This site is now in read-only archive mode. Please move all discussion, and create a new account at the new Victron Community site.
Looked a bit and don't see anything...Has anyone tried or thought about using the Rasbperry Pi running Venus to connect to a BLE sensor for monitoring tank levels?
This is the LPG sensor I would love to be able to read through VRM http://mopeka.com/products/
(I'm a developer - just not too familiar with BLE)
In addition to the LPG sensors, Mopeka has just come out with sensors intended for use with potable and grey tanks. https://mopeka.com/product/mopeka-water-sensor-bottom-mount/
RV project is doing tests with using one on the black tank as well.
but if it requires our GX to connect over BLE, then its a different story. They’re also welcome to contact me personally ofcourse
This is now available > v2.90!
Thanks community for making this happen!!
(I can't mark my own answer as the solution..if someone else wants to say this, we can pin it as answered!)
it is described in the GX device manual:
https://www.victronenergy.com/upload/documents/Cerbo_GX/GX_Device_Manual-en.pdf
Nice! Please keep me posted of progress.
thank you
Ps I amended your title a bit, to not confuse this with reading data of Victron devices over BLE. Hope thats ok.
Took forever, but finally getting back to this... I've found out how to get a raspberry pi to read the BLE sensors, but am stuck on 2 problems.
1) (major) The Venus image seems to have a hard block on the onboard Bluetooth chip. The Pi is capable of reading the BLE, but I can't get it to show up using hciconfig... any posts about activating the Bluetooth chip while running Venus?
2) Once I can read it using Venus...how could I put the data somewhere for Venus/VRM to read???
Would it be possible with Venus OS 2.8x since there is Bluetooth support for sensors integrated?
did you solve the raspi/ble issue?
Putting the tank data into venus would be done with a Dbus service message - have a look for reference material for Dbus tank services. I found the page for Battery Dbus service, so there should be one for Tank data.
Well done, Cute sensor. Try with the latest version of Venus (2.8~24 - as there have been additions that allow for BLE (at least to certain Victron product (I've not been following this too closely due to work issues).
How do you handle the sensor protocol?
Since just now we support BLE temp sensors from Ruuvi. Code is here https://github.com/victronenergy/dbus-ble-sensors
@mvader (Victron Energy) can you please answer my request? Thank you!
I have an issue with the community mail notifications. Nice and quiet to be honest, but hence I didnt see your messages. Sorry!
Hi, i´m not an expert in BLE but it seems that you can not connect these kind of sensors. What I do (using ESP32 board) is scan for advertising devices, filter them for the MAC of the sensor (Gas Level Sensor) and read the payload out of the advertisement. Seems the payload contains all information I need. And here comes the problem on my project so far. How to understand which values in the payload stand for what?
This is my Palload and some values i am more or less sure what they are:
26 255 13 0 0 2 176 103 234 44 224 129 4 23 28 32 129 4 31 68 112 193 3 96 213 151 248 3 2 160 173
s = static values
MF = manufacturer?
BT? = Battery level?
RT = rate how often the sensor does a messurement /10 in sec means 10.3 sec
Q? = might be the quality of the messurement
MAC = the last three octets of the MAC
these values I think might be correct so far. MAC and RT I am pretty sure about. But the most important info I don´t get until now, the gas level itself. So if anyone knows someting plz let me know.
I do own a Mopeka GasTank sensor and wonder which Bluetooth dongle I potentialy would need to get this to work on a RasPi 2?
I'm working on the same Project (Problem). I took BLE Analyzer on ESP32 and got this
There is another Project in Github for Mopeka Pro Check, which is different to Standard Sensor.
spbrogan/mopeka_pro_check: Python code to read the Mopeka Pro Check Tank Sensor (github.com)
I used the code from advertisement.py and tried out in C+, but no real success.
Any ideas?
Just FYI I did another port of this code to esphome. It hasn't yet been merged into their dev branch but you can see it in my branch here.
spbrogan/esphome at mopeka_dev (github.com)
component mopeka_ble and mopeka_pro_check. This code is C++.
It still doesn't support their original sensors and I wasn't willing to look at the code dump from the random github contributor AlbertWorker1004 given it had no license information.
edit: the first 3 Lines of Advertisement in paketsniff2.jpg show the Sensor on Tank with 69% full, 3 Stars Quality and full Battery (all from Mopeka APP).
The 4. Line is with Sensor off Tank and Connect-Button pressed.
YEs! Please work on the integration for cerbo for Mopeka sensors! That would be so great!
@mvader (Victron Energy) I contacted the makers of the Mopeka sensors and they are open to working with Victron to have these be supported in the Victron Cerbo GX. I've been talking to Reese Moore but if you could contact them at support@mopeka.com they will get you to the right person. It would be great to have their sensors supported!
I might will, probably will, revisit it in the future.
All the best, Matthijs
Great work done by all so far...after looking through some of the samples & previous projects - this could take a while. Seems they do a lot of bit operations of the values before putting it on the screen. And those are dependent on the HW version.
Going to take a lot of trial/error to hunt down a usable value from that payload, but its in there somewhere.
I mean.. yeah the answer is in the GitHub dump of the source code ...but... seems a little shady....
Then there is the question of writing it to the DBus so it shows up as a tank sensor (I think)
Will keep trying...
Hi @Ghostrider , with regards to the putting it on D-Bus, yes thats what needs doing. What I recommend is to add the code to the existing one for the Ruuvi sensors. Its a project in C:
https://github.com/victronenergy/dbus-ble-sensors
You then might need access to one our libraries; needed to build the project and not available publicly, which can be arranged.
I just received a reply from Mopeka. They say the have reached out to Victron to see if there could be a joining of the 2 products.
Copied from email:
Thank you for the suggestion. In fact, it has been very recently requested by a few customers. So we've contacted Victron to see if they are interested in working out that integration. It is fairly simple from our side, so hopefully they will agree and we can get this done.
Thank you for your interest.
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Mopeka Products, LLC <support@mopeka.com>
Date: Wed, Feb 23, 2022 at 8:53 AM
Subject: Custom Product Development
To: <rmoore@mopeka.com>
Love my victron setup. It would be the last tanks I need monitoring.
Well I phrased it like they should try and work with Victron. Due to the amount of RV's,boats, and off grid homes that are being setup. Would be a huge european market to tap into. Here in North America we are a touch behind.
So hopefully they can make a file to install like GUI Mods, and just add a sensor. I wish I knew something about programming. But I'm more of a installer, not a programmer.
I also just received a reply from Mokepa and from the sounds, the gen2 sensors are not worth writing an implementation for. The Pro sensors work much better and also gen2 is slated for retirement some time this year due to inability of Mopeka to buy the chips. Plus there are so many iterations of gen2 that have introduced things like encryption that its nearly impossible to document it out, so the source code is the only thing that even comes close...but the implementations are all different.
So sounds like any integration would only support Pro sensors (which there are other projects for, so maybe will make our job easier!)
Time to order some and get to work there!
They also mentioned that they would be willing to hop on the forum to help answer questions! I'll try to get them over here, or should we start a new thread specifically on Mopeka Pro community integration?
@mvader (Victron Energy) What's the best way to chat about getting library access and how some of the other libs work (things like the arguments for reg_info)?
Would love to collab because I'm actually a bit confused on how I go from writing code to testing on the Pi.
@mvader (Victron Energy) - Is there a Discord chat or anything like that for Venus community development?
@Ghostrider @mvader (Victron Energy), want a community Discord? OK, I'll make one: https://discord.gg/APgZVbkBJ8
Anything else I can do to help expedite this?
I ordered the pro sensors. Hopefully we can get these implemented in the near future.
I think Mopeka support is mostly done. Here are some screenshots. Mopeka and Victron have both been very helpful in getting this development done, which was awesome. I should be submitting back to Victron early next week. From there it goes through their beta process but I don't know how long that takes.
That is very nicely done. Hopefully they can put it in a beta release soon.
Thank you for the work you have done on this.
I just thought of something while installing my tank sensors. Will this support 2 tanks at the same time?
I really hate to be asking this in the Mod Space. But I would really like to install this in my cerbo.
So here it goes:
1. Is there a walk through to access the files and folders of the cerbo? Gain root access?
2. And basically the same question for pulling from github.
I have never done any of the accessing or writing to new folders in the cerbo. Basically just installing the beta tests and reporting if needed. So this will be a steep learning curve.
I'm very willing to learn, but dang I'm getting old to do this....
I think it's in the current tank module of the OS!
Hi, just my two cents regarding programming a shape of a tank: adding a configurable tank shape means (far) more work for @robsweet & co. The code for that as is now, and everything related to it, is in this repo: https://github.com/victronenergy/dbus-adc..
The code now written for the Mopeka is in another module, one for reading out BLE sensor data. And yes one could restructure it all, but that will be even more work :).
Propane tanks always have a simple rectangular (or round :) ) shape, right? So I assume that request is for other tank types, such as water. Is there a good reason for not instead using a sender (not Mopeka) that we already support including configurable tank shape?
On the tank shape thing, I agree that weirdly-shaped tanks are a whole lot of trouble that I don't want to deal with unless there was significant call from the community for supporting that.
Mopeka vs SeeLevel:
I purchased a SeeLevel N2K system for about $400 including the sensors $135 (not $325) for the N2K, about $60 each for 3 sensors. Mopeka is less expensive at about $210 for 3 tanks.
SeeLevel N2K is limited to 3 tanks. No limit for Mopeka sensors.
No LPG on SeeLevel N2K so another advantage for Mopeka.
Mopeka also has a phone/tablet app which would be useful when emptying/filling while outside the RV.
Mokeka water sensors aren't usable on a black tank. I believe the problem is the Mopeka sensors attach to the bottom of the tank so if solids settle on top of the sensor, you'd get an incorrect reading.
Clear points!
Most tanks can easily be handled by level / hight as well.
my LPG sensors from amazon should arrive next week.
I also wanted to order a Mopeka pro water sensor but can´t find a source for them in Europe. Mopeka would send one out from the states but shipping to Germany is ~120$ + the sensor itself + import tax = over 200$ for just one sensor.
Hallo
gibt es schon mehr Infos wie ich die Normalen ( nicht Pro ) Gas sensoren einbinden kann ? Gibt es da vieleicht eine Beta version ?? Gituhub habe ich schon auf meiner Cerbo GX.
MFG
Hello @robsweet ,
is already known when the official firmware update for the victron cerbo gx will come?
Thanks @robsweet . I also have the statement from Reese More from Mopeka that it is now in the hands of Victron
The status on github from 4 days ago is
"Work mostly done; needs testing and inclusion. Currently awaits Mopeka devices to test with. "
It's a pity that no Bluetooth sensors are supported on release v2.90
I bought two of the Safiery Ultrasonic LPG liquid level detectors that connect to the Victron Tank 140. I was unable to get them to work on two 30 lb US DOT certified LPG tanks. I am in the US. I had two standard Mopeka sensors which worked fine, but wanted something to connect to the Victron Cerbo GX. I cannot be sure of the problem (which I spent several hours on several days trying to solve), but suspect that it has to do with the rounded nature of the bottom of the tank. The sensor on the Safiery product is much larger than the sensor on the Mopeka. When I put the Safiery sensor on the center of the tank, I could not get the blue light to begin blinking which is the sign that the sensor is detecting liquid. I think the slightly rounded bottom of the LPG tank prevented a reading from the large flat sensor.
The only time I got the Safiery sensor to blink was to lay the tank on its side and affix the sensor off-center near the edge of the bottom rim of the tank which is a flatter area. When I turned the tank upright, the sensor stopped blinking.
Probably the Safiery sensors would work on a larger tank that had a flatter bottom. I cannot be sure, but it would make sense based on my experience.
I hope that the collaboration between Mopeka and Victron will bear fruit.
I am pretty excited about this. Does anyone know the status? Github hasn't changed in a while. Thanks in advance for the hard work! <edit: changed typo at the end of the last sentence from question mark to exclamation point>
Very much looking forward to this - this is huge, and is perfect for me (and probably many others!!!) who need a basic monitoring of water tanks and propane tanks.
Apparently the work on GitHub to implement the Mopeka sensors is complete, and will be incorporated in the next beta release. Thanks to everyone who put hard work into it!
Here's the commit https://github.com/victronenergy/dbus-ble-sensors/commit/a0118395754c8c8649d01e7039aa0b4b3c2e0f05
You shouldn't need to compile your own. You can download the builds here: http://updates.victronenergy.com/feeds/venus/
They still have the RC as ~14 which does not have Mopeka support but I suspect that the testing build ~18 will have it. I haven't had the chance to check it myself yet.
If anyone in Europe is also looking for the Mopeka Pro water sensors, contact Airmech in Poland. I was able to order the gas sensors on Amazon but for some reason it was impossible for any seller to ship a water sensor to Germany.
Mopeka themselves would've sent me one but it would've cost me a little over 200€. Now I've got one for under 100€ delivered.
Hallo seid dem UPDATE V 2.90-26 laufen die sensoren nicht mehr. Das Bleuthoos schaltet auch ab da es ständig neu Startet. Gibt es da für eine Lösung ?
I am looking to install 3 tank sensors in an off-grid cabin, 2 for fresh water, one for a plastic 170 L dieseltank (for heating).
It is of significanse that whey are able to transmit data to Cerbo wirelessly, bluetooth/ble/wifi.
Does both the Mopeka Pro Water Sensor and the Garnet SeeLevel II Tank Monitor support wireless data communication with Venus / Cerbo?
I see that the Mopeka Water sensor is to be installed under the tank. My watertanks are standing on the floor. Will there be room for the sensor underneath?
The Garnet models looks attractive, as they can be cut to desired lenght. Do I need the Garnet 709-BTP3 SeeLevel II Tank Monitor with Bluetooth ti\o have the strips communicte with theCerbo, or do they have pre installed ble transrecievers?
Finally, am i correct to assume that it would in any case involve a Bluetootht usb-stic in the Cerbo?
Garnet is wired; either using N2K protocol or RV-C protocol.
Mopeka is bluetooth.
With the rest of the questions I can't help you I'm afraid. Perhaps someone from the Community can, and otherwise I recommend to go to either Mopeka or Garnet.
Wrt Garnet, this post and answers might help you: https://community.victronenergy.com/questions/157602/seelevel-tank-monitoring-with-venus-os-29.html
What settings do you put in the setup menu for a standard 30lb propane tank?
Take a look at this thread: https://community.victronenergy.com/questions/157559/mopeka-lp-tank-sensor-common-settings.html. I'm using 38cm for full and 2cm for empty. If your tank has more than 38cm in it, then go bigger to get through the setup. (I haven't seen a value over 42, so you can fall back to that.)
Hello, I would like to read the values of a Mopeka sensor with my esp32.
Where can I find documentation to obtain the level in cm by extracting the data sent by BLE, please.
https://esphome.io/components/sensor/mopeka_pro_check.html
