question

Kevin Windrem avatar image
Kevin Windrem asked

Enhanced Mobile Overview screen

Since adding tank displays to my CCGX, I find I spend most of my time on that screen. However, some items visible elsewhere are not included. Specifically, AC INPUT and SYSTEM info do not exist. In addition, space within most tiles is available for other parameters such as voltage, current and frequency. The revised display looks like this:

You may notice the PUMP button is missing. I've made it dynamic. That is, it appears if the relay is configured to control a pump. Without the button, there is more space for tank displays.

The following is a GitHub repository for the OverviewMobile.qml file that implements these changes. It's a substantial rewrite from the existing code to make future changes easier.

https://github.com/kwindrem/GuiMods

Venus OS
enhanced-overviewmobile-screen.png (46.8 KiB)
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ben avatar image ben ♦ commented ·

Very nice.

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Kevin Windrem avatar image Kevin Windrem commented ·

I should note that if there is more than one Inverter in the system, this screen only shows voltage, current and frequency for the first one found. Power, however is provided by system services and I believe combines info from all inverters.

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Mark avatar image Mark commented ·

Absolutely Awesome thank you. do you know how to add an extra page to the GUI? I would like to add an extra page for switching the relays so you don't have to go into the menus.

Thanks

Mark

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Kevin Windrem avatar image Kevin Windrem Mark commented ·

I haven't added additional pages but it should be easy.

Create a new overview page using any of the existing overviews as a template. Then add the new page to the ListModel in page main.qml. That list contains pages that are always present.

If you want the page to be dynamic, search for extraOverview. There are three in this file that should get you going

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Mark avatar image Mark Kevin Windrem commented ·

I'll try that thank you. I did try as a test yesterday running your enhanced page as an extra page but just get the magical white screen grrrr! If you do ever do it please keep me informed as I will you and this post if I get it working lol.

Cheers Mark

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Kevin Windrem avatar image Kevin Windrem Mark commented ·

check the GUI log to determine what's going wrong:

/var/log/gui/current

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Mark avatar image Mark Kevin Windrem commented ·

Hi Kevin,

Thanks for your previous help. I'm afraid to say it didn't work grrr.

I even tried adding it in main.qml where I spotted some overview links but still nothing??? If you have any other ideas they would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks Mark

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Rob Duthie avatar image Rob Duthie commented ·

Hi Kevin

You could add in the 2 temp readings at the bottom of the tank readings, which would be very useful? As the hardware is in place just cant view it only by going into the device screen.

I know Mark is going to add a relay screen with 6 relay buttons which can be setup to do any function and be renamed as well to suit the applications required light switching, PV tilt motor control, loading ramp etc.

Regards

Rob D

NZ

Victron Raspi Hat.pdfVictron Raspi Stetson.pdf

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victron-raspi-hat.pdf (593.1 KiB)
victron-raspi-stetson.pdf (601.5 KiB)
Rob Duthie avatar image Rob Duthie commented ·

import QtQuick 1.1 

import com.victron.velib 1.0   QML module not found (com.victron.velib
import "utils.js" as Utils file or directory not found.

Hi Kevin

How did you get around the missing files as above as i am doing some updates for the temp sensors to be added etc.

Can you advise, i am using QT creator.


Rob D

NZ

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Kevin Windrem avatar image Kevin Windrem Rob Duthie commented ·

All my code was edited by hand rather than using Qt creator. So ???

My enhanced mobile overview was modified from Victron's original file and I didn't touch anything regarding imports. I see no import errors in the log and things work fine.

Not sure who was asking about temperature sensors. Wasn't me.

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Rob Duthie avatar image Rob Duthie Kevin Windrem commented ·

Hi Kevin

It was me asking about the temp sensors, as i developed a raspi hat which combines most things that a GX does and some more, We have 6 relays outputs etc.

As per attached schematic.Victron Raspi Hat.pdf

If the 2 on board temp sensors could be added below the tank sensors that is one request a lot of people have being asking about.

Regards

Rob D

NZ

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victron-raspi-hat.pdf (593.1 KiB)
Kevin Windrem avatar image Kevin Windrem Rob Duthie commented ·

It should be possible to shorten the tanks column and add another tile below it to support the temperature sensors. Currently, the tank column's bottom is anchored to the top of the acModeButton if the pump button is enabled or it's bottom if not. Look in the ListView id:tanksColum (yes it's misspelled).

Hope that helps.

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Rob Duthie avatar image Rob Duthie Kevin Windrem commented ·

Hi Kevin


Thanks for the advise. You have done a great job on this screen, as it gives a lot more visual information than before as this has being requested for some time which Victron have not done. and lot of people have asked for it now this will finish it as complete.

Regards

Rob D

NZ

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9 Answers
nebulight avatar image
nebulight answered ·

Thanks, I think I'm going to swap this out.

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Kevin Windrem avatar image
Kevin Windrem answered ·

I recently started testing an ESS configuration and discovered the display of ESS "reason codes" on the GUI. I had to go look up their meaning. So to avoid this in the future, I modified the Mobile Overview page to display text for these conditions. I also combined merged the "reason" line with the "notification" Marquee to save space. It's unlikely you'd have both at the same time but if so, you'd want to scroll all reported conditions from both mechanisms.

The changes are here:

Venus-Mobile-Overview-Enhancements

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Felix Thommen avatar image
Felix Thommen answered ·

Hi Kevin

I tried to get your enhanced Mobile Overview from provided Github link. That link is not valid anymore. Could you please provide the files to me?

Thank you

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Felix Thommen avatar image
Felix Thommen answered ·

Found it by myself https://github.com/kwindrem/GuiMods

Thanks!

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Rob Duthie avatar image
Rob Duthie answered ·

Here is new one in the pipe line were are devopling with all Kevins enhanced mobile, but we are going to do a separate page for the relays and tanks and temps readings etc. So the relays can be named etc, at the moment when you touch the relay it pops up and shows the relay state and you can turn off and on from there.

screen-shot-2021-02-16-at-20958-pm.png



screen-shot-2021-02-16-at-20958-pm.png (121.8 KiB)
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Mark avatar image Mark commented ·

Looking good mate, I have managed to rename the relays but in the same way I did it before in the code, like the relay page in settings we made ages ago.

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Rob Duthie avatar image Rob Duthie Mark commented ·

Hi Mark

Correct but we plan to have a relay page with options to rename from the screen not the file in Venus.

Regards

Rob D

NZ

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Mark avatar image Mark Rob Duthie commented ·

Perfect thats awesome

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Rene Mullie avatar image
Rene Mullie answered ·

Real nice mod! Installed quick&easy, nice work.

@Kevin: do you intend to further develop this? I would be a nice framework for custom tiles, adding more parameters to tiles etc etc. I have some wishes in this respect.

Any suggestions on resources howto create/modify tiles within your GuiMods rewrite myself?

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Kevin Windrem avatar image Kevin Windrem commented ·

The Mobile Overview is a nice screen to show most things in one place for a mobile installation where you PV inverters aren't likely. (The original layout did show a PV INVERTER tile in place of AC INPUT.)

Space is limited and without a major layout change (e.g., modifying the tile title area) there really isn't much more that could be added. Replacements are fairly easy.

For RVs, at least in the US, displaying AC in and out info for an additional leg could be essential.

STATUS takes up a lot of space and there may be other things that would be more important. E.g., GPS for a boat. The first thing I'd remove is the system name.

For systems with just 2-4 tanks there's wasted space in the tanks column for other things. Some have suggested adding temperatures to the tanks column.

I have considered moving some generator stuff to this page. Probably just status and manual start/stop. It would be an either/or for the PUMP button that shows up at the bottom of the tanks column if it's enabled in settings.

Some real estate can be reclaimed by modifying the tile titles. For example, the line below can be eliminated without loosing any functionality. This and bumping up the title text could potentially leave room for one additional line per tile (small font).

The current limit and mode buttons at the bottom could be replaced by touchable buttons within a tile (a current limit button inside AC INPUT), a touchable mode button inside STATUS replacing the inverter status ("Float") in the screen shot.

For larger systems, I think I'd take a different approach, showing much abbreviated status for more things (e.g., just total power), then adding multiple overviews for more detail.

I invite you and others to make suggestions for improvements.

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drlbradley avatar image
drlbradley answered ·

I've just finished installed my system, and GUIMods is a really nice addition it - thanks for all the hard work.

@Kevin Windrem I'd really love to see the Ve.Bus status (allow to charge, allow to discharge) somewhere on one of the pages, it that currently possible?


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Kevin Windrem avatar image
Kevin Windrem answered ·

According to the Victron documentation here:

https://github.com/victronenergy/venus/wiki/dbus#battery

allow to charge/discharge is only available for Lynx BMS and Lynx Ion only, so probably not for the VE.Bus BMS.

I don't have a BMS so can't test. If you run dbus-spy and go to the BMS service, and find dBus parameters that show the states then I can probably add code to support it. Another challenge will be finding space for the information.

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drlbradley avatar image
drlbradley answered ·

It looks like its SystemState/DischargedDisabled and SystemState/ChargeDisabled there are no other params that look like they are relevant to the VE.Bus.

screenshot-2021-08-20-at-20-08-170603.png



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Kevin Windrem avatar image Kevin Windrem commented ·

Thanks. I'll look into adding something.

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Kevin Windrem avatar image Kevin Windrem commented ·
I did some checking and there's a message that already appears of one of these variables are set. In the stock code, it's cryptic: ESS #3 for charge disabled, ESS #4 for discharge disabled. If I recall, these appear above the battery icon.


GuiMods expands these to "Charge Off" and "Disch Off", respectively. Multiple messages scroll in the message area.

What I don't know is if these work without ESS. These appear above the DC Loads tile.

Let me know if these messages occur if the BMS is in a state to disable charging or discharging. I realize this may be difficult to simulate.


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Related Resources

Victron Venus OS Open Source intro page

Venus OS GitHub (please do not post to this)

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