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kristb89 avatar image
kristb89 asked

Modbus pinout cerbo

Hi,

I am trying to connect my ps0600 control panel for my cumminsC17D5 generator into my Cerbo and make them communicate using modbus protocol. In theory I think it could work.

First challenge, how do I pinout my rj45-plug? I have the following wires from my control panel, and I have a feeling I need to map these to the correct pinouts in my rj45-plug.1701818736013.png


All knowledgable answers would be very appreciated, and I am sure I have plenty of learning to do before this is doing the magic I want it to do :)

cerbo gxGeneratorModbus TCP
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2 Answers
iainsommerville avatar image
iainsommerville answered ·

To connect a Cerbo to a device using serial modbus over RS485 you would generally need to use a USB adaptor such as this one: https://www.victronenergy.com/accessories/rs485-to-usb-interface. This would plug into one of the spare USB ports on the Cerbo.

I don't know if the Cummings generator is supported by Venus, do you know what type of controller it uses (e.g. ComAp)?

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kristb89 avatar image kristb89 commented ·
Thanks!

I was planning on making my own cable with 5 wires and put in a rj45 plug, but if the premade cable does the trick it saves me time.

The generator uses a Powerstart 0600 control panel.

Don't know if this helps?

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iainsommerville avatar image
iainsommerville answered ·

Unfortunately I don't believe that the powerstart control panels are currently supported on Venus/Cerbo; they have just added support for the Comap Inteligen 4 and Deep Sea controllers so there is a chance support could be added in the future. There isn't a standard for modbus generator controller protocols so they have to be added individually - they aren't too hard to implement if you are familiar with modbus and python - see the comap.py and dse.py for examples here (though their current implementations only support ModBusTCP for now): https://github.com/victronenergy/dbus-modbus-client/tree/master

For the cable, as far as I know the Cerbo series only supports modbus RS485 using a USB to serial adaptor that uses the ftdi chip - the victron one referenced earlier is the one I use. The RJ45 sockets only officially support CanBus/NMEA2000 or Ethernet.


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kristb89 avatar image kristb89 commented ·

This was very helpful, thanks! :D


Can I extend the cable using a normal USB extender cable? 5m might be just enough, but good to know just in case. Or any other things I need to worry about if I need, say 8 meter cable?


Again, thank you very much for helpful insight. I am guessing they will start support it the day after I finally have made it work perfectly :P :D

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