Thank you. This was very helpful. With no modification of the code I was able to get a different Victron product to work with this. I have an old BMV-700 with an added on bluetooth unit. My biggest struggles getting this done were probably because it was my first time working with an esp32 device. I use a Mac. My esp device seemed to need to have the boot button pressed down quite a while as I went through several screens. A suggestion: I had a great deal of trouble getting my esp device to connect. Turns out I was trying to connect the esp to my 5G wifi. I changed everything over to my 2.4 wifi and got it connected. My computer is back on the 5g wifi. Thank you very much for the video. I was not certain how valuable it would be. The feature that blows me away is the 10 days of data logging in HA and the graphs. My old shunt has no data storage. I am now geeking out analyzing how my batteries are charging. Question: I have the Victron entities in my dashboard. When I click on one it tells me how recent the data is. For instance "2 seconds ago". Is there a way to display that time value on the dashboard. My next big project is to get my EPever charge controllers to share data with HA. Looks daunting.
Excellent work !! This was one of my most rewarding integrations I've implemented. Dont forget to increase your HA reporting to get more data. Or whats this video ua-cam.com/video/k-7dO1o52dQ/v-deo.html for the perfect solution !!
I thought there might be some interest in this. Its actually my 13 year old daughters design. I'm more the OH&S and supervisor :) I'll see what I can bring together.
FYI There is also a Mqtt connector for those running Victron gear through a network connected Cerbo gx (or raspberry pi)… I will try this out as well as the Bluetooth connection for the smart shunt and the individual mppt’s is potentially easier….
Is it possible to connect to more than one victron device with just one esp. And will victron smart networking over bluetooth still work. For exmple i have one victron mppt, one smart Battery watch, and one smart shunt, witch are actually conneted by victron smart networking.
Hi Michael, this was a proof of concept for me, so currently I only have the smart shunt in place, but I'm planning to introduce the smart solar controller. The documentation lists in its configuration multiple devices, so I don't see why not. And besides, for $10 give it a try and let us know how you go.
Thanks, I'm lining up a video for this. Although it will be a retrospective as I did the project with my daughter some time ago for fun. But since there is so much interest in it, I'll do it :)
Hi, it would work to detect when my UPS is about to power off so that I could create an automation to shut down my NAS. My initial idea involves using the ESP32 along with a voltage divider connected to the 12-volt batteries of my UPS. But now I wonder if Victron could work as well
Thats an interesting user case. Doesn't your UPS has a SNMP message that the NAS can read direct? If not, then yes you could use this for that usercase.
Stupid question: Why do we need an esp32 to achieve this connection? My home assistant has bluetooth. Why cant I use my HA BT to connect to the Victron? I plan to connect multiple devices to my HA. Do I need a separate esp for each? That's a lot of micro usb connections. Can I get a BT hub and have a single device connect to several devices? Thank you.
I don't see why not. HA BT Proxy piggy backs on any ESP32 so this should be treated the same. I just wanted to keep it simple for people to follow along with. Side note, this is one of my favourite integrations, works perfectly. Those Dutch sure do know how to make some great devices !
Excellent video. Thank you for the details!
Glad it was helpful! I know when I implemented it was super impressed :)
Thank you. This was very helpful. With no modification of the code I was able to get a different Victron product to work with this. I have an old BMV-700 with an added on bluetooth unit.
My biggest struggles getting this done were probably because it was my first time working with an esp32 device. I use a Mac. My esp device seemed to need to have the boot button pressed down quite a while as I went through several screens.
A suggestion: I had a great deal of trouble getting my esp device to connect. Turns out I was trying to connect the esp to my 5G wifi. I changed everything over to my 2.4 wifi and got it connected. My computer is back on the 5g wifi.
Thank you very much for the video. I was not certain how valuable it would be. The feature that blows me away is the 10 days of data logging in HA and the graphs. My old shunt has no data storage. I am now geeking out analyzing how my batteries are charging.
Question: I have the Victron entities in my dashboard. When I click on one it tells me how recent the data is. For instance "2 seconds ago". Is there a way to display that time value on the dashboard.
My next big project is to get my EPever charge controllers to share data with HA. Looks daunting.
Excellent work !! This was one of my most rewarding integrations I've implemented. Dont forget to increase your HA reporting to get more data. Or whats this video ua-cam.com/video/k-7dO1o52dQ/v-deo.html for the perfect solution !!
Would like to see the solar power setup!
I thought there might be some interest in this. Its actually my 13 year old daughters design. I'm more the OH&S and supervisor :) I'll see what I can bring together.
@@smart_home_australia i think it would be good content that would fit into smart homes quite well!
Now I just need to convince my daughter to let me borrow her beloved school projects for a few hours, she's very proud of it :)
FYI There is also a Mqtt connector for those running Victron gear through a network connected Cerbo gx (or raspberry pi)… I will try this out as well as the Bluetooth connection for the smart shunt and the individual mppt’s is potentially easier….
Thanks Andrew. I don’t have the Cerbo GX, but if I get one I’ll definitely test it out. Thanks for letting us know. 👍
Awesome, it worked!!! Clear and step by step instructions. Thank you for sharing. (from Seattle)
You're most welcome Seattle :) from Sydney :)
Is it possible to connect to more than one victron device with just one esp. And will victron smart networking over bluetooth still work. For exmple i have one victron mppt, one smart Battery watch, and one smart shunt, witch are actually conneted by victron smart networking.
Hi Michael, this was a proof of concept for me, so currently I only have the smart shunt in place, but I'm planning to introduce the smart solar controller. The documentation lists in its configuration multiple devices, so I don't see why not. And besides, for $10 give it a try and let us know how you go.
I would like to see the power bank and solar charger set up.
Thanks, I'm lining up a video for this. Although it will be a retrospective as I did the project with my daughter some time ago for fun. But since there is so much interest in it, I'll do it :)
Hi,
it would work to detect when my UPS is about to power off so that I could create an automation to shut down my NAS. My initial idea involves using the ESP32 along with a voltage divider connected to the 12-volt batteries of my UPS. But now I wonder if Victron could work as well
Thats an interesting user case. Doesn't your UPS has a SNMP message that the NAS can read direct? If not, then yes you could use this for that usercase.
Maybe have a look at a NUT setup, thats what i have done with my NAS (old readynas, hard to work with)
@@H220RMS my low cost UPS has no communication ports so no way to connect to NUT
@@smart_home_australia No, it is a basic NAS with no communication ports
in which case it might be a Victron Shunt and a Switchbot FingerBot, with some HA automation magic :)
Stupid question: Why do we need an esp32 to achieve this connection? My home assistant has bluetooth. Why cant I use my HA BT to connect to the Victron? I plan to connect multiple devices to my HA. Do I need a separate esp for each? That's a lot of micro usb connections. Can I get a BT hub and have a single device connect to several devices? Thank you.
I don't see why not. HA BT Proxy piggy backs on any ESP32 so this should be treated the same. I just wanted to keep it simple for people to follow along with.
Side note, this is one of my favourite integrations, works perfectly. Those Dutch sure do know how to make some great devices !
⚠Please note if you take a screenshot of your encryption key from the victron app that it cuts off the first character of the key.
Thanks, sounds like you found out the hard way??
It took screenshot of the whole thing to me (iPhone).
@@carsandtools NIce... it did for me also... but I guess not all keys are the same length.