2019-09-30, 10:39 PM
(This post was last modified: 2019-09-30, 10:48 PM by rafaelnfernandes.)
Update:
Victron BMV 7xx battery monitor connection:
Used a pair of HC 05 Bluetooth modules configured as Master/Slave. Set them to 19200 baud (Victron output standard).
on the BMV side, you onde need one pin (for output) and, looking to the VE.direct port is the 3rd pin counting from the left. That connects to the RX port on the HC 05. I powered the HC 05 with a separated power supply as the 3.3v output on the BMV was powerful enough according to spec.
(the BMV is specifically 3.3v logic, but some MPPT controllers are 5v logic so be careful with your choice of adapter).
As I didnt want to use the rpi BT module for this, as said before, I used another HC 05 on the rpi side, connected to a USB ttl serial adapter, 3.3v logic.
The adapter was recognized by OpenPlotter and I mapped it to kplex just to have an alias (to use be used latter) for the serial address.
Installed a Signal K plugin to convert Victron VE.direct to Signal K (https://github.com/SignalK/vedirect-serial-usb) available on the Store.
pointed to the serial alias mentioned above and magic.. I have got all battery monitor information on the network.
few comments:
- My BMV has built in bluetooth, but Victron states that you can not extract data using it, its for their apps and network only;
- You dont need Victron special cable (ve direct to usb) but it might be a good idea because it is optically isolated.
- I only used bluetooth because running a cable was not practical. Its just as TTL 3.3v logic @ 19200 baud that you want to send to the rpi, any way you can do that may work
Temperature and Pressure sensor (Barometer):
- Connected a BPM180 sensor to the rpi (google pinout) it was instantly recognized by OP (i2c tab) I just mapped the desired Signal k sentences and it was up and running.
MQTT:
To get mosquitto (mqtt broker) running by default on OP you need to set a user and password on the MQTT tab. Its kind of NOT obvious, but that is it, just put a user and a password and apply.
Than you can map topics received to Signal K sentences. Tried it with the MyMQTT app on android and it worked with no problems.
My ESP32 sensors talk via MQTT so the plan is to integrate them to OP using this feature.
InfluxDB and Grafana:
after many trials and errors what worked: (and it works great!!!!!)
Installed influxDB from apt-get (update first)
Installed SignalK to InfluxDB pluging (on the SignalK store) https://github.com/tkurki/signalk-to-influxdb (follow the instructions on the readme file to create a database)
Now Signalk numerical data is being stored on the created database (around 10MB a day, in my case, 7 days retention), just need a nice way to display it: Enters Grafana!
DO NOT install Grafana using apt-get. It is an old bugged version.
Go to https://grafana.com/grafana/download?platform=arm and download the latest Ubuntu and Debian ARMv7 version
(just copy and past the 2 command lines)
Before you run Grafana you have to change the default port from 3000 (used by SignalK server) to something else. I'm using 3030.
Change here: /etc/grafana/grafana.ini under [server] http_port
You might choose to run both influxdb and grafana as services at boot (google it).
Look up on google on how to create beautiful dashboards with Grafana, its very easy. I created a dedicated "Weather" dashboard with Barometric pressure, air and water temp, wind speed/direction.
comment: Grafana runs way better if opened from a windows/mac laptop/pc than on the rpi itself. It looks great on the ipad, but lacks some interaction with the graphs that require a mouse.
Battery monitor data on the graphs looks awesome, give you so much information of when things are happening on the electric side (I can see my fridge cycling by the ripples on the "current" graphs, for instance. Or the exact time of the morning the solar panels kicked in, fascinating for a geek).
Victron BMV 7xx battery monitor connection:
Used a pair of HC 05 Bluetooth modules configured as Master/Slave. Set them to 19200 baud (Victron output standard).
on the BMV side, you onde need one pin (for output) and, looking to the VE.direct port is the 3rd pin counting from the left. That connects to the RX port on the HC 05. I powered the HC 05 with a separated power supply as the 3.3v output on the BMV was powerful enough according to spec.
(the BMV is specifically 3.3v logic, but some MPPT controllers are 5v logic so be careful with your choice of adapter).
As I didnt want to use the rpi BT module for this, as said before, I used another HC 05 on the rpi side, connected to a USB ttl serial adapter, 3.3v logic.
The adapter was recognized by OpenPlotter and I mapped it to kplex just to have an alias (to use be used latter) for the serial address.
Installed a Signal K plugin to convert Victron VE.direct to Signal K (https://github.com/SignalK/vedirect-serial-usb) available on the Store.
pointed to the serial alias mentioned above and magic.. I have got all battery monitor information on the network.
few comments:
- My BMV has built in bluetooth, but Victron states that you can not extract data using it, its for their apps and network only;
- You dont need Victron special cable (ve direct to usb) but it might be a good idea because it is optically isolated.
- I only used bluetooth because running a cable was not practical. Its just as TTL 3.3v logic @ 19200 baud that you want to send to the rpi, any way you can do that may work
Temperature and Pressure sensor (Barometer):
- Connected a BPM180 sensor to the rpi (google pinout) it was instantly recognized by OP (i2c tab) I just mapped the desired Signal k sentences and it was up and running.
MQTT:
To get mosquitto (mqtt broker) running by default on OP you need to set a user and password on the MQTT tab. Its kind of NOT obvious, but that is it, just put a user and a password and apply.
Than you can map topics received to Signal K sentences. Tried it with the MyMQTT app on android and it worked with no problems.
My ESP32 sensors talk via MQTT so the plan is to integrate them to OP using this feature.
InfluxDB and Grafana:
after many trials and errors what worked: (and it works great!!!!!)
Installed influxDB from apt-get (update first)
Installed SignalK to InfluxDB pluging (on the SignalK store) https://github.com/tkurki/signalk-to-influxdb (follow the instructions on the readme file to create a database)
Now Signalk numerical data is being stored on the created database (around 10MB a day, in my case, 7 days retention), just need a nice way to display it: Enters Grafana!
DO NOT install Grafana using apt-get. It is an old bugged version.
Go to https://grafana.com/grafana/download?platform=arm and download the latest Ubuntu and Debian ARMv7 version
(just copy and past the 2 command lines)
Before you run Grafana you have to change the default port from 3000 (used by SignalK server) to something else. I'm using 3030.
Change here: /etc/grafana/grafana.ini under [server] http_port
You might choose to run both influxdb and grafana as services at boot (google it).
Look up on google on how to create beautiful dashboards with Grafana, its very easy. I created a dedicated "Weather" dashboard with Barometric pressure, air and water temp, wind speed/direction.
comment: Grafana runs way better if opened from a windows/mac laptop/pc than on the rpi itself. It looks great on the ipad, but lacks some interaction with the graphs that require a mouse.
Battery monitor data on the graphs looks awesome, give you so much information of when things are happening on the electric side (I can see my fridge cycling by the ripples on the "current" graphs, for instance. Or the exact time of the morning the solar panels kicked in, fascinating for a geek).