Cerbo S and GX wire costs.

[wildebus]

I have listed the bits I've used on here in previous posts and still nobody takes any notice, but mine have only been working since October 2019 so obviously not as reliable as the over priced "Victron" ones

Regards,
Del

Yup.... let's go through hundreds of thousands of posts to try and find the right one rather than someone just posting again many months or years later specific info on what they think could be some useful info on a relevant thread.

Nice one

Opps, sorry ... I meant

 

[merl]

If all you are wanting is a plug that will fit in into the Victron VE.Direct sockets and not a VE.Direct-to-USB lead, then have a look at this - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/266159397039

These are pre-wired one end and bare the other. I use a pair of these to make my own VE.Direct-to-VE.Direct cables of whatever length I want, with typically some alarm cable to make up the length of cable in-between soldered to either end.
I found the DIY VE.Direct to USB cables never worked 100% reliably compared to the official cables, but the VE.Direct cables either end are purely just wires and nothing else and all the DIY cables for those have always worked fine.

That's the way I'd go, simply buy the plugs and wire my own. If you use a soldering iron and heat shrink over each joint with a final piece of heatshrink over the lot you can make a really nice professional joint. FWIW the plugs David linked to and the image of 1CUP's purchase are 4 pin JST-PH and not RJ45 as we were first talking about.
It appears that only 3 pins are used, ground which speaks for it's self with the other 2 pins carrying a balanced feed for the data. If the leads are short then you'd get away with ribbon or indeed alarm cable as David suggested but to guarantee minimum interference form external elements or especially if the cable run is long then these 2 data cables should be a twisted pair (literally twisted around each other along their length). This can be achieved by using network cable which is made up of 4 twisted pairs (8 cores in total) so just use one of the pairs for the data connections.
Also bear in mind that these interconnects will be directional and have a specific end which goes to the BMS so make sure you mark them as such.

 

[wildebus]

That's the way I'd go, simply buy the plugs and wire my own. If you use a soldering iron and heat shrink over each joint with a final piece of heatshrink over the lot you can make a really nice professional joint. FWIW the plugs David linked to and the image of 1CUP's purchase are 4 pin JST-PH and not RJ45 as we were first talking about.
It appears that only 3 pins are used, ground which speaks for it's self with the other 2 pins carrying a balanced feed for the data. If the leads are short then you'd get away with ribbon or indeed alarm cable as David suggested but to guarantee minimum interference form external elements or especially if the cable run is long then these 2 data cables should be a twisted pair (literally twisted around each other along their length). This can be achieved by using network cable which is made up of 4 twisted pairs (8 cores in total) so just use one of the pairs for the data connections.
Also bear in mind that these interconnects will be directional and have a specific end which goes to the BMS so make sure you mark them as such.

I use the alarm cable as I happen to have had a 100M drum of it . Using Twisted pair Ethernet cable could be a better idea indeed if buying cable specifically for the purpose for the reasons you give.
I had assumed initially (always a bad idea ) that the connections being talked about from the battery BMSes to the Victron unit would use the RJ45 BMS-Canbus port on it (especially as my own batteries also use RJ45 connections for its Canbus/RS485 outlets), but it looks like these 'DIY' BMS Units have all graviated to the USB style of connection and driver. I guess that makes sense as it opens the connectivity to devices like the Raspberry Pi for the Venus OS systems and no doubt other non-Victron subsystems.
It makes me wonder if I will end up having to use a USB connection for my Batteries despite them being fitted with RJ45, and a matching 1-1 pinout for the Cerbo GX RJ45 Canbus RJ45 to boot

 

[merl]

I use the alarm cable as I happen to have had a 100M drum of it . Using Twisted pair Ethernet cable could be a better idea indeed if buying cable specifically for the purpose for the reasons you give.
I had assumed initially (always a bad idea ) that the connections being talked about from the battery BMSes to the Victron unit would use the RJ45 BMS-Canbus port on it (especially as my own batteries also use RJ45 connections for its Canbus/RS485 outlets), but it looks like these 'DIY' BMS Units have all graviated to the USB style of connection and driver. I guess that makes sense as it opens the connectivity to devices like the Raspberry Pi for the Venus OS systems and no doubt other non-Victron subsystems.
It makes me wonder if I will end up having to use a USB connection for my Batteries despite them being fitted with RJ45, and a matching 1-1 pinout for the Cerbo GX RJ45 Canbus RJ45 to boot

It seems to me that at the moment we're in some sort of compatibility limbo WRT interfacing these devices with different cables, connectors, operating systems and protocols across different items and different manufacturers. There's more than enough spare computing power within most items to do away with this mish mash and simply go with USB, after all the clue is in the 'U', ie it's a UNIVERSAL Serial Bus.
I guess there's more than a pinch of manufacturers (let's say Victron) staying away from this universal approach because the potential incompatibility issue leads to people buying more Victron stuff further down the line because it interfaces with other Victron items (supposedly) seamlessly, so Victron sells more stuff and also 1CUP pays £13 for a £3 lead, £10 easy profit..thank you very much

 

[alwaysared]

Yup.... let's go through hundreds of thousands of posts to try and find the right one rather than someone just posting again many months or years later specific info on what they think could be some useful info on a relevant thread.

Nice one

Opps, sorry ... I meant

Point taken, here's the original post, ironically I titled it "Inspired by Wildebus" On another note I must point out that I was mistaken about the dates, it seems that I made them in May 2020 not October 2019, please accept my sincere apologies.

For a quick recap you will need the following bits:
USB to UART cable
JST PH 2.00mm plug with fly leads
Soldering Iron
Solder
Flux
Heatshrink wrap
-----------------------------------
Connect as follows if using the JST plug on Ebay, the original JST colours from the motorhomer.com shown are in brackets and the order can vary from plug to plug depending on the seller:

JST Plug USB

Yellow (Green): (-) Black: (-)
White (Yellow): Tx Green: Tx
Red (Black): Rx White: Rx
============================================
Note: Red and White maybe opposite
============================================

I just soldered the USB to UART directly to the JST fly leads and used decent (Ugreen) USB extension cables but you could always put a length of cable in between them but I prefered to have the least amount soldered joints.

There's a guide on our sister site motorhomebuilder.com and this where I got most of my informaion from but I will point out that in the connection picture in that post the USB TxD is going to the JST TxD, this is incorrect as the TxD should go to the RxD.
There as been a mention of voltages in previous posts, the + voltage isn't required and therefore shouldn't be connected.
There will be voltage on the TxD and RxD but the devices transmitting and receiving will sort this out. I hope this helps someone but I would point out that when I did mine I bought two of the Rapsberry Pi USB to UART leads for £7.00 and they are now £6.00 each (you could always try one of these instead) so the cost saving versus the time and messing about should be weighed up and obviously the Victron ones will work out of the box and if you have any issues you'll get more help from Victron with the genuine ones as opposed to having "homemade" ones connecting your equipment. We also get 15% off the one I've linked to through this website

Regards,
Del

 

[wildebus]

Very handy

As I mentioned, the DIY VE.Direct to USB cable I made I found fairly unreliable. It DID basically work but it would disconnect randomly without any apparent reason and that kind of thing really does bug me. After a few disconnections and alternative leads made and tried (but admittedly with donor cables I had laying around rather than ones 'meant for the job') I just got fed up and bought the official product.
I can't remember where I got the last lead that I specifically bought and modified, but clicking on your links, I see an interesting sentence on the USB Cable you are recommending ... "The main body has a USB serial conversion chip, and the other end has four wires to hook up to your target board". I wonder if this is something that is not present (or as good if it is there) on the basic USB leads that might get modified? That chip could be one of the keys to eliminating random noise and make the lead much more reliable?

 

[alwaysared]

Very handy

As I mentioned, the DIY VE.Direct to USB cable I made I found fairly unreliable. It DID basically work but it would disconnect randomly without any apparent reason and that kind of thing really does bug me. After a few disconnections and alternative leads made and tried (but admittedly with donor cables I had laying around rather than ones 'meant for the job') I just got fed up and bought the official product.
I can't remember where I got the last lead that I specifically bought and modified, but clicking on your links, I see an interesting sentence on the USB Cable you are recommending ... "The main body has a USB serial conversion chip, and the other end has four wires to hook up to your target board". I wonder if this is something that is not present (or as good if it is there) on the basic USB leads that might get modified? That chip could be one of the keys to eliminating random noise and make the lead much more reliable?

Like I said I haven't had any problems with my two and when I added a second MPPT I bought the Victron one because I personally didn't think it was worth the messing about and if mine do stop working I'll replace them with the Victron ones. As for the serial converter bit I'd guess most are made in China but not all are UART ones and without dismantling a Victron one to see the actual board we'll never know what type or where it was made One thing I do is use Wago lever connectors to see if things work before I solder everything up

Regards,
Del

 

[1 Cup]

I have listed the bits I've used on here in previous posts and still nobody takes any notice, but mine have only been working since October 2019 so obviously not as reliable as the over priced "Victron" ones

Regards,
Del

Put link in or thread name please, as I dint find when looked / searching for Cerbo !

 

[1 Cup]

So ve Direct is coverd..
It's now the battery to the Cerbo. Via can bus that need a cable. connections.
The new software on JK BSM has now 2023 got can bus output or rs-485 port. But is it a software upgrade or new mother board. ...?

Jk bsm as YouTube live may 2023 by

Will my 2022 model have this or can it ?

 

[merl]

Put link in or thread name please, as I dint find when looked / searching for Cerbo !

See post 45 above, the link is there.

 

[1 Cup]

See post 45 above, the link is there.

Yes thanks just read posts up to now rs485 is what I will use but want usb port for other sensors.

But it's rs-485 I didn't look up that rs-32 unit or is it better for my China battery cell bms ?

Software or hardware? For can bus ! In picture above-mentioned. .?

 

[merl]

So ve Direct is coverd..
It's now the battery to the Cerbo. Via can bus that need a cable.
The new software on JK BSM has now 2023 got can bus 485 port. But is it a software upgrade or new mother board. ...?

View attachment 123723

Why not simply use a RS485 port to USB adaptor? (Keep the adaptor close to the RS485 port and extend with lead on the USB side.)

 

[1 Cup]

Because the cerbo will only see 1 of the 2 batteries I want them both showing on main screen ie 560amp hour not just 280
As They run off 1 product code , as do victron battery's but they show up on main screen.

 

[wildebus]

Here is something the geeky ones might want to have a look at .... (the key reason for posting this is at the end for the TLR folk)

There is a system called "Home Assistant" - this is a nice system and can use and collate information from a variety of sources - including Victron kit.

For example, this is a display I often have active on my dash radio unit so I can see what the B2B is doing:

HA Display B2B by David, on Flickr
A screen grab of that setup...

Screenshot 2023-09-30 at 14-12-35 In-Dash Monitor – Home Assistant by David, on Flickr
This is using data from multiple Victron BMVs fed into the Cerbo GX and then read by Home Assistant (HA)

As I said it can use multiple sources and combine the info, so for example, temperature monitoring:

Screenshot 2023-09-30 at 14-13-45 In-Dash Monitor – Home Assistant by David, on Flickr
The 'Upper Fridge' temp is using a Govee Temperatue recorder sending its info to the HA system via bluetooth, and the 'Lower Freezer' temp is via a Victron Temp Probe connected to the GX.

Control of lighting is possible ... Using Wi-Fi Enabled strip light controllers, can set the colour, intensity and effects of different lighting strips using the buttons and sliders on this page of the HA dashboard

Screenshot 2023-09-30 at 14-08-11 Overview – Home Assistant by David, on Flickr


Why I am telling you all this? Because it is also possible to feed in the BMS data from Daly, JK, Xiaoxiang, etc Battery BMSes into Home Assistant, and via their Bluetooth connections and without the need to use any cables to connect to a Victron Venus OS device.
If the only reason to look at running a Raspberry Pi with the Venus OS system is to have an external view of the Battery Data, it could be worth thinking about using that Raspberry Pi to run Home Assistant instead? if you have a Home Assistant setup, you can add on a service called "Batmon" and if your BMSes are one of the ones listed, then you can see the info and setup graphics and tables anyway you like

The 'cell voltage history' gragh above looks especially interesting and potentially important to me

My batteries BMSes are not one of the ones listed, so I cannot use this myself unfortunately, but I certainly would if I could!
check out "Home Assistant" for the main system, and check out the 'Batmon' add-on at this link here - https://github.com/fl4p/batmon-ha
here is a key takeaway for 'batmon' ....
"Monitor and control various Batterry management systems (BMS) over Bluetooth. This add-on reads the BMS and sends sensor data through MQTT to Home Assistant. Using bluetooth on the Home Assistant host system, it does not need any additional hardware (no USB/Serial/RS485)."

 

[alwaysared]

Put link in or thread name please, as I dint find when looked / searching for Cerbo !

The link is in post #45
I'm not using a Cerbo though, I'm using a Raspberry Pi 4 but I see the Raspberry Pi 5 is coming soon

Regards,
Del

 

[1 Cup]

That's grand dave but £ 450. Must work first. Lol

Here is something the geeky ones might want to have a look at .... (the key reason for posting this is at the end for the TLR folk)

There is a system called "Home Assistant" - this is a nice system and can use and collate information from a variety of sources - including Victron kit.

For example, this is a display I often have active on my dash radio unit so I can see what the B2B is doing:

HA Display B2B by David, on Flickr
A screen grab of that setup...

Screenshot 2023-09-30 at 14-12-35 In-Dash Monitor – Home Assistant by David, on Flickr
This is using data from multiple Victron BMVs fed into the Cerbo GX and then read by Home Assistant (HA)

As I said it can use multiple sources and combine the info, so for example, temperature monitoring:

Screenshot 2023-09-30 at 14-13-45 In-Dash Monitor – Home Assistant by David, on Flickr
The 'Upper Fridge' temp is using a Govee Temperatue recorder sending its info to the HA system via bluetooth, and the 'Lower Freezer' temp is via a Victron Temp Probe connected to the GX.

Control of lighting is possible ... Using Wi-Fi Enabled strip light controllers, can set the colour, intensity and effects of different lighting strips using the buttons and sliders on this page of the HA dashboard

Screenshot 2023-09-30 at 14-08-11 Overview – Home Assistant by David, on Flickr


Why I am telling you all this? Because it is also possible to feed in the BMS data from Daly, JK, Xiaoxiang, etc Battery BMSes into Home Assistant, and via their Bluetooth connections and without the need to use any cables to connect to a Victron Venus OS device.
If the only reason to look at running a Raspberry Pi with the Venus OS system is to have an external view of the Battery Data, it could be worth thinking about using that Raspberry Pi to run Home Assistant instead? if you have a Home Assistant setup, you can add on a service called "Batmon" and if your BMSes are one of the ones listed, then you can see the info and setup graphics and tables anyway you like

The 'cell voltage history' gragh above looks especially interesting and potentially important to me

My batteries BMSes are not one of the ones listed, so I cannot use this myself unfortunately, but I certainly would if I could!
check out "Home Assistant" for the main system, and check out the 'Batmon' add-on at this link here - https://github.com/fl4p/batmon-ha
here is a key takeaway for 'batmon' ....
"Monitor and control various Batterry management systems (BMS) over Bluetooth. This add-on reads the BMS and sends sensor data through MQTT to Home Assistant. Using bluetooth on the Home Assistant host system, it does not need any additional hardware (no USB/Serial/RS485)."

That's grand dave but £ 450. Must work first. Lol

 

[wildebus]

That's grand dave but £ 450. Must work first. Lol


That's grand dave but £ 450. Must work first. Lol

What is £450?
Home Assistant is a free product. You need something like a Raspberry Pi to run it.... I used the one I used to run the Victron Venus on so was spare, so my Home Assistant has cost me £0.00. If you need to buy a RPi to use it, it is whatever they cost now (£50?)

 

[1 Cup]

The link is in post #45
I'm not using a Cerbo though, I'm using a Raspberry Pi 4 but I see the Raspberry Pi 5 is coming soon

Regards,
Del

I have cerbo so if the Pi 5 is better bette4 batteries ive missed out.

It's firmware upgrades for jk bms I need , as my equipment is staying ,

 

[1 Cup]

Dave I took two year to do victron and the cerbo was the last bit.

This is interesting bit of kit as a controller for lights and pumps . As I want a electronic dash board for the vans main equipment. And no wires is very good .

Victronenergy.com account will be set up this week for cerbo as now ve wires for solar controller and smart shut delivered yesterday. 1.8 and the short 30 cm
£15.99 ebay for 1.8

 

[wildebus]

Dave I took two year to do victron and the cerbo was the last bit. View attachment 123763


This is interesting bit of kit as a controller for lights and pumps . As I want a electronic dash board for the vans main equipment. And no wires is very good .

Victronenergy.com account will be set up this week for cerbo as now ve wires for solar controller and smart shut delivered yesterday. 1.8 and the short 30 cm
£15.99 ebay for 1.8

I gotcha... £450 for the Cerbo and you don't want that wasted