser window and typed that it - logged in straight away and I turned back on the WIFI connection.

As an aside I have now also gone into the Ethernet settings and turned from automatic to manual and 'kept' the IP address which last showed up and have a note of these.

Any warning of suggestions around having a 'fixed' IP address for my site? I have taken a screen shot of the configuration (has not changed for weeks) and it shows that Remote Console on VRM is Enabled and up.

Any thoughts why the 'Remote Login' would not work?



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JohnC avatar image JohnC ♦ commented ·

Good work Michael. What you have now is really a bit of a workaround to a networking issue. It could be done 'better' with a router. Ie. Shut down your Mac and it stops, but will catch up the next day.

Not sure what you mean by "Remote Login", but if it's Remote Console on VRM, that is painfully slow from the other side of the world to the server. The lan option has the same functionality and is instant.

Fair winds..

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Michael Riley avatar image Michael Riley JohnC ♦ commented ·

Hmmmm. Reference 'remote login'.

There was a post here from Guy which provided all the info about the 'WIFI Share' on the MAC (which was great and part of the final outcome -see my comment to this effect however I cannot see that post any longer. In any case there was an instruction in that post.

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Michael Riley avatar image Michael Riley JohnC ♦ commented ·

@JohnC

I think I understand the value of the router and in the above case probably a good option however as we live full time aboard a sailing catamaran I closely monitor the GSM hotspot link (our way out / into for IP data). We also have a satellite WIFI hotspot so do not ever want the VenusGX to connect to that.

When out of normal area we use a YAGI antenna connected to a GSM Booster to get 'critical' info like weather forecasts (i.e. when out on the Great Barrier Reef for days) and whilst I believe that all the same 'functionality' of monitoring and turning router on/off etc is still available there are no other networked devices (Ethernet) on the boat. Plenty of NMEA2000/SeaTalkng, messaging etc. and a router seems a bit of an overkill for just the Venus. Printer is connected to the only real computer onboard (this MacBook Pro) and and handful of iOS devices all use various 'shares'.

Can you give me a little insight into why you might put a router in.

PS. I am getting a RPi3+ at some time in the future, when I get enough time to get my head back into the 'Linux world' - so perhaps this would change things so please feel free to include this in your thinking.

PPS. We will be spending a year or more in the South Pacific from the end of April 2019 (few weeks away ) so even further way from reliable 'networks' and perhaps now is when I need to by the 'tech'.

Thanks in advance.

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JohnC avatar image JohnC ♦ Michael Riley commented ·

Ha no. I think you may have it under control. Horses for courses, If what you have now is sufficient then no need to change in such circumstances.

The South Pacific would be a nice place to spend winter. I wish you well..


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JohnC avatar image
JohnC answered ·

The 169.254.x.x address is applied when your system can't find a dhcp server.. Basically you don't have a connection. It's not a Victron thing, and you could google it. It's not a valid address..

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Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) avatar image
Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) answered ·

There are a few ways to fix this. We will work through them one at a time.

In your browser, instead of the IP address, try

venus.local


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Michael Riley avatar image
Michael Riley answered ·

Thanks for the responses.

@Guy Stewart (Victron Energy Staff); @JohnC

Guy, the local.venus did not do anything. The page timed out eventually.

John, C - thanks 'googled' it and found that this is a Microsoft thing and to do with windows. I am running a Mac (Apple) without any network adaptor (at least I believe) using an Ethernet adaptor to USB on the MacBook Pro.

In any case back to the issue- how do I connect to my Venus? Am I slowly getting to the point where I need a 'router' to connect my MacBook to Venus rather than directly via a USB-Ethernet adaptor-Venus Ethernet?

Any further thoughts would be gratefully received as I am on a boat in the middle of 'nowhere' (australian east coast) and of course no vehicle etc to rush off and buy something.

Does anyone have experience with a hardware reboot of the VenusGX and would this achieve anything anyway?


Update: re 169.254..... (according to a trusted IT guy) this used to be a Microsoft domain reserve but was not kept current and is used now by 'numerous' network devices - it is STILL an invalid network connection [the address is valid in so much that it complies to the protocol construct???? [whatever that means] but it does not pass information???

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Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) avatar image Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) ♦♦ commented ·

My next suggestion would be to use the internet connection sharing feature of your Mac, to share your (presumably) mobile phone internet connection with the VGX via the ethernet port.

Once you have that setup, you should do a physical hardware restart of the VGX, that should reconnect it to the internet.

Then log into VRM and you see if it is updating. Then go into remote console via VRM and re-enable the wifi again.

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Michael Riley avatar image Michael Riley Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) ♦♦ commented ·

@Guy Stewart (Victron Energy Staff)

This worked to the extent that I created the 'share'. Rebooted the Venus and then logged into VRM on the same mobile phone hotspot connection. The 'site' is updating but the remote console does not connect. See attached.

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Michael Riley avatar image Michael Riley Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) ♦♦ commented ·

Further, the 'Device List' indicates that it last talked to the components 10 minutes ago however there is no data uploaded since the time I switched off the WIFI.

There is no data (no graph at all) for consumption etc.

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JohnC avatar image JohnC ♦ Michael Riley commented ·

It may have actually been working for a while.

Click on Device List > Gateway to see to see the GX 'Remote on lan' address. If it's blank you you may have to wait a bit, can be slow to show up. Refresh occasionally to check. If you've succeeded it will typically be 192.168.x.x

Type that alone into a browser tab and you'll have lan access to the Venus. Fast, doesn't have to go round the world.

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Michael Riley avatar image Michael Riley JohnC ♦ commented ·

Will look for that. Have been refreshing every 15 secs so far. Thanks.

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Michael Riley avatar image Michael Riley Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) ♦♦ commented ·

Are there any settings which should have been enabled that would prevent this. Note that the Remote Console has not been used before that I am aware of?

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Michael Riley avatar image Michael Riley Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) ♦♦ commented ·

The Venus is configured for 30 minute reporting. This period has expired and there is no 'further' communication from the venus.local (on the boat) to the VRM portal. I left everything the same for this period when I first logged onto VRM and saw that it had 'reconnected'. It appears that it is not sending data and I cannot (tried numerous times) to get a remote console connection.

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Related Resources

Victron Venus OS Open Source intro page

Venus OS GitHub (please do not post to this)

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