Lost Orange PV tile and Energy Meter Role stuck on unknown

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janefinch asked May 16, '24

Lost Orange PV tile and Energy Meter Role stuck on unknown

Over the last few weeks my CCGX has been displaying inaccurate loads. It always used to look like this.

But now the multiplus has been shown as passthru and the orange PV inverter tile has disappeared.

Rebooting the CCGX cured it.
This happened a few times.
After doing this on 3 or more occasions I updated the CCGX firmware.
It now looks like this and rebooting does not recover my PV tile any more.
The data is clearly incorrect too.

If I look at my EM24 energy meter settings the role is unknown.

If I change it to grid meter or PV Inverter in reverts back to unknown.

PV system, generation meter and immersun unit are working correctly.
Victron system does not seem to recognise energy flow any more.

USB dongle in CCGX unit from EM24 is flashing red and green

Now at a loss what to do.

Any thoughts?

CCGX Color Control em24

img-4739.jpeg (669.0 KiB)

ccgx1-screenshot-2024-05-16-175952.jpg (30.6 KiB)

ccgx2-screenshot-2024-05-16-180129.jpg (31.7 KiB)

ccgx3-screenshot-2024-05-16-180603.jpg (34.9 KiB)

ccgx4-screenshot-2024-05-16-180857.jpg (134.6 KiB)

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Duivert NL commented · May 25 at 05:53 PM

Hi,

you could download the carlo gavazzi UCS software and connect the em24 with the victron usb converter to your computer to see if it will communicate,

if that works check if it is on the right adress (1 or 2)

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Answer 1 · 2024-05-18T08:52:26Z

Alistair Warburton answered · May 18 at 08:52 AM

It looks like a Modbus coms issue...

Have a look at the Modbus baud rate and unit address in the meter and make sure the settings match in the CCGX, if they don't correct the settings so that they do, preferably in the CCGX, because it is the more flexible of the two, but provided both ends match it doesn't actually matter which you change.

Now check/note/backup all your system settings, preferably using VE Configure.

Power cycle the EM24

When you have done all that, run a 'system redetect' on the on the CCGX.

Set the meter role you need and see if it keeps that role, if it doesn't you probably have a physical problem either with the dongle or the meter.

Lastly... Open two VE Configure instances, one to show you the backup, and the second, connected, that you will use to download, manually alter, and then upload any/all settings that are not correct.

doing this with the inverter off is a good idea.

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janefinch commented · May 24 at 01:41 PM

Unfortunately, I can't see any settings of baud rate in the CCGX or any way to alter them.

Also I don't have VE Configure

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Alistair Warburton janefinch commented · May 24 at 10:18 PM

"correct the settings so that they do, preferably in the CCGX, because it is the more flexible of the two, but provided both ends match it doesn't actually matter which you change."

Looks like I was wrong, I am sorry about that I should have checked.

That said the CCGX will be expecting to see devices with unique ID's and on a bus with specific hardware settings, if it isn't configurable it will be fixed and documented. so the advice would be check the the meter is setup correctly.

You are talking about a Carlo Gavazzi EM24 not the Victron EM24 right?

They are very different...

Are the other two devices on the same RS485 bus or connected with additional dongles?

If you are talking about Ethernet connected devices then check, that the IP address of the device hasn't changed, ideally it would be set static in the device or your routers DHCP config, and why the dongle?

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janefinch Alistair Warburton commented · May 25 at 09:18 AM

As the system recovered when rebooting the CCGX I struggle to imagine why the EM24 (Carlo Gavazzi) would be at fault.

It only stopped recovering when I did a firmware update and now I can't roll back to an earlier firmware that 'works'.

There is one cable from the EM24 to the CCGX, the end of which in the CCGX is transparent and has flashing red and green LEDs.
An short extension USB cable within the enclosure connects the dongle to the CCGX.

Disconnecting the USB cable does not alter the CCGX display at all.

With my limited experience it seems that the EM24 is talking and the CCGX isn't listening anymore.
The fact that is won't store any role once selected seems most unusual.

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Alistair Warburton janefinch commented · May 25 at 05:13 PM

I agree, at least that is the first thing I would check.

Modbus RTU over RS485, which the Carlo Gavazzi uses to communicate is a serial protocol that is organized with a single master and some, up to 247, slaves.

The Modbus part describes the protocol, which is the way, the language for want of a better analogy, that the devices exchange data.

RTU stands for Remote Terminal Unit and essentially just means a thing with a unique address on the bus/network.

The RS485 bit is describing the hardware layer and is concerned with the electrical characteristics of the network and how, at a low level, each byte of data is transmitted.

Modbus can be used on different network types but that is beyond the scope here and I don't want to confuse you.

In your case the dongle is plugged into a USB port and will show up to the CCGX as a serial interface. The CCGX, weather it exposes the setpoints or not, will be accessing that serial connection in a specific way with specific settings.

Generally, but you would need to check documentation, the speed, called baud rate, data bits, stop bits and parity would be specified. These may all be hidden and implicit on a CCGX Honestly I don't know.

wherever this stuff is defined it must be the same, other than device address which must be different, for all devices on a network.

looking HERE I cant see any reference to any of it, other than Modbus device address which must be either 1 or 2 according to the document, one being the default first meter.

The manual for the EM24 states that stop bits are fixed to 1 and parity is fixed at 'none'. the choice of baud is limited to 9600 or 4800.

Assuming the CCGX is fixed in this respect and expecting the first meter to be at address 1 there is nothing to change there.

On EM24 it looks like you get to set address and baud, with only two choices.
Since the CCGX is expecting a meter at address 1 and I cant see the baud required I would set the EM24 to to address 1 at 9600 baud and if that doesn't work the only other option appears to be address 1 at 4800 baud.

You could try address 2, at both speeds, it isn't going to hurt anything... Mmmm

OK it isn't going to hurt anything, physically, from a coms perspective. If the CCGX is doing something less than standard with interfaces and Modbus addresses and you crate a conflict on the bus by attaching more than one device with the same address you may loose both devices until you tale it off again.

Probably best done with everything that 'could have a problem with not seeing its meter' idle. I don't know your config so cant comment specifically.

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Duivert NL Alistair Warburton commented · May 25 at 05:47 PM

There is no “victron” EM 24… they are all Carlo Gavazzi

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Alistair Warburton Duivert NL commented · May 26 at 09:30 PM

Another silly error... Saw THIS, and didn't look far enough down the page... Should have. It struck me as odd at the time that it was the same model number as a CG.

Sorry, appreciate the correction.

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Answer 2 · 2024-05-26T17:35:08Z

Alexandra answered · May 26 at 05:35 PM

@Janefinch

There is also the possibility that the CCGX is having age related issues.

It may be time for an upgrade.

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Answer 3 · 2024-05-26T21:59:36Z

Alistair Warburton answered · May 26 at 09:59 PM

It wouldn't be hard to test the meter. plug the USB/RS485 into a computer and run a Modbus test program. Many are quite expensive but Schneider do a reasonable one, free, that can handle single and spanned requests on all typical Fc's.

I do not know about the CG EM24 specifically, but its bigger relatives , EM 26-96 for example, will only accept a query for a limited number of registers, 12 I think, so 24 bytes, in a single read.

The docs are easily to find and download from CG, and pretty well laid out in my experience. The CG versions of protocol docs 'may' be easier to use, if testing outside a Victron ecosystem, I cant comment on what Victron distribute info wise but the CG versions are more than adequate when looking at come in general.

I used to use them, EM26-96, extensively because the MID version was relatively inexpensive and capable, but I generally go with ND meters now, for the same/similar reasons.

Looking at the CG website it appears the range has expended considerably, since I last checked, with far more Modbus TCP offerings, so I am probably a bit out of date, in many ways:-)

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Lost Orange PV tile and Energy Meter Role stuck on unknown

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