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Victron Venus GX or Color control GX


Dr Bob

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My brand new Colour Control GX has been sat in its rather tatty box (not sure what that was about - maybe I'd upset the postman!) in the cupboard for about a year now. Seemed like a good idea at the time I was buying my other Victron units to replace my Mastervolt Combi and add solar, but I never quite got my head around exactly what to do with it and now that I've managed perfectly well without it, I'm struggling to remember why I bought it! :D

 

I also have a Pi (b) in the cupboard which used to run Kodi or Plex for me before I got a TV with the Plex app. I'm not keeping up with the hunt here, am I! ;)

 

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1 hour ago, Sea Dog said:

I also have a Pi (b) in the cupboard which used to run Kodi or Plex for me before I got a TV with the Plex app. I'm not keeping up with the hunt here, am I! ;)

 

Nah, you are failing miserably. Just think of the hours of fun you can have trying to get it to work.

I can now report that I can log in remotely from the boat, ie in the pub, and see all the battery data stuff......all on the RaspPi. If we leave the boat for a week, I will be able to monitor the data while away.....and check if shore power is still connected keeping the oil fired radiators warm.......and it will send me an email if the voltage goes too high or low! I've just set the low voltage alarm to 12.5V so waiting patiently for an email. It's nearly as much fun as watching paint dry.

It also gives you access to storing all the battery data versus time which may be useful long term looking at battery performance etc.

I am about to get some LiFePo's so wanted to be able to monitor them and in particular look at the month to month data.

The three ways of doing this are the colour control GX (£500), the venus GX (£300) and the RaspPi (£38). The Pi seems to be doing a good job and maybe enough. Snag is I need 2 ve direct to USB leads to connect the mppt and other BMV which is going to cost me £60. Anyone know how to wire the ve direct cable to a USB plug? (I have 2 ve direct to ve direct cables).

 

 

7 hours ago, Dr Bob said:

Good to hear someone else has got one.

I bet Smelly's got one and not told anyone!!

Bet Smelly knows the answer.

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1 hour ago, jan-kees said:

Now not to spoil the fun..but there are electronics in the USB-ve.direct cable

........but, but,   Sir,

......I have two ve direct to ve direct cables and I need two ve to USB cables for the Pi.....and a ve direct to USB is £32.

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No I am sure his cable could work...Not negating that ...

Just knowing there have been some posts ( not on this board..IF IF I recall correct on cruisers forum.com ) about some cords selfmade and to Chinese imitations not working correct.    The cost is minimal, why run risks. :)

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23 minutes ago, jan-kees said:

No I am sure his cable could work...Not negating that ...

Just knowing there have been some posts ( not on this board..IF IF I recall correct on cruisers forum.com ) about some cords selfmade and to Chinese imitations not working correct.    The cost is minimal, why run risks. :)

Jan-Kees, are there any options on the VRM portal to decrease the logging interval? If I go to 'devices' and then click on 'Gateway',  I see a list of items - logging interval is set at 15 mins. I'd like to see this at 5mins but there doesnt seem to be any way to change it.

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1 hour ago, jan-kees said:

the logging interval is set in the Venus or CCG

 

there you can set it from 1 minute to 1 hour

 

Read the manual...:)

 

you need to hit the 'spacebar'   on the right

 

 

Well done JK! I spent hours looking through the victron site trying to work that out. The last place I would have looked would have been the 'remote console'. Now set to 5mins.

Have a greenie.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Just an update on where I am with my Ras pi. Really interesting info from it. Here is the last 24 hrs output which I can see remotely from the boat. For the first part, up to 1500hrs we were on shore power. Went out for an hour on the engine (so charging from alternator) then parked up . First part of the night we had the sky box and TV (and BT youview box)on so a reasonable power draw. Latter part of the night the boxes were in standby with no TV on. Interesting to see the fridge coming on evey hour for 15mins and how much power it takes. All useful info to have for £60 outlay (Pi plus connection cable). I think it will be very useful when I connect my Lithiums.

We were away from the boat for a week with the modem connected and the data froze after 3 days. I think it was the modem freezing so no longer giving data to the Victron site. If this happens each time we leave the boat for an extended time, I may need to put the modem on a timer and get it to reboot each day.

 

Very pleased with it now. No need to buy a Venus GX or the Colour GX.

Screen Shot 2019-02-22 at 07.30.37.png

Edited by Dr Bob
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  • 3 weeks later...
On 09/02/2019 at 21:47, WotEver said:

 

 

Well I eventually tried this today and it didnt work!

I was trying to connect a similar MPPT, the 100/15 to my Macbook. the macbook couldnt see the MPPT via the victron connect app. One snag was that the victron cable didnt have the same colour wiring as in the video ...it had a white wire instead of a yellow. I connected it up assuming the white was yellow.

I will try it again tomorrow but this time connect it in to the Rasp Pi .....if I can get the USB plug into the Pi. One of the problems with the Pi is that all the 4 USB sockets are stacked next to each other and I already have 2 Victron direct to USB cables in 2 of the slots .....and the victron cable has a big USB plug to hold all the electronics.

Still, the Rasp Pi has been working well for the last 2-3 weeks so really pleased with it.

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1 hour ago, jan-kees said:

did you tried it with an OFFICIAL Victron cable ?

I have a USB hub with 3 MMPT's going into one USB connector and it works like a charm

 

 

Yes, it works with the official victron cable. I have 2 victron direct to USB's going into the Pi which blocks the other 2 USB sockets on the Pi.

I was thinking about a USB hub but not that bothered about connecting the MPPT into the Pi as I can see from the voltage/Amps graphs how much power was going in from the solar. I just need to be able to access the victron mmpt now and again via my macbook to set up the settings - as I commission my Lithium batteries.

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