question

paul-goddard avatar image
paul-goddard asked

VRM - Issues connecting to Remote Console (Venus OS for RPI v2.60)

Evening all. Victron newbie here, so please be gentle!

I have Raspberry PI 3 with Venus OS v2.60.
Not yet connected it to any of my Victron kit yet, just trying to get the base setup of the Venus OS working.

What works fine:

- Venus OS flashed fine to SD card
- Venus OS boots fine
- Initially connected Venus OS device to ethernet cable, attached to home broadband router (Plusnet).
- Everything I have tested works as I would expect. This includes direct access to the configuration website (hosted on Venus OS) via local IP address + access to VRM and registering Venus OS device on VRM + launching Remote Console from within VRM website (showing two way SSH tunnel is working fine)

Setting the above up on my home network was simply a test. The final location for this Venus OS device is a boat, where connectivity is via 4G SIM card (GiffGaff) and Huawei Mobile WiFi device (Huawei E5576). So, having got the above setup and working fine on home broadband, I then configured the Venus OS device to use my Huawei Mobile WiFi, and proceeded to test everything again.

What is not working

When Venus OS is connected to Huawei Mobile WiFi/GiffGaff sim, one very specific feature stops working. This is the VRM link to launch the Remote Console. I have 100% confirmed that the remote console configuration is turned on, and I have reviewed the following webpages about troubleshooting this functionality, but without any successful action to resolve my issue.

https://www.victronenergy.com/live/ccgx:ccgx_faq#q15what_type_of_networking_is_used_by_the_color_control_gx_tcp_and_udp_ports

https://www.victronenergy.com/live/ccgx:start#remote_console_on_vrm_-_trouble_shooting

My Observations/Questions

1) Having done lots of research, I note that the VRM Remote Console functionality had a lot of similar issues to my description above, all related to IP Address Validation. But I think this has long since been resolved, as I am on Venus OS build 2.60. Could someone confirm if I can discount this as a potential issue please?

2) Do others have Venus OS working on mobile 4G routers in UK, with UK mobile providers please? I am wondering if Carrier Grade NAT (CGN) might be causing this issue, but knowing if others have this working in UK and on which mobile networks would help confirm or discount this?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrier-grade_NAT

3) Having read as much as I can on the VLM Remote Console app functionality and networking requirements, my conclusion is it has been designed to not need any port forwarding, static DNS or Dynamics DNS to be configured (due to reverse SSH tunnel design) - Is this other people's understanding please, or have I missed something?

Thanks in advance - I am quickly pulling my hair out over this one!

Paul.

Venus OSremote consolevictron
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laurenceh avatar image laurenceh commented ·

@paul-goddard Paul: I have exactly the same setup on my boat, Lady’s Smock, but sorry no answers as it all just worked.

I have a wi-fi connection to a HUAWEI 4G router with a Giff-Gaff SIM. My Venus system is 2.60 on an Rpi3B+ With 7” touch screen.

The kit was supplied by Wi-Fi onboard. The boat is currently in the midlands and I can connect to the console via the VRM with no problems. Like you I had this all running on my home office network before input it on the boat. My logging period is set at 15mins and I’m quite surprised how low the data usage is.

So the only advice I can offer is that what you are trying to do is nothing out of the ordinary and it does all work.

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1 Answer
Igor Sarychkin avatar image
Igor Sarychkin answered ·

Hi, Paul. I do have Venus OS v2.60 on RPI. I have a Huawei E3372 usb dongle plugged into a small router. Had BT Mobile and EE sims both running fine with VRM, including full Remote Console access.

Hope this helps.

Regards,

Igor

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Related Resources

Additional resources still need to be added for this topic

Victron Venus OS Open Source intro page

Venus OS GitHub (please do not post to this)