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UPDATE 2024-03-19: v3.30 was released officially - thank you for your valuable feedback!

UPDATE 2024-03-18: v3.30~21 available for testing
UPDATE 2024-03-14: v3.30~17 available for testing
UPDATE 2024-03-12: v3.30~15 available for testing
UPDATE 2024-03-06: v3.30~13 available for testing
UPDATE 2024-03-03: v3.30~11 available for testing

Good day!

A fresh and clean new thread about the Venus OS v3.30 beta series. Aside from various minor fixes and improvements, v3.30 beta series now come with three highlights:

1. Peak shaving for ESS systems with an energy meter
2. Dynamic ESS
3. gui-v2 beta

I'll first of all go through each of those in detail, and for the full change log see below.

How can you help? Mostly by testing point 1, peak shaving for ESS systems. When wanting to test this, take note of the required update to the ESS Assistant (!).

Yours sincerely,

Matthijs Vader

Highlight 1: Peak shaving for ESS systems with an energy meter

Also known as the ESS system AC current limits.

The big thing new here is that you can set an input current as well as export current for systems having an Energy Meter. The limit is applied to the whole system.

This means it also takes EV Chargers, heat pumps or other high power loads into account, which are often installed in parallel to the inverter/charger system, rather than on the output.

It will, for example reduce battery charging in case the available current budget is already taken up by the EV Charger and other loads. To prevent tripping the main fuse of the building.

Until this feature, our peak shaving an current limiting features were bound to the inverter/charger, ie didn't work for loads behind the ESS energy meter. This new feature greatly expands our peak shaving capabilities.

Here are the new settings, you can find them in the Settings -> ESS menu in the GX.

How does it work?

As you’d expect, it monitors the current and when needed engages to keep that within the configured limits:

• to prevent overcurrent during export, system limits solar production and battery discharge.
• to prevent overcurrent during import, system limits battery charging.
• to prevent overcurrent during import because of loads, system will assist using battery power. (As long as battery permits of course).
• In case SOC is dropped more than 5% below configured ESS minimum SOC, the battery will be recharged from the grid as soon as loads drop.

Requirements and other details:

1. The feature is part of ESS; and applies to MultiPlus, Quattro, MultiPlus-II and so forth. The Multi RS will come with the same feature when we release Energy Meter and ESS support for that, but thats a different project and implementation.
   
   
2. NOTE: The function properly, the inverter/charges require an updated ESS Assistant, which you need VEConfigure for. The required version of the ESS Assistant is 018C.
   
   
3. About the existing "Limit system feed-in" option in the ESS menu, in watts: if you have both set, the lower of the two is followed for feeding in DC-coupled PV.
   
   
4. The GX does not limit PV-inverters in relation to the new export current limit. To illustrate: in case of major solar production, plus high tariff on selling energy to the utility, the new mechanism will limit feed in of power from the battery to 0. So, as long as the installed PV Inverter system is done such that it can’t by itself blow the fuse then its fine.
   
   
5. Works with all ESS supported energy meters.

Three phase operation details:

1. When the import/export limit is not being exceeded on any phase, the system operates normally, according to the "Multiphase regulation" setting.
   
   
2. If the current limit is exceeded on any one phase, in either direction, power will be moved to other phases in equal measures.
   
   
3. If all phases are maxed out and more power is needed to power the loads without exceeding the BMS limits, all phases are overloaded equally, to have the lowest chance of tripping a breaker or blowing a fuse.
   
   
4. Power will be passed through the DC bus to accomplish this goal, even if Multiphase regulation is set to "total of phases".

How to test?

Applies to ESS systems, having an Energy Meter such as the VM-3P75CT.

First ofcourse update the GX and update the ESS Assistant. Warning: only do that when you are familiar with our inverter/charger configuration tooling.

Next, set a current limit, and verify that under various conditions the systems keeps the current at the meter below the limit. Note that that doesn't happen instantaneously; also doesn't need to happen instantaneously: fuses are slow.

Highlight 2: Dynamic ESS

Per this latest beta we're getting real close to the official release of Dynamic ESS. Finally! As people that have followed the development of that it has taken quite some time. More time then expected or desired - but we're keen to first make it really good. And that is not easy with such a complicated feature; which as per what and how it is has the "risk" of being a feature that causes a significant amount of time for installers in answering questions from their customers.

But, latest tests and feedback are really good and promising; and with the Peak shaving aka Current limiting also up for testing, we're really close!

To learn more about Dynamic ESS, see here: https://community.victronenergy.com/articles/256073/dynamic-ess-on-beta-vrm-part-4.html

Highlight 3: our new UI, gui-v2 beta

Available in public beta testing for several months already; and receiving continuous updates and progress towards official release.

The details:

• It is still in beta, porting all the features and functions of the old UI over to the new one is an enormous task, and I expect that to take several more months.
• Beta testing is best done using a browser, http://<ipaddress>/gui-beta. And you need to enable the MQTT on LAN (Plaintext) setting for that to work, but having it on screen on an Ekrano GX as well as GX Touch is possible as well.
• More screenshots and details are in this presentation:
  
  https://bit.ly/gui-v2
  
  
• Known issues - no need to give comments or answers on these, they are being worked on:
  • Notifications don’t work yet
  • Setting the brightness as well as screen saver / display off doesn’t work yet
  • Keyboard navigation is not yet supported in the Remote Console
  • Drill down for AC loads, showing the split between normal and critical loads is not available yet
  • Solar and wind priority controls are missing.
  • Connecting to wifi / setting wifi password doesn’t work.
  • Weather in side-pane doesn’t work yet.
  • The arcs aka gauges on both brief page and overview page don't work well yet.
  • Orion XS visualisation.
  • Various other things.

Instructions: Venus OS beta testing & how to join/install

In case you don't know what this message is about, please start with reading this link, which explains the Venus OS beta program. Venus OS is the software running on all our GX devices, such as the Cerbo GX.

Instructions: How to post an issue?

By posting an answer below. Do please keep all findings organised: one answer issue per issue. So first check the existing threads if your issue has already been seen. And if it does, add a comment saying "me too". And preferably some more details. And in case its not listed yet, add a new Answer.

Note that Answers and Comments are two different things on this portal.

Lastly, before posting issues, preferably first revert to the latest official release (v3.10), to double check if the issue you're seeing was present there as well. Regressions require a different treatment than other issues and bugs.

And include information about the results/differences in behaviour in your report.

Instructions: Node-RED, Kevin’s GuiMods or other add-ons?

In case you are running Node-RED or SignalK, then please at least say so in your bug report.

GuiMods and other 3rd party add-ons: don’t report your gui issues here. Do it elsewhere instead.

Changes made by us can cause a compatibility issue with the GuiMods; and these betas report pages are for official firmware only.

Change log

Changes v3.30~19 till 21

• Dynamic ESS fix: When the target has been reached, and grid feed-in is not allowed, allow DC-coupled PV to be used directly for loads. Previously, loads were powered from the grid, and the PV charged the battery in that situation.
• 
  

gui-v2 beta:

• Add support for Orion XS devices
• Tank gauges updated the new design
• Add handling for tanks that lack remaining and capacity values
• Various fixes to the battery settings
• Regression fixes: broken idle mode, jumpy main settings, page navigation stuck
• Press effect for the buttons and list items
• Download and upload translations to poeditor with token
• Improve generator engine parameter handling
• Toggle status LEDS on/off from General settings (Cerbo GX)
• Only show 'Silence alarm' button when on Notifications page
• Show 'C' and 'F' temperature units together with degrees symbol
• Make the wasm version work over HTTPS
• Various smaller bug fixes and improvements

Remote Console on LAN:

• Make entering a password work when using on HTTPS.

Changes v3.30~18

• Update translations

Changes v3.30~16 & v3.30~17

• Dynamic ESS
  • Fix issue where battery was always charging at full speed if grid feed-in is set to not allowed for the installation. Now, as was already the case for all other systems, Dynamic ESS calculates the required charge rate to meet the target SOC at the end of the hour
  • Increase charge rate with 10% to better meet the target SOC. (much better to get there a little earlier rather than not at all)
  • Fix issue where PV is not used for loads when feed-in is disallowed and SOC target is 100%
  • Fix bug where in some case loads were powered from the grid when they could be powered from the battery.
  • And more Dynamic ESS improvements and bug fixes
• Modbus-TCP
  • Add registers 4609 to 4612 for controlling the ESS functions of the Multi RS
  • Add registers 142, 143 and 144 for enabling/disabling the UPS function on Multis and Quattros
  • Add register 105 to trigger a redetect by the GX of a VE.Bus system.
• Cerbo GX: fix missing restart of the UI after hotplugging a GX Touch. This was broken in v3.20 or earlier.

Changes v3.30~14 & v3.30~15

• Fix low and high battery voltage alarms bug for the MPPT RS, by removing them. These alarms and notifications were added, by accident, in Venus OS v3.20 - and don't work well and should have never been there. Today we also removed them from VRM Portal; regardless of Venus OS version. Apologies to anyone that has seen or received these, rather confusing since not configurable or documented, alarms!
• Dynamic ESS: fix internal bug.
• Internal changes in the VE.Bus communications driver

Changes v3.30~12 & v3.30~13

• MFD Marine HTML5 App
  • Improved performance, especially loading (mqtt and gzip)
  • Fixed fahrenheit support
  • Fixed tank gauges flickering bug
  • Fixed sensors not visible
  • Improved tank gauges responsiveness, alignment and icon shrinking
  • Improved battery gauges responsiveness
• gui: remove the "alarm relay on" toggle. There was a bug in it, and the relay can already be controlled in manual mode or by setting the polarity, so instead of fixing the forced alarm relay on toggle it is simply removed.
• gui: fix the backlight off feature. Note that this still needs fixing for gui-v2.
• Internal: change certain data paths related to the RS & Alarms and the settings for Alarms.
• gui-v2 in the browser on local network: add support to open it on https, ie https://venus.local/gui-beta. Note that as usual for these things, it requires the user to accept invalid certificate which the browser warns about.

Venus OS Large

• ncu -u updates
• github action update for node 20
• Output enumerated value as msg.textvalue: For input nodes that use an enumerated value as data, also output the textual value as msg.textvalue. For these nodes also show this textual value in the status text.
• Updated documentation link

Changelog v3.30~11

• gui: move current limit settigns for ESS systems with energy meter into their own submenu
• gui-v2 beta:
  • Add swipe-based navigation for main pages

    Implement notifications/alarms support

    Support scaling value ranges in value formatting

    Reload web browser page upon firmware update

    Implement screen brightness settings support

    Update translations

    Improve MQTT websocket disconnection handling

    Redesign environment gauges

    Improve control cards page animations

    Various UI fixes and polish

    Various bug fixes

• VE.Can driver: fix Lynx Smart BMS related bug related to a false alarm on VRM.

Changes v3.30~8, 9 and 10

• ESS: current limit for systems with energy meter (this is a new feature per v3.30 beta series - see above for details).
  • Now requires ESS Assistant version 018C.
  • Fix that in ESS mode Keep Batteries Charged, or at any time when the system was charging the battery, for example if DESS required it, scheduled charging instructed it, or a BMS forced charging, and if the battery became full during this time, then PV could not be used for loads.
  • Fix excess DC-coupled PV feeding into the grid could exceed the export limit.
• Alarms and warnings: fix that also warnings triggered the buzzer. Only alarms should do that. Bug was introduced earlier in v3.30 beta series.
• Generator start/stop module integration:
  • ComAp: Fix coolant temperature and oil pressure register decimals (backport candidate)
  • DSE: Add DSE 6120 generator controller support
• Alternator controller integration:
  • Add DVCC support for the Wakespeed WS500.
  • Various improvements to related alarms and warnings.
• Energy Meter VM-3P75CT: Fix bug that (sometimes) caused the VM-3P75CT to not be read out properly – when connected over VE.Can. Also released as Venus OS v3.22 official

Internal:

• Change backlight and implementation related settings to prepare it for gui-v2.

Venus OS Large:

• Node-RED: add read-out + control of the Cerbo GX status LEDs via the settings nodes.
• SignalK Server: Fixes N2K not being configured out of the box for Ekrano, while it is for Cerbo GX & Venus GX.

Changes v3.30~7

• Fix MQTT issue causing issues on installations where many write topics (W) were sent. Just like the bug fix related negative numbers, see below as well as v3.21 official release, this write-topics bug also affected systems with customer-own software, for example special control loops that run a different ESS algorithm than the standard Victron one. The bug was introduced per v3.20, last week.
  
  As far as we've seen so far, this fixes all reported and known MQTT issues that were related to v3.20 which had quite many deep level changes with regards to its MQTT implementation. Too bad ofcourse that despite months of testing we never found those, but at least with the help of various people reporting them and allowing us to access their systems we were able to fix them quickly.
  
  For a full overview, of the issues, see this post here on Community.
  
  And the -today updated- migration chapter in the new MQTT on Venus OS documentation.
• Improve gui-v2 load time when accessed over the VRM Portal; and yes! this means its now possible to access the gui-v2 on VRM.
  
  To use it, you'll need to modify your URL in your browser by hand to https://vrm.victronenergy.com/remote-console-2/123456; in which 123456 is the number that is always in the URL when looking at an installation in VRM.
  
  Soon, we'll add a link to the menu on VRM.

Changes v3.30~4 -> v3.30~6

• Fix MQTT issue that prevented writing negative numbers over MQTT, for example to ESS set points. Affects systems with customer-own software that writes there; introduced per v3.20.
• Improve robustness of remote firmware updates of the Victron VN-3P75CT Energy Meter. Thank you @Markus for helping to fix this!

(below items were added per 2024-02-19)

• gui-v2 beta v0.2.10
  • Fix keyboard not working when using gui-v2 in a browser
  • Add translations (Chinese and Thai are not supported when using it in the browser)
  • Fix Wi-Fi access point disabling
  • Fix enabling DVCC causing disabling toast
  • Fix nav bar getting stuck after visiting settings
  • Enable generator auto-start when the respective switch is checked.
• Complete the disable LEDs feature on the Cerbo GX.
• Modbus-TCP, add Orion XS registers:
  • Registers for input voltage/power
  • Mode (on and off)
  • Cumulative Ampere Hours charged.

Venus OS Large

• Update Node-RED from v3.1.3 to v3.1.5
  • https://github.com/node-red/node-red/releases
• Add registers for inputer voltage/power, mode (on/off) and cumulative amp hours charged to the Orion XS related nodes

Changes v3.20 -> v3.30~4

• Generator integration: add support for the DSE 8620-MKII
• Add option for the Cerbo GX to disable the LEDs. More on this later, its not fully finished - no need for feedback now. gui-v1 only.
• gui-v2 beta:
  • Make the gui-v1 <-> gui-v2 switch available in the Webassembly build as well. See the Settings -> Display & Language menu in both the current gui (gui-v1) and the new one in beta (gui-v2)
  • Update status bar icons
  • Show list of inverter/charger devices in overview drilldown
  • Show inverter/charger name in control card
  • Add support for inverter-only devices
  • Show inverter-specific control card for inverters
  • Show inverter-specific overview drilldown page for inverters
  • Fix VE.Bus drilldown to show the device state properly
  • Fix bugs related to data validity checks
  • Fix property shadowing bug in ArcGauge
  • Show solar tracker name in history views if available
  • Fix bug in changing multiplus mode of Ve.Bus BMS v2 devices
  • Prevent closing modal dialogs with outside-clicks
  • Remove auto color mode, only dark+light is supported
  • Various bug fixes in tanks, i/o settings, battery details
• Add low battery alarm for the wireless Ruuvi temperature tags, this is for the small coin battery in the Ruuvi tag.
• Includes certain features that were disabled during gui-v2 release, on of which are the recently introduced AC current limits for ESS systems with energy meters. (I'll expand this entry later)

Under water:

• Change notifications/warnings/alarms mechanism to prepare for gui-v2
• Multi RS: add control points for, for example Dynamic ESS, to D-Bus. Not used yet by the upper layers in software.

gui-v2 screenshots:

There is a new page, called Brief:

The button on the upper right opens and closes a side pane for it:

The overview page has been redesigned as well. And the idea behind it is different. Rather than an (almost) correct electrical diagram, its more a functional one. With all generation on the left, conversion & storage in the middle, and consumption on the right.

Above is the dark mode. There is also a light mode:

And its no longer necessary to go deep into the Device list to, for example, start and stop the generator or modify the shore current limit. Day to day controls are now accessible using that small button on the top left. Here is how those controls look: