question

rickpickle avatar image
rickpickle asked

No internet connection


Can anyone make any suggestions as to how i can create an off-grid data logging using node-red, raspberry pi and some sort of hard drive connected via router on the LAN.

All suggestions gratefully received.

TL;DR

I live in rural France have had 2x small solar setups running for over 10 years, in the last few years i have had 2x raspberry pi running VenusOS to monitor 2x diy li-ion powerwalls 1x 100/30 mppt, 1200 phoenix inverter and a 75/15 mppt with 1x diy li-ion powerwall.

All was running great could see everything i wanted via remote console on LAN or Victronconnect app.

Then at the start of November we got hit by lightening,,,It came down the phone line and most things that were connected to the routeur were fried. any way...

I have replaced what was burnt and have configured what i needed too.

The Phone company Orange have still not reconnected the phone line and possibly wont,, we are in a zone blanche (white zone) so the 4G etc is weak, unreliable and metered.


So i dont have VRM which i didn't realise means i cant communicate with the victron devices via victronconnect app only via each devices bluetooth. nor do i have any data logging.

Bit of a bummer that i need to be on-grid to be off-grid

Can anyone make any suggestions as to how i can create an off-grid data logging using node-red, raspberry pi and some sort of hard drive connected via router on the LAN.

All suggestions gratefully received.

Venus OSNode-REDRaspberry Pi
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3 Answers
phoenix avatar image
phoenix answered ·

Some ideas.

Starlink. 40€ per month unlimited data. It appears easy to install without specialist equipment.

Where ì live in the Hautes Pyrénées, fibre has been deployed everywhere, even in the remote houses. So request a new fibre connection. Chez Sosh it's free installation!

I've installed a couple of adsl via satellite. I think that they are still expensive compared to starlink. Relatively easy to align with a compass.

Even with a spotty 4G link, I believe the data will upload to VRM when there is a connection. Bouygues have 10G for 10€/month. I doubt you'd exceed 10G of data.

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rickpickle avatar image rickpickle commented ·
Thank you for the very useful suggestions,, I have been looking into adsl via satellite but didn't know about Sosh so thank you.


Although my preference is for a LAN based solution, having suffered so much damage through the telephone line I am very reluctant to re-connect.
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matt1309 avatar image
matt1309 answered ·

Another option: https://github.com/victronenergy/venus-docker-grafana

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rickpickle avatar image rickpickle commented ·

Thats great thank you, i have a lot of reading to do now...

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Alexandra avatar image
Alexandra answered ·

Not sure how love you want the data, but you can log to an SD card then manually upload the data occasionally to the VRM to look at it.

Or find another way to use the logs to visualise the data.

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