Carlos Posted October 19, 2021 Share Posted October 19, 2021 I know the GS inverters don’t support canbus however in future will it ? There are lots of users with Victron mppt solar controllers and you can hook them up to Venus OS with a raspberry pi. You need other Victron gear to show in Venus OS however someone was able to make a driver that works for SMA inverters in Venus OS. Would this be possible with GS inverter to work with Venus OS via canbus and driver support. That would be really neat if possible. Venus OS is a really nice software already done and working really well. just wondering ...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheButcher Posted October 19, 2021 Share Posted October 19, 2021 It shouldn't be too hard to write a script or a compiled program to query the GS and present that as if it were a Victron inverter via a pseudo device file under /dev/ttyS* or /dev/ttyU*. Unfortunately I don't have a GS nor a Venus setup otherwise I'd do it myself 🙂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carlos Posted October 20, 2021 Author Share Posted October 20, 2021 To my knowledge it has to be done in CAN. Here in Europe they have a lot of SMA inverters and I have seen one running Venus OS with a bunch of Victron solar controllers. Here is a link to the project https://github.com/madsci1016/SMAVenusDriver Would be really cool if GS had that ability to emulate a victron multiplus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheButcher Posted October 20, 2021 Share Posted October 20, 2021 I'm not a Venus expert but a Google search says ve.direct is supported and that's basically Victron's own hex protocol / text announcements for their solar chargers and inverters. If that is correct it should be possible to set up a script to read the GS data and present it as hex protocol / text via an emulated serial port - a fifo file might be sufficient. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sid Genetry Solar Posted October 20, 2021 Share Posted October 20, 2021 This is a very intriguing proposition, providing Victron does not consider their protocol "classified I.P." wherein use outside of Victron would constitute unlicensed use of proprietary protocols. For DIY hacking, that's one thing...but for a commercial product, rules are considerably different. (Read the Github you linked, apparently it's open-source, so that's not an issue per se.) 15 hours ago, Carlos said: I know the GS inverters don’t support canbus however in future will it ? They do not currently, but that's because I have bigger fish to fry 😉. There's an extra serial port on the WiFi board that I have been planning (for some time now!) to break out to the back panel (battery end) for customer use. Options right off that I'm aware of are RS-232, RS-485 and CAN (user selectable when ordering the inverter). These would be electrically isolated from the rest of the inverter, and as such, safe to connect to pretty much any controller/device (though they will slightly increase the off-state power usage due to the electrical isolation circuitry power requirements). If the only requirement is a CANbus controller, and then knowledge of a specific protocol...technically, with Victron being a sizeable name in the inverter market, it would be conceivable (IF LEGAL!) to make a GS inverter be able to emulate the required functions. You'd have options for the comm port: MODBUS, "ve.direct", and maybe other significant options. Low on the priority list TBH, but definitely doable. If you wanted to help with coding in this regard...if you could write a tight and small library/routine for the ESP32 (i.e. not overbloated with "convenient libraries" that are multiple thousands of lines of code), utilizing one of the Serial ports (and an external Serial -> CAN converter for testing), that would make it considerably easier to integrate into the GS inverters. Goes without saying that I don't have any Victron equipment, so I couldn't test/debug the code anyhow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carlos Posted October 20, 2021 Author Share Posted October 20, 2021 Please don’t ask me to code....I don’t know how I just come up with the ideas. As for Victron they have already stated that they don’t like the idea of third party inverters using the Venus OS but have stated that they will not do anything about it even companies release products. Now you can’t promote the sale with this feature but can say it works and not officially supported. The CAN feature can be used for DVCC remote controller for BMS like Batrium, and DIY BMS This way the BMS can control the GS inverter via CAN messages. Venus OS is open source and is meant to be used with Victron gear however because of the open source it can be used with third party hardware. What Victron does not want is you use the free VRM Portal with non Victron gear however there is nothing they can do to stop you. IF possible please add CAN support in Revision C VE direct is basically RS-232 and VE Bus is basically RS-485 The cost of 3 GS Inverters is the same cost of 1 Victron Quattro 10000 VA So you can have 3 phase GS inverters for the price of 1 Victron inverter. Just saying.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carlos Posted October 20, 2021 Author Share Posted October 20, 2021 Here is some info form Victron protocols and open source projects https://www.victronenergy.com/upload/documents/Technical-Information-Data-communication-with-Victron-Energy-products_EN.pdf https://www.victronenergy.com/live/open_source:start https://www.victronenergy.com/live/vedirect_protocol:faq Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sid Genetry Solar Posted October 20, 2021 Share Posted October 20, 2021 50 minutes ago, Carlos said: Please don’t ask me to code....I don’t know how I just come up with the ideas. Ha, ideas are easy...implementing them often quite the opposite 🤣. Those customers wanting "Made in U.S.A" simply as a plaque to stick in their back pocket, without even considering the sheer monstrosity of the requirements...oh, don't get me started on that... Have to say that this kinda puts the request at a standstill: I do not have any Victron products, so I am not able to test any code that I would write. As a programmer, I can tell you that freshly written code is almost guaranteed NOT to work as intended the first time. (Or the second time. Or the third.) The times that something worked perfectly the first time are rather memorable--because they're so rare. 46 minutes ago, Carlos said: IF possible please add CAN support in Revision C Would be compatible with any GS WiFi boards using our LCD (not the large PJ LCD), i.e. any GS WiFi board marked "WiFi board for PJ Inverter Rev. C" and newer. (FWIW the latest WiFi boards are not compatible with PJ inverters, and are marked "Rev. C1." Still completely compatible with RS-232 / RS-485 / CAN). A RS-232 / RS-485 or CAN isolated port would be a small addon board soldered to a 6-pin header on the WiFi board PCB, so basically most all of the GS WiFi boards that have been produced. Without actually having designed the board, I'd guess the price of the addon board to be around $35/ea...as the isolated comm modules aren't the cheapest--but hey, for those that want it... For practical purposes, there isn't too much difference between RS-232 / RS-485 and CAN...just in the method the hardware/electrical side is handled (requiring different addon boards). As such, the WiFi board would relatively easily be switcheable between the various necessary protocols. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carlos Posted October 20, 2021 Author Share Posted October 20, 2021 In other words it is possible just not easy to do.... It was just an idea.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheButcher Posted October 20, 2021 Share Posted October 20, 2021 Victron is pretty open about their protocols etc. IIRC the only thing they won't provide detail about is bluetooth and inverter synchronisation (parallel, multiphase etc). The stated reason for bluetooth not being disclosed is that it is a fairly quickly moving target from their side but given how much of a PITA bluetooth LE etc is to program for, at least IMO, that's no big loss. Inverter sync is not disclosed because they don't want people sending messages to their nice expensive Victron inverter and blowing it up. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sid Genetry Solar Posted October 20, 2021 Share Posted October 20, 2021 1 hour ago, Carlos said: In other words it is possible just not easy to do.... It was just an idea.... Not easy to do because I don't have any way to write/debug/test the code. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheButcher Posted October 20, 2021 Share Posted October 20, 2021 While poking around Venus and related documents I came across an interesting page. It looks like Victron finally did provide some bluetooth documentation. https://community.victronenergy.com/questions/93919/victron-bluetooth-ble-protocol-publication.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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