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bradfordharley avatar image
bradfordharley asked

MFD App with B&G Zeus 3 not appearing in applist

I have venus os running on a pi at 2.60 b37. I figured I would finally get around to playing with the app, and it does not seem to appear on the chart plotter, despite the fact that they are communicating.... My config is the chartplotter and rest of ship ethernet systems connecting to a wifi-router vi ethernet. The venusOs connects to the same router over wifi, not hardwired. The plotter won't see it and post the app, but if I hardwire it in it sees it just fine. The ethernet config lists a "local link address" when hardwired, not over wifi.
I did a bit of digging, and if I go in to /etc/init.d/avahi-autoipd and change the device from eth0 to wlan0 it creates a link local address. The MFD "kind of" sees it. victron appears on the app page, but with no icon. When I try and select the victron app, I get a communication error.
I'm presuming that something else is bound to eth0... maybe mqtt?

Before I go too far into troubleshooting, is this something that's doable or should I just run another wire in the boat?

Venus OS
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5 Answers
mvader (Victron Energy) avatar image
mvader (Victron Energy) answered ·

Hi, the (B&G) requirement is that its hardwired: ethernet.


no wifi.


as documented in the manual.


but I dont know any more details around this.


hopefully someone else does!

Matthijs

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bradfordharley avatar image
bradfordharley answered ·

I saw that as well in the B&G manual. In my config the chartplotter is hardwired, it's the RPI w/ venus that's over wifi, so it should be transparent to the plotter. After playing with avahi, I can get the plotter to see that something is there, but it does not appear that the HTML5 app is communicating.... I'll see if anyone else has ideas, and run a cable when I'm next tearing down the headliner to run cable. It's only about an hour of work to run a cable 4 feet ;-)



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Andreas Jaunsen avatar image
Andreas Jaunsen answered ·

I also have this problem. My Victron equipment is connected to a Venus GX (v2.60) – which is connected to the n2k network where my B&G Zeus3 (latest firmware) is also connected.
I do see the Venus device under the "Sources" menu on the Zeus3, incl. live feed of various Victron device attributes. So there is a data stream.

However, the Zeus3 does not display the MFD/Victron app, which would provide a better view of the data. I have no idea why, as it is claimed to work on Navico (https://panbo.com/more-boat-system-mfd-apps-maretron-octoplex-lumishore-victron-integrel-and-here-comes-navico-id/)

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

Hey @ajaunsen, the MFD/Victron App requires an Ethernet connection on the GX Device as well as on the plotter.

Which is a different connection that the n2k network that you are mentioning. Please check the documentation.


And, also to @bradfordharley, to the original poster and anyone else: its not only a requirement to use ethernet cabling on the plotter, also the GX Device only makes this feature available on its Ethernet port.

Hope that helps.

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jeff17 avatar image
jeff17 answered ·

Hi @mvader, a similar question : How the Cerbo must be connect to MFD Garmin to have a completed display on MFD because with RJ45 the display is very very small ? Is there a solution to have full display on MFD ?

Thanks, best regards

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

Hi, its something were working on; I know its not good now on a high resolution Garmin

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jeff17 avatar image jeff17 mvader (Victron Energy) ♦♦ commented ·

Thanks, do you think the solution to use easily on the MFD Garmin is for the futur firmware ?

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Andreas Jaunsen avatar image
Andreas Jaunsen answered ·

I connected my VenusGX to my N2K network, this will provide data to the Zeus3 device which can be read from the device list. In order to get the MFD app you would need to connect the GX device to the Zeus3 (or similar plotter) using Ethernet. I did so using a RJ45 to 5-pin (Navico) yellow connector cable via a NEP-2 router, which is obviously also connected to the Zeus3. At first the MFD app did not appear, but I did a factory reset of the Zeus3 device in order to get all the apps to show and that solved the issue. MFD app showed up fine and this is a useful feature. Since then, however, the app does not start again and complains that I need to enable the MQTT feature on the GX device (which is already enabled). The implementation does not seem to very robust nor fast.

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mvader (Victron Energy) avatar image mvader (Victron Energy) ♦♦ commented ·
Hi @ajaunsen , that is strange. To my knowledge, it all works very well and stable. Its used and demonstrated a lot without any issues.


Do you still have the issue? And what firmware version is on your GX device and what firmware version on your Zeus3?

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Related Resources

Victron Venus OS Open Source intro page

Venus OS GitHub (please do not post to this)