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ronaldgadget avatar image
ronaldgadget asked

victronConnect on Linux

Is there a Linux version of VictronConnect available?

Ronald

VictronConnect
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ronaldgadget avatar image ronaldgadget commented ·

in a few weeks I will have time to dive into this - I will be happy to collaborate with anyone on this.

Ronald

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6 Answers
mvader (Victron Energy) avatar image
mvader (Victron Energy) answered ·
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mvader (Victron Energy) avatar image mvader (Victron Energy) ♦♦ commented ·

ps. I accepted my own answer, to make it show on top of the list.

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thegrave avatar image thegrave mvader (Victron Energy) ♦♦ commented ·
I tried the latest version but there is a nasty bug - it tries with the default PIN code of 000000 and if it's not that it doesn't give you any prompt to enter the correct PIN code. There is no way to pre-enter it either. Please fix.
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dewitpj avatar image
dewitpj answered ·

Not that I could find - I have asked the question since even pairing with them is not an easy task under Linux.


I will gladly opensource my code if I can get the stats.

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ronaldgadget avatar image ronaldgadget commented ·

Have you found any documentation on the API over bluetooth? Or trying to rev-engineer the windows app? Ronald...

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dewitpj avatar image dewitpj ronaldgadget commented ·

No documentation that I could find - yes, reverse engineering might be the only way :(


I have tagged the community manager into my question so let's hope :)

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petajoule avatar image petajoule dewitpj commented ·

Reverse engineering - while legal in the EU (see Article 5 of the EU Directive 2009/24/EC) - is way too tedious. I'm pretty sure if asked nicely, Victron management is not overly reluctant to provide information.

While we lack interest or energy to reverse engineer Windows software, there is already Linux software communication with every Victron product, and a lot (not everything) of it is open source:

https://github.com/victronenergy/venus

So maybe start there. My guess would be, that the BT communication is just the VE.Direct protocol over BT Layer.

And if you need the VE.Direct protocol (and it is not already published somewhere and Victron would be reluctant to publish it - why?), then I could snoop on one of the vedirect-dbus processes ;-)


/opt/victronenergy/vedirect-interface/vedirect-dbus -v --log-before 25 --log-after 25 -t 0 --banner -s /dev/ttyO2


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ronaldgadget avatar image ronaldgadget petajoule commented ·
Oh... This is very helpful. When XMAS comes with free time I will try this approach! Thanks!

Ronald



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dewitpj avatar image dewitpj ronaldgadget commented ·

One step closer - got pairing to work....


[SmartSolar HQ1723JQJWI]# info C7:09:FE:67:96:49

Device C7:09:FE:67:96:49

Name: SmartSolar HQ1723JQJWI

Alias: SmartSolar HQ1723JQJWI

Paired: yes

Trusted: yes

Blocked: no

Connected: yes

LegacyPairing: no

UUID: Generic Access Profile (00001800-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb)

UUID: Generic Attribute Profile (00001801-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb)

UUID: Vendor specific (306b0001-b081-4037-83dc-e59fcc3cdfd0)

UUID: Vendor specific (68c10001-b17f-4d3a-a290-34ad6499937c)

UUID: Vendor specific (97580001-ddf1-48be-b73e-182664615d8e)


Now to figure out how/where/what :)


So far python and bluez are not playing along

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ronaldgadget avatar image ronaldgadget dewitpj commented ·

OK -- some progress!

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mvader (Victron Energy) avatar image
mvader (Victron Energy) answered ·

Hi all, having fun? ;-).

someone wrote:

> My guess would be, that the BT communication is just the VE.Direct protocol over BT Layer.

Its (by far) not that simple I’m afraid.


but, the good news is, that currently one of the developers is looking into making a Linux build of VictronConnect available. Be warned that there might be some limitations/issues wrt distributions, required Bluez version etc; and limited support on all that from us; but you should be able to habdle that.

so now lets just keep fingers crossed that its doable and you’ll see a version pop up soon.

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nafets avatar image
nafets answered ·

Hi,

I am also looking for a possibility, to grab data from some Victrons (BMV, MPPT) via BLE for further usage in homeautomation.


Very SAD, that Victron will not publish BLE documentation


I started looking at the BLE Interfaces of BMV712 and 3 different MPPTs

Till now i found, that the Service UUIDs and the Properties (of the 4 devices) are _absolute_ identical !


Planned next, is to sniff the BT Communication between ‚Victron Connect‘ and one of the devices...


I would apreciate finding somebody, to share Knowledge


Regards stefan

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Justin Cook avatar image Justin Cook ♦♦ commented ·

@Nafets, the choice to not publish the BLE API is simply one of practicality; as Victron states:

"Making the bluetooth API an official public one would mean that we can’t change it as simply as we can today; and also it means that we’ll get questions about it: bluetooth is not simple. Far more complicated than a serial port.

And then only our developers will be able to answer them: taking away development resources. Hence we chose to not make the Bluetooth API public."

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nafets avatar image nafets commented ·

Meanwhile started a new (consoldidation) thread on this:

https://community.victronenergy.com/questions/40048/victron-data-capture-via-bluetooth.html

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ronaldgadget avatar image ronaldgadget commented ·

I'll be happy to work with you starting March when I have more time...

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nafets avatar image nafets ronaldgadget commented ·

@ronaldgadget: Wrote you a PM


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mvader (Victron Energy) avatar image
mvader (Victron Energy) answered ·

Hi all. An update back on the original topic (VictronConnect for Linux): we have a working version now internally; and I expect to be able to share it soon (days or max a few weeks).

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dewitpj avatar image dewitpj commented ·

Please can you also supply an ARM version for the people that have Raspberry PI's at sites :)

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nafets avatar image nafets dewitpj commented ·

Would also appreciate this one, if possible

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ed-kok avatar image ed-kok dewitpj commented ·

Me too!

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mvader (Victron Energy) avatar image mvader (Victron Energy) ♦♦ ed-kok commented ·

We’ve not worked on a rpi version, so have to disappoint in that. Note that added value of having victronconnect locally to the systen is reducing, since we’re coming with the “remote” function in VC. See victronconnect beta page.

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nafets avatar image nafets commented ·

Hi Matthijs,


Thanks for your answer on my other thread.


When will the Linux version be released ?

Will it be available for Raspi ?

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mvader (Victron Energy) avatar image mvader (Victron Energy) ♦♦ nafets commented ·

Not for rpi, we are not building it for the rpi.


when? When we’re ready. Which I think is soon.

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Rain And Storm avatar image
Rain And Storm answered ·

@mvader (Victron Energy) could you please put a Linux AppImage badge on pages with products, eg https://www.victronenergy.com/inverters-chargers/multi-rs-solar?

Currently there's only App Store, Google Play, Mac app, and Windows. I had no idea there was one for Linux until I went into Downloads & Support -> VictronConnect and saw it there.

Thank you.

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