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looking to find a way to set a daily on and daily off on my multiplus 2.
with my invertor under my bed i am currently shutting down the system via the `VRM or manual switch but ideally if this daily function could be automated id love to hear what options if any are out there.
off grid setup and looking to go just use 12v basics overnight so all items are off and charging can resume the following day
context….. live aboard narrowboat with most or many items 230v… not all 12v
cheers all
dave
I am not aware of an time based functionality within an MP but if you have VRM you have a GX device that is likely to be capable of running NodeRed under Large OS.
With node Red you can do almost anything the device is capable of, specifically setting the Operational mode to Off / Charge / Invert / Both
I would suggest a a dual strategy...
The custom input node is spitting out the correct epoch time on my systems and I didn't even know there was an RTC, so have certainly not set it, are of the VRM link I suspect.
There is a Node Red node called 'node-red-contrib-moment', and a couple of others, I think, which will convert epoch to a conventional time format time. That said I believe that MomentJS is now included in JSONata so a change node should be able to handle the conversion.
However you go about setting and executing your schedule, consider a physical button, connected to an Aux input that will override the On/Off until the next switching event is fired by the schedule.
It wouldn't be hard to build a NR dashboard to set the schedule and as NR can talk to just about anything, building in exceptions might be a good plan too.
Perhaps switch off after 'some time' but only if the load is below 'some threshold'. That way if you decide to sit up watching a film the power will stay on until you turn the lights and TV off.
The possibilities are essentially endless even home automation integration is both possible and 'relatively' easy, depending on the platform. There is a node for that :-)
<moderated - personal info is a spam magnet>
You don't need any of that complexity. The inject node has a "run at a specific time" setting where you can set the days of week and a specific time. Use this to inject on/off to the relevant node at the times you want.
One for off, one for on.
Couldn't be simpler.
I didn't know that, useful to know... Thanks
How would you go about altering those parameters from a dashboard, is that possible?
BTW, moment.JS, the node or the native JSONata, doesn't look complex. I haven't tried it to be fair and it could be one of those things that look simple and then takes an age to figure out, but I doubt it...
I only mentioned epoch in the first place because I noticed Victron were using it for apparently the same reason I had decided recently that it makes a good M2M timestamp.
If you load the NR dashboard (or dash 2.0) you can use the standard text/numerical input boxes to inject data into the relevant node.
But the moment you need to muck with time it is a bit more complex, and usually will require working with epoch time.
There are various nodes that can help - moment, as mentioned, countdown, cron etc.
It depends what you need to do, and when it is dynamic you may need to store state so it persists across reboots.
If it is a simple schedule like on/off at a specific time on specific days, inject nodes are just way easier.
Do you know if NR on a Cerbo GX will support persistent context storage? I am aware that the GX has space/resource limitations and wouldn't want to stress it by doing something silly. I plan to add Influx and Grafana to my HA but I will not be trying that on GX without first checking that it isn't going to cause a problem... Stuff for another conversation I guess.
I absolutely take your point RE inject nodes but felt the original question was likely to morph to something more useful/interactive once the possibilities were out there.
I appreciate the comment, always good to get another perspective, cheers.
Use the generator start stop function from the GX relay to trigger the on off switch or remote on the inverter. That's about as simple as you can get.
Cant be more specific without knowing what model you have exactly
I cant see anything in the generator or relay assistants that permits time based logic!
or for that matter controlling the system state.
There is the safety switch assistant but that coms with caveats and I don't know enough to comment usefully
A hardware remote switch appears to be disabled in some circumstances, specifically when other devices a CCGX for example is controlling the state... I am assuming any GX but that is gust an assumption see - THIS, it is old, 2019 to 2022 but seems to suggest that the remote switch input, isn't, or wasn't, an option with a CCGX at least.
There is some other useful discussion about the BMS assistant that can shut down the inverter or charger but there is also discission about the effect this would/could have on charging settings.
I thought is was worth a nod in the direction of, but I am not commenting on the validity, applicability in 2024, or underlying rational.
This is not a recommendation to do anything other than more reading.
