Connect 4 VE.Direct Victron devices to one USB port. Save space and isolate all your devices! 

Thanks for the explanation. That makes totally sense.

Buy a system that does not require an internet connection whatsoever, whether simply monitoring the system parameters or manipulating the parameters. Victron is screwing with you remotely to stimulate you to open a service ticket. Their solutions always involves buying a new component that you already have. This component will be addressable only online so they can screw with this one as well next year so they can slowly bleed you dry with system failures that are not failures at all, just a remote killswitch engaging

The Cerbo for example has all its ports fully isolated but as we use a Raspberry Pi, it's a different story and this converter may come in handy.

Agreed. I have found that failure to use twisted pair for common mode rejection is the most common issue. Shielded cables can be more of a problem than a help. Ground termination should only be at one end and all common with the same ground. 99% of the time it's failure to maintain the above that creates problems.

@@TRS-Tech Indeed. Good point about twisted pairs. I seem to recall that all the shielded signal cables were made with some twist to the signal conductors, so perhaps some of the issues I encountered were related to shielding. I do recall isolating shield on both ends of some problematic cables and having noise issues become worse.

@@jackoneil3933 In theory if the twisting ratio / impedence is correct then sheilded cable should not be needed. I think cable routing plays a big part to. Its easy for mains cables to induce noise for example. In theory the rejection from the twisted pair should be enough... that's in theory of corse. As you appear to be talking about PLC I assume you were mostly using RS485. We're the pairs terminated with a resistor on the end ? I know the official Victron cables are just twisted pair and not shielded but as Andy pointed out the Cerbo does have opto isolation, that seems to be the best solution. I do remember from uni that as you correctly stated above the shielding should be common and only terminated at one end.

@@TRS-Tech Good points again. I was involved in the Oil and Gas and Nuclear industries, and hundreds of feet, run in dedicated instrumentation cable trays, so bare twisted pairs were generally not used but I recall a few short runs in conduit. Rarely did we have long runs of serial data cables such as RS485 which was short runs in control centers and rooms for PLC's and data transmitters. Most of our signal cables were for 4-20ma control, so what I typically encountered was induced current from various sources.We used a lot of 24, 48 and 125 VDC control and I occasionally saw stray current on control lines from static and circulating currents between locations which typically contained megawatts of motors, generators, restive and inductive loads. I understand most solar and victron installations are a bit different but in the oil and gas industry I am familiar with was in very dry arctic and desert conditions, with a lot of wind blowing over metal buildings larger but similar to what Andy has, and circulating currents due to static caused by wind were a common cause of issues. As an example I was once installing a cable tray between to two large oil and gas modules the size of large office buildings mounted on vertical supports and when I went to connect two long sections of cable tray they arced and welded slightly together from static charge alone I later connected a VOM between the two long runs of of cable tray and saw voltage fluctuate between -60 o + 200VDC an initial static capacitive discharge of over100amps, and 20 to 60 amps DC between the two sections of cable tray that were carrying the static charge between the two large modules, so I would not be surprised to see static potential and current between even Andy's metal buildings.

Thank you guys. It's a great product you have there and very useful. So please let everyone know once it's back in stock. You may get some orders then 😉

​ @Off-Grid Garage I have added the board in pre-order and i have also managed to make the cable!

@@Duppadotnet just ordered the board on your site with the JST connector and the JST cable. This is a perfect solution. Thanks.

I'm sure, I didn't buy the last one. I have mine since April/May this year and there were plenty of available. I hope it's not the chip shortage which causes that.

Thanks Karl, I will test it out and see if this resolves the issue. Victron said it's unlikely that the -1°C problem comes from using not-isolated cables but it's better anyway to use the isolators.

Good luck getting one atm...

@@OffGridGarageAustralia i will have to wait. I had no luck with diy serial cables on my rpi running solar-assistant. Cable worked for everything else but the smart shunt. This one off tindle caught my eye.

Thank you. Hope you can get one...

The Cerbo has most of its ports isolated but what do you do if they are all in use already?

The connector in the controller has a notch so should be easy to identify the pins and connect them correctly but thanks for pointing this out.

But it is usb to serial isolated adapter, as I think, then there are tx and rx signals instead D+ and D- (no differential pair)

Thanks for sharing these tips. Great!

My wife? Oh, sh!t, my wife... I totally forgot about her.... 😂 She's fine with that. I'm not in the garage all the time. She as an artist spends most of the time in her studio as well.

@@OffGridGarageAustralia All good then.

Thanks Trev.

OK, that's a good point. Even the longer 10m VE.Diect cables don't have any shielding so it may not be an issues...

Thank you, Wayne.

Ja, ich auch 😁 Sollen aber in 3-4 Wochen wieder verfuegbar sein, schreiben die hier in the Kommentaren. Dann schlagen wir zu!

I think wireless connections would make it even worse as there is nothing you can troubleshoot. Here, I can at least disconnect some cables to isolate the devices and test if it makes a difference.

Thanks for watching!

Glad I could help!

Yeah, I know, the list of ideas just gets longer and longer though...

A wireless HDMI connection for these screens would be great. I really hate this cable connection. I'm always using my old tablet to connect to Venus. At least I don't need any cables then and it works pretty much the same... Thanks for the offer!

DIY cable no good needs isolated wire. Only one solar string out of the two will read properly and that is the isolated one.

Thank you.

I need to know this as well. All my equipment is located in one place except my BMV-712. It is about 20' away mounted inside my 5th Wheel. The 712's port is on the back of the monitor and NOT on the shunt like the Smart Shunt is. So I need to run the cable 20' or so in order to connect it. Have you found a solution?????

Should be back in stock in around 3-4 weeks they are saying...

Yes, that is a really great device. I have on installed for over a year and no problems.

The Cerbo can handle 15 USB connected devices, it says in the manual. So that should cater for even very large systems. My new MPPTs will have CAN ports, so I will use that to connect to the Cerbo at some stage. But for now, VE.Direct it is... Afaik only using the Victron VE.Direct to USB adapter is isolated, not the DIY adapters we're using.

@@OffGridGarageAustralia aa yes that has sense..btw i used to have all connected with Can ports..and to be honest..it was fine till i had some ground loop connection problem..it wasn't fun from that moment :) lool.

Do you use smart shunts in your systems? They investigate in this direction at the moment...

@@OffGridGarageAustralia yes…

I had this as well in the past and was wondering why this happens. Argh, that's not good...

The thin wire would act like a fuse, I guess but yeah, it could get really hot at some stage if the current is large enough but not too large. I have used isolator breakers in my installation, double pole DC circuit breakers. I like to isolate when I shut something off, not just disconnect the circuit.

@@OffGridGarageAustralia The thing to worry about is the insulation. Insulation on light wiring is rarely flame inhibiting. It takes only moments for a wire to heat to the point where the insulation ignites and from there things can rapidly go down hill. The possibility of high current flowing on comms wiring etc is usually overlooked. I have some photos I took years ago floating around here somewhere where this exact thing happened. A main - terminal had come loose due to incorrect installation and comms wiring tried to carry the return current. In that particular case there wasn't a fire but it was pretty clear it was only sheer luck that there wasn't. The wire bundle with the comms wiring in it was severely damaged.

I don't have a generator. We don't need to burn stiff to make energy 😉

Oh, wow, nice one. For certain application pretty useful. Thanks for sharing.

I've got two of them in my setup and they work without any problems ever since I installed them. Great little devices.

same -1C issue here on a new installation with Lynx shunt (wires switched for batteries on right, lynx distributor on left). I use only Victron cables. Turning off/on DVCC/SVS did not correct, but firmware updates, or the process of updating the firmware resolved the issue. Another very similar, but 2 year old installation with a BMV712 did not encounter the -1C issue, but updating the firmware of its MPPTs and shunt could have pre-empted the -1C.

Thanks, Mark. I think all Victron gear is pretty much plug'n play and all of the ports around the Cerbo GX are already isolated. So, in this case a simple USB hub would work as well if you need more USB ports for your devices. I can see this now when I compare this to the Raspberry Pi. With the Cerbo for example. you just plug something in and it works right away. And yes, it gets quite complicated after a while. You start with one connection and keep adding more and more devices. It won't get easier and adds to the complexity and maintenance requirement of your system. But what's the alternative?

@@OffGridGarageAustralia very good point. There really is none. I do hope that Victron continues with their work and tries to be the first that keeps it simplified as much as they can and continues to address the issues that come up. No one else is really doing that these days.

You can extend the Ve.direct cables to up to 10m. If you google this you will find cables for this in all kind of lengths. Or you can just make your own... www.solar4rvs.com.au/victron-v.e.-direct-cable-0.3m-0.9m-1.8m-3m-5m-10m

@@OffGridGarageAustralia thank you SOOOO much!!

Hello guys any idea what could be the best way to retrieve the water level of 3 tanks ? On raspy / venus ?

The Victron Cerbo has all its ports isolated but not the Raspberry Pi. So this converter is not really needed for the Cerbo but mor for the DIY Pi.

Thanks Jonas. That would be far out of the DIY zone. 160V DC is super dangerous already and I would not recommend building such a battery. The JK-BMS cannot handle such a series connection, the MOSFETs are not designed for that. In fact, most (if not all) of the available BMS won't withstand that and you may need an expensive Batrium (not even sure if it would handle that either) or some custom made BMS. A series connection of BMS is not a reliable solution. If one trips, the whole system would stop working. I would not design such a system without redundancy. I don't see any advantage for having such a high DC voltage battery. 48V is totally fine and works with all the gear and devices out there.

As Andy says, being able to connect lithium batteries in series depends on the BMS. You'll find some pre-built Lithium batteries will say no series connection, while others may say 2 in series or 4 in series. It comes down to the MOSFETs used (as well as supporting components). An ultra cheap 12v BMS will use MOSFETS rated for maybe 18 or 20v, since a "12v" battery is really 14.xv and you design with some buffer for slightly over-expected operation, and use the most commonly available parts. Better BMS boards will be rated for a 12/24v setup and so will use MOSFETS rated for the higher configuration. If you use these for a 12v pack, that gives you the possibility of having 2 in series. As the offerings get better (and more expensive) the componentry will have specifications for much higher voltage, and so it's safe to connect more in series. A BMS designed for 48v, cooild be sold with board variants for 12v or 24v and so on, but use the same parts as used for the full 48v design. This usually is noted at 4s-16s or a 4s-24s or something. The maximum cell number is indicative of the overall rating of the MOSFETs used. If you use a 24s BMS in a working (IE as designed by the manufacturer) 12v (4s) pack, you can probably safely have up to 6 packs in series. As Andy says, a failure of one BMS would basically result in an open circuit (or short circuit?) for the entire pack. An interesting consideration is how a BMS allows Charge/Discharge to be toggled on or off discretely. A MOSFET allows.current flow in one direction, but has a reverse flow diode, a "body" diode. This body diode is designed to protect the MOSFET in the event of reversed polarity, and thus reverse current flow. Clever design thinking and specific MOSFET manufacturing has brought us to the place where that "protection" mechanism is in fact rated for equal or almost equal current flow in the reverse direction as the forward direction. So the MOSFET is technically used for discharge current control, while the body diode is used to control the charge current. You may find that the charge current of a BMS is lower rated than the discharge current. This is why. As a diode will only conduct when there is a voltage difference of about 1/2v (a generalisation), when charging your pack, as the pack voltage approaches the charging voltage, the diode will stop conducting, giving you the top charge cut-off. This is probably controlled in some clever way that I don't know about yet, to ensure that the setting you configure in software matches the diode operation. Perhaps a DC-to-DC converter? So if a BMS in a series connected pack shouldn't affect the other packs in the string of cells fr.charging/discharging. Perhaps there is more to it than that.aybe there is some sort of pass-through circuitry which is switch depending on if the BMS charge/discharge state for the single 12v pack in the string. Anyway, whether a lithium battery can be connected in series or not, comes down to the design of the BMS, and the MOSFETS used in that design and the manufacture of the board.

No matter. I found the waveshare isolated 4 input rs485 adapter withe the same ft4232h chip

I think they are Micro JST GH 1.25mm. I remember reading this somewhere. Not 100% sure though...

@@OffGridGarageAustralia 100 % Micro JST GH 1.25mm.

Yes, it should also work with that. but you still need the additional driver then to install on your Pi or Cerbo.

I replied to your email. Try these steps as suggested.

@@OffGridGarageAustralia i am not getting your return e mails

@@joeconnolly89 I'm getting yours. Nothing in your spam folder?

@@OffGridGarageAustralia nope I checked Not recieving anything you send Will try again

I exactly have the same behaviour with the multiplus 2 GX (3000) - have you solved the issue. even tried to plug it into a rpi venus OS but didn't work either.

Sign up for their newsletter and they will inform you when it is back in stock.

Hiya Yes I have Thx for all your hard work! Joe

Yep, the same way. A new firmware shows up in the VRM. There is a bit of documentation out there: www.victronenergy.com/live/venus-os:remote_ve.bus_firmware_updates My MP II resets to default settings afterwards, so I make sure I'm onsite and set it up again. It's bit annoying.

Thanks. You are a good person Mr Garage!👍

I thought it is quite good for this price considering I would need to buy 4 individual adapters from Victron for $45/ea.

Has it?

It was out of stock for a while. Sign up for their newsletter, they will let you know when it's back. I ordered a few when it came back... best devices!

@@OffGridGarageAustralia Yes, Simone answered already me, the 4in1 in Produktion and in a few weeks available.

I'm just sharing my experience here. They had some negative feedback from me as well here on the channel so that's maybe why they don't 😁

No.

There are sensors which are compatible with Venus OS. I googled it a while back but all sensors are wired only so that's too difficult for me to use. I'm after a wireless tank sensor for all my rain water tanks as well.

@@OffGridGarageAustralia if i found something i keep you in the loop

@@GregoryRomano1970That would be great.

That totally depends on your charger and also load. How much amps do you pull at max load?

@@OffGridGarageAustralia Thank you so much for answering me, l live in central west NSW and l'm building a 40ft shipping container house on our family farm, being remote there's not really any solar people about to ask for help. I have two Epever 100amp/200v chargers one for each array (2200w) each. I have a 4000/8000w Giandel 24v inverter. I think that we're going to have a max load of 3800w. I was thinking of a 200amp Daley (not smart version) BMS or should l have two of these?

What's an alternative? Genuine Victron adapters?

Bluetooth is not 100% reliable. For critical equipment, hard wire your data lines.

I agree hard wire data lines provide more reliable comms. But these are not critical equipment and can do just fine without comms.

I think this is only for a certain way of shopping? I didn't quite understand this one-stop-shop thingy either. If not, I order a whole box and ship them from here. Fits in a padded envelope...

​@@OffGridGarageAustralia so you have this this 4 to 1 Board?

@@Test-dn1qe Yes, I have 4 of them. Still have to make the video when I install them.

@@OffGridGarageAustralia Top! Leider ist dies nicht mehr kaufbar. Ich hoffe, daß es diese irgend wann wieder gibt, eventuell von anderen Anbietern. Grüsse und weiter so mit deinen RU-vid Videos👍

That's where you need a 3D printer, to make a suitable mount, but as you say you really shouldn't have to, but unfortunately we as end users are never going to change poor design choices so we just have to work around it. It is so frustrating, I've had so many why did they do that moments, where a simple design change could make things so much better.

@@TheRonskiman I have never really had the need for a 3D printer, although if I had one I probably would have used it possibly more than I realise.... I guess that it's going to be one of those things that eventually they are going to be as cheap and common that they will be sold alongside the common paper printer and when they run out of consumables, they both will end up together on the nature strip due to after market filament not being compatible with your specific model!!!! I can really see this happening LoL. You probably already get some filament with a new 3D printer to get you started. All that's needed now is for someone to find a way to get the printer to detect the type of filament and not work if it's not theirs... This is the world we now live in!

@@PeterMilanovski Luckily 3D printers aren't yet made with the restrictions off paper printers. You buy your 3D printer, you buy your choice of filament, then you set about trying to get it to print, which is a steep learning curve, but once you get it working they are incredibly useful, and I will be using mine to print things for my solar/battery install.

It is advertised more like a test and developer board. I guess most developers don't really care of a nest of cables on their desk when testing things out. I would probably mount it with some Velcro in my battery shelf where the Raspi and the 12V converter sits.

BT won't be reliable over some distance and is also too slow, I guess for time critical events.

I know, right. My son just moved down there and we have the total sunshine up here. Stay safe down there!

@@OffGridGarageAustralia Thanks mate, what town is your son in?