Excellent, very informative video. Thanks! It great to get info from someone who demonstrates true knowledge of the products. You are a true professional!
I have my off-grid system in a shed 20m away from my cabin. My cerbo is online at all times, and is connected to the mesh network covering the property. instead of the Victron screen, I use a Pi and a 10" touch screen, connected to the cerbo local via IP adress. Works like a charm. No distance issues, no power issues and no missing functionality. And it was way cheaper than te victron screen.
The Ekrano is good if it's positioned near your equipment. But, on my Class A motorhome, it was a 30' run from the equipment to the screen. It made more sense to just run two cables to the screen instead of all the cables.
Many of us are hoping for for the Ekrano quad core processor in the cerbo configuration using our touch 70 or 50. Even better would be the ability to network 2 Venus OS devices-1 for the electrical closet (boat) and another for the chart table. That way, the cabling from various peripherals (tanks, ve.direct, CANbus, VE.bus) can connect to the network nearer the sources. Am REALLY wanting BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) from all of my Victron “Smart” devices into the VenusOS device like the Ruuvi. (We can see smart devices locally with VictronConnect) but not remotely with VictronConnect and/or VRM) Again, a nice video
According victron to you, don't have to plug the usb for the touch in to the cerbo gx you can wire a usb PowerPoint near the touch screen and plug into there.
Thanks for the info about the Cerbo GX not needing the Touch 50 or 70, and the ability to use a tablet or smart phone. I had NO IDEA the Cerbo GX could operate like that. This ability (tablet or Smartphone) would be very useful in my truck camper because I have no place to run the wires from the Cerbo GX to the Touch screen, unless they are surface mounted on a wall, which is very un-elegant. I have a CCGX which works fine, but it's mounted low and in a hard to view area, maybe I will replace it with a Cerbo and use an existing tablet I already have.
Thanks for tuning in, great to hear that gave you some insights! Yes at this point, the Cerbo would be a great leap forward compared to the Color Control GX. It has the same ports, but also a lot of new ports/capabilities as well. Good luck with it!
The Cerbo GX wins hands down for a few reasons.... having the Cerbo as a separate box that goes in the wiring cabinet/engine bay leading to a neater display install - the Ekrano you have to have all the cables to the back of it so you are limited where it goes. Dont bother getting a display for the Cerbo as its best to use on your phone/tablet as if you buy a display they often go out of date....
Thanks Ross. Grat video. You mention that you can visualize the cerbo screen on the phone with the Victron Connect app. Is that by using VRM or how else? Best regards, Silvano
Hi Silvano, this is a great question. Using the VictronConnect app, that would be over Bluetooth, within a few meters of the Cerbo or Ekrano. You bring up a good point though, in that you can also pull up this screen in the VRM portal with the feature called "Remote Console." That will pull up the Cerbo/Ekrano's screen from the other side of the world, as long as the Cerbo/Ekrano has an internet connection. Great question, thanks for tuning in again!
Another great video; thank you! Can you tell me what options I have to get the data from the Cerbo to my existing NMEA2000 system? Do I need a specific NMEA converter cable, or can I pick up the data from the LAN, Bluetooth, or any other way?
I prefer to extend 1 hdmi+1 usb with Cerbo than extending 3 ve.direct wires + 2 ve.direct to usb+3 ethernet:bms, inverter and wired network+tank resistive sensors+power. We never had any problem with 5 meters hdmi and usb extenders. Ekrano is faster and better if you are planning to use node.red but in a van, motorhome environment, probably Cerbo+gx touch will be the first choice ¿Looking forward for a cerbo processor update from victron?
It’s got 2 relays, so yes, kind of. You could use those relays to control things, probably by controlling a high-current relay that controls something. Maybe look at the Simarine VIA as well. It has a bunch of controls/relays for things like that. They can also engrave custom buttons for you.
Ve Bus is a serial protocol of communication so cannot be shared/split. If you want to interconnect two GX devices you can use the CAN port, But this will share only the CAN data from a system. So best thing to do is to disconnect the internal GX device and connect all to the CerboGX/Touch. Then all works as expected - Johannes Boonstra (Victron)
Excellent, very informative video.
Thanks!
It great to get info from someone who demonstrates true knowledge of the products. You are a true professional!
Thanks for tuning in, I try, it's a work in progress...
I have my off-grid system in a shed 20m away from my cabin. My cerbo is online at all times, and is connected to the mesh network covering the property. instead of the Victron screen, I use a Pi and a 10" touch screen, connected to the cerbo local via IP adress. Works like a charm. No distance issues, no power issues and no missing functionality. And it was way cheaper than te victron screen.
do you have link where buy the pi model and 10" screen ?
straight to the point and easy to follow. thank you
Thank you!
Thanks for doing this comparrison. Well done.
Thanks Ken! Glad you enjoyed the comparison. Thanks for stopping by again.
Thanks for another very informative video.
I appreciate that, thanks for stopping by again!
Great vid Ross, Thanks!
Thanks for tuning in Paul, glad you enjoyed the video!
The Ekrano is good if it's positioned near your equipment. But, on my Class A motorhome, it was a 30' run from the equipment to the screen. It made more sense to just run two cables to the screen instead of all the cables.
That's fair, thanks for sharing your take on this!
Thank you Ross
Thanks for tuning in again Brian!
Many of us are hoping for for the Ekrano quad core processor in the cerbo configuration using our touch 70 or 50. Even better would be the ability to network 2 Venus OS devices-1 for the electrical closet (boat) and another for the chart table. That way, the cabling from various peripherals (tanks, ve.direct, CANbus, VE.bus) can connect to the network nearer the sources.
Am REALLY wanting BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) from all of my Victron “Smart” devices into the VenusOS device like the Ruuvi. (We can see smart devices locally with VictronConnect) but not remotely with VictronConnect and/or VRM)
Again, a nice video
Great ! Thanks for Share!
Thanks for tuning in, glad you liked the video!
According victron to you, don't have to plug the usb for the touch in to the cerbo gx you can wire a usb PowerPoint near the touch screen and plug into there.
Was going to make the same point.
Cool, thanks for sharing your insights on this!
I assumed the touch interface was also on the USB--is that not the case?
@kevinhoober1863 no the usb is only for power. Everything else is on the hdmi port
Thanks for the info about the Cerbo GX not needing the Touch 50 or 70, and the ability to use a tablet or smart phone. I had NO IDEA the Cerbo GX could operate like that. This ability (tablet or Smartphone) would be very useful in my truck camper because I have no place to run the wires from the Cerbo GX to the Touch screen, unless they are surface mounted on a wall, which is very un-elegant.
I have a CCGX which works fine, but it's mounted low and in a hard to view area, maybe I will replace it with a Cerbo and use an existing tablet I already have.
Thanks for tuning in, great to hear that gave you some insights! Yes at this point, the Cerbo would be a great leap forward compared to the Color Control GX. It has the same ports, but also a lot of new ports/capabilities as well. Good luck with it!
The Cerbo GX wins hands down for a few reasons.... having the Cerbo as a separate box that goes in the wiring cabinet/engine bay leading to a neater display install - the Ekrano you have to have all the cables to the back of it so you are limited where it goes. Dont bother getting a display for the Cerbo as its best to use on your phone/tablet as if you buy a display they often go out of date....
Thanks Ross great and informative...I think I'm buying an Ekrano now lol
Good choice, thanks for tuning in, great to hear you got some insights from this comparison!
Thanks Ross. Grat video.
You mention that you can visualize the cerbo screen on the phone with the Victron Connect app. Is that by using VRM or how else? Best regards, Silvano
Hi Silvano, this is a great question. Using the VictronConnect app, that would be over Bluetooth, within a few meters of the Cerbo or Ekrano. You bring up a good point though, in that you can also pull up this screen in the VRM portal with the feature called "Remote Console." That will pull up the Cerbo/Ekrano's screen from the other side of the world, as long as the Cerbo/Ekrano has an internet connection. Great question, thanks for tuning in again!
Another great video; thank you! Can you tell me what options I have to get the data from the Cerbo to my existing NMEA2000 system? Do I need a specific NMEA converter cable, or can I pick up the data from the LAN, Bluetooth, or any other way?
I prefer to extend 1 hdmi+1 usb with Cerbo than extending 3 ve.direct wires + 2 ve.direct to usb+3 ethernet:bms, inverter and wired network+tank resistive sensors+power. We never had any problem with 5 meters hdmi and usb extenders.
Ekrano is faster and better if you are planning to use node.red but in a van, motorhome environment, probably Cerbo+gx touch will be the first choice
¿Looking forward for a cerbo processor update from victron?
Awesome, thanks for sharing your take on this! Regarding the Cerbo processor, I am not aware on that.
can this system be used to do things like lights control, slide control, electric blind control?
It’s got 2 relays, so yes, kind of. You could use those relays to control things, probably by controlling a high-current relay that controls something. Maybe look at the Simarine VIA as well. It has a bunch of controls/relays for things like that. They can also engrave custom buttons for you.
What if the Multiplus is a GX version. Will it cause problems with external GX units as you then have two of them?
Ve Bus is a serial protocol of communication so cannot be shared/split.
If you want to interconnect two GX devices you can use the CAN port, But this will share only the CAN data from a system.
So best thing to do is to disconnect the internal GX device and connect all to the CerboGX/Touch.
Then all works as expected
- Johannes Boonstra (Victron)
Yeah, I'm # 200 👍
Thanks for the like and for tuning in!
Man this seems like a bad idea. Seems like very few ppl would want to have to pull all those wires back to the monitor panel
I think people are going for a certain end result, lots of wires must be run, regardless of which monitor is used.