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Dušan Klofutar avatar image
Dušan Klofutar asked

Epever MPPT's on Raspberry pi/Venus OS USB port

Hello. On my log cabin I have a off grid solar system with the following components:

8 solar cells

2 Epever 60A MPPT's

Multiplus 12/3000/120

BMW 700

1500Ah battery bank

Like many others, instead of expensive Victron Color Control GX, I bought a Raspberry pi3 with a 7-inch display, on which I successfully installed the Venus OS according to the instructions of Himmelberger bus from Youtube.

The Multiplus and BMV 700 are connected to the Raspberry pi with VE direct to USB cable, and they work great.The MPPT's Epever Tracer AN 6415AN, and Epever Etracer 6415BND came with RS485 to USB cables and with Epever software show all data on Windows 10, but when i plug both cables to USB ports on Raspberry, nothing happens.I assume, that Raspberry on USB ports search only Victron devices connected with VE direct cable's, and not the other devices with Modbus protocol.

Can anyone help me how to prepare Raspberry to search for modbus protocol devices on the USB port's. Is there some scripts, or command lines, which must be entered in Venus OS, but i have no programming skills,so please for extensive instructions.


Greetings from Slovenia

MPPT Controllers
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cybert avatar image cybert commented ·
Did you solve the problem? Does it work?
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Dušan Klofutar avatar image Dušan Klofutar cybert commented ·
No, because i sold my Epevers an buy Smartsolar 150/100.
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12 Answers
Warwick Bruce Chapman avatar image
Warwick Bruce Chapman answered ·

The only non Victron devices that Venus OS supports to my knowledge are the Fronius inverters and Carlo Gavazzi energy meters.


EDIT: And of course all the non-Victron BMSes that are supported.


EDIT EDIT: There is some documentation about writing custom drivers to reflect information on the dashboard: https://github.com/victronenergy/venus/wiki/howto-add-a-driver-to-Venus


EDIT EDIT EDIT: Per @jbakuwel, the SolarEdge and SMA do integrate at a ModbusTCP level for monitoring as described in the lower section of this document for the SolarEdge and this document for the SMA.

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jbakuwel avatar image jbakuwel commented ·

Hi Warwick,

As far as I know all PV Inverters that conform to the Sunspec specification should work with Venus. Venus surely works with SMA PV inverters as well and if I'm not mistaken I have seen posts from people successfully using SolarEdge inverters.

Jan

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Warwick Bruce Chapman avatar image Warwick Bruce Chapman jbakuwel commented ·

Thanks, edited above.

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jbakuwel avatar image
jbakuwel answered ·

Hi Dusan,

A while ago I wrote a few simple scripts to represent a Midnite Classic MPPT charge conroller as a battery monitor and charge controller (ie. two devices). They show up nicely in Venus. The scripts retrieve data via ModbusTCP (both the Midnite Classic and Venus are on the local network) and push the data on dbus for Venus.

Instead of trying to get Venus to talk RS485 via a USB interface, it's perhaps easier to pick up a RS485 to Ethernet converter from AliExpress. That way you're effectively putting the Epever's on the network. If you can select different IDs in the Epever, you can put both on the RS485 bus, if not, you'll have to get two RS485 to Ethernet converters.

Jan

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tomhoover avatar image tomhoover commented ·

@jbakuwel, do you have a link to the scripts mentioned in your response? I have a Midnite Classic that I'd like to integrate into Venus OS monitoring. Thanks!

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kantarus avatar image kantarus commented ·

Hi can you better explain how to do that.

I have Epever MPPT and would like to use your script to add the MPPT on Venus os.

the MPPT is on the network but how i connect it to victron with the information h need.

Many thanks

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jbakuwel avatar image
jbakuwel answered ·

@tomhoover @Kantarus sorry folks, I've been super busy and haven't gotten to it yet. Just ported the software to the latest version of VenusOS with Python3 and am testing it now. Once I'm happy with it, I'll upload it to github.

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apharcha avatar image
apharcha answered ·

Hello All, @jbakuwel

I have a EPEVER Tracer 100 MPPT that I'm trying to see on my Raspberry PI running Victron Victory OS v2.92. I have a Victron 500A Shunt that is connected to the battery to see usage from Inverter.

Is there any way or driver for me to connect my EPever MPPT say using some modbus-tcp setup or any driver or script that I can use to see EPEVER on the RPI?


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kassl avatar image
kassl answered ·

Hello All,


I just written a driver for the Epver and published it on GitHub if you want you can download it.

https://github.com/kassl-2007/dbus-epever-tracer

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limeysullivan avatar image limeysullivan commented ·

kassal can you explain a little more how to get this working. I have installed the driver using you install script. I have added the serial USB device but I don't see the solar device in the GUI. Are there additional steps?

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kassl avatar image kassl limeysullivan commented ·

Have you used the USB device that I have linkt in my manuell or have you used an other?

Are there other devices connected ?

Did you build your cable correctly?

A green

B blue

Gnd brown

Have you connect your cable to your Epever?

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elko avatar image elko commented ·

I thank you! I've been waiting for something like this for a very long time!

I have three Epever Xtra charge controllers, which I currently read out via "Solaranzeige" and have been looking for a way to get them in VenusOS for a long time.

Is that also possible with three pieces?


With Solaranzeige, I still remember the problem that these cheap RS adapters always have the same ID. Is that also relevant for Venus?

So I could differentiate the adapters in Solaranzeige.
1669550557998.png


Can I integrate three pieces with your driver at all?

I use these two adapters.
https://www.amazon.de/dp/B016IG6X7I?ref_=cm_sw_r_cp_ud_dp_V2TCNS1YP7EMJ408QZNM&th=1

https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B01N3LM0PU/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1

Edit: I installed the driver.

The "dbus-serialbattery" driver I used then no longer started, although the conditions were still present in the rc.local.

However, none of my charge controllers were found either.



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1669550557998.png (17.2 KiB)
kassl avatar image kassl elko commented ·
The first one must work. It´s the same witch I link in my manuell.
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elko avatar image elko kassl commented ·


OK. Then I have to try again. can several charge controllers be used with the driver? Do you have an idea about my BMS driver? Could you perhaps add in GitHub how to remove the driver again?

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kassl avatar image kassl elko commented ·

At the moment only one Epever will work, because I give the device Id hard in the code, but I will change this.

Can you give me a picture form

nano /etc/udev/rules.d/serial-starter.rules

and

nano /etc/venus/serial-starter.conf

Then I hope that I can help you.

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limeysullivan avatar image limeysullivan commented ·

So I installed your driver using the instructions you provided


I checked the model of the USB to RS485 and its a FT232R_USB_UART


I modified the line that your install added to /etc/udev/rules.d/serial-starter.rules and changed the model to that above


I rebooted and did a tail -F /data/log/serial-starter/current | tai64nlocal and can see teh daemonstools create a service for dbus-epever-tracer.ttyusb0 and it also starts the service


On the USB to RS485 I see the TX light blink when the system boots


I verified my cable using the Epever software running on windows


But i dont see anything displayed in the GUI

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kassl avatar image kassl limeysullivan commented ·

Can you send me a picture of

tail -F /data/log/dbus-epever-tracer.ttyUSB0/current

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limeysullivan avatar image limeysullivan kassl commented ·

See image


capture.png
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capture.png (198.5 KiB)
limeysullivan avatar image limeysullivan limeysullivan commented ·
Cannot find out how to add the webbrowser module and why it wouldnt be there anyway?
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apharcha avatar image apharcha limeysullivan commented ·
Hello @kassl ! I just came across this feed for my Tracer 100A that continuously keeps getting disconnected from the EPEVER Cloud- they can’t keep their stack up afloat, i think causing numerous problems during their Holidays when they try to work on things…

Anyways, It looks like you guys have made some great progress so I tried to follow this thread and get this working. I got the Driver configured and it runs using your script. Unfortunately, no data shows on VRM console but it sees “TriRonXxxx - Not Connected”. All data in Battery / Yield etc is — or empty’s


Further, I see a lot of data in /data/log/dbus-epever-tracer.ttyUSB0/current but not seeing anything meaningful.


I will paste some screenshots soon as I can figure out how to… hoping you can direct me what I might have missed.


Thanks and advance!

Amit


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apharcha avatar image apharcha apharcha commented ·

Here’s some screenshots of the VRM console





4c716394-39a5-46b3-a70b-8aa2489b637a.jpegImage Caption


and the current tracer.ttyUSB0/current file


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f8f7c2c6-c0b2-4514-a329-f444dd4fbc2a.jpeg (7.2 MiB)
bc1327e0-2b70-4e15-8e0f-f19b44295cc8.jpeg (4.8 MiB)
apharcha avatar image apharcha apharcha commented ·

feecee21-de13-4132-ad0f-45c892dfbe2f.jpeg

No data coming across it seems

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feecee21-de13-4132-ad0f-45c892dfbe2f.jpeg (7.8 MiB)
lbpuma3 avatar image
lbpuma3 answered ·

d0777543-d015-40b6-ac58-71077667fdf2.pngHello I have a wrong kw display in the vrm every 2 days. I don't see the jump in the expanded view?

I have Venus Firmware 2.91.

ff23394e-4edf-4865-a2c5-0242e58aa840.png

d0777543-d015-40b6-ac58-71077667fdf2.png (411.9 KiB)
ff23394e-4edf-4865-a2c5-0242e58aa840.png (283.0 KiB)
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Martin Kunz avatar image
Martin Kunz answered ·

Hey guys, please take me with you. I'm martin living in Germany. I recently got a Multi II GX and would like to connect three EPEVER XTRAs to it. If it is allowed, I would like to use another way with your support. I already drive an RS485 bus in which an Ethernet gateway is connected. With a virtual serial interface I can read the traffic on Windows. The EPEVER can be configured by assigning them fixed IDs (1,2,3). The EPEVER RJ45 port is documented. I wish the Venus OS could listen to the RS485 protocol over TCP. I have already installed the Epever driver with root rights. What adjustments can I make so that it is not listening on USB but on Ethernet? Is this possible? If that works, I would like to do the same with the daly or jk bms. The Multi II has only one USB port. Well you could use a HUB, but I don't like that. I believe RS485 is a stable multi-device protocol that is used thousands of times in industry, so it may not be necessary to work with many USB adapters. Thanks to Jan for pointing this out with dbus over tcp. Do we give this method a chance?

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Martin Kunz avatar image
Martin Kunz answered ·

epever-lan-tcp.png

epever solar station monitor listening on com1 virtual seriel port which is bound over wlan to the rs485 TCP/IP bridge device. only a two wire cable (AB) - BUS is pluged in the solarcharger.


epever-lan-tcp.png (149.2 KiB)
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cybert avatar image
cybert answered ·

Is someone brave enough to walk me through the settings needed for successfully monitoring Epever iTracer 60A with RPi Venus and the above driver?

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cybert avatar image cybert commented ·
Anybody?
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cybert avatar image
cybert answered ·

Has anybody successfully done it?

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mr-manuel avatar image
mr-manuel answered ·

I created a driver where you can integrate a solar charger via MQTT: https://github.com/mr-manuel/venus-os_dbus-mqtt-solar-charger

With this adapter https://github.com/chickey/RS485-WiFi-EPEver you can connect your EPEver via WiFi.

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taranis-energy avatar image
taranis-energy answered ·

Has anybody been able to get this running?

I built the cable using WaveShare RS485 to USB using FT232RL and SP485EEN

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B081NBCJRS?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details


TX light keeps blinking but no RX coming back. When I run

tail -F /data/log/dbus-epever-tracer.ttyUSB0/current


I get can't open '/data/log/dbus-epever-tracer.ttyUSB0/current': No such file or directory

Even thouigh the driver installed ok

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