Raspberry PI and Venus OS (1 Viewer)

[Diabalo]

To get the latest Venus OS onto my Raspberry PI can it be done directly to the PI or do I need to do it to the SD card and re-boot from there?

 

[Two on Tour]

To get the latest Venus OS onto my Raspberry PI can it be done directly to the PI or do I need to do it to the SD card and re-boot from there?

Does your Ras Pi already have a previous copy of Venus OS on it?
If yes then go to the "Firmware" menu in the settings and check for the latest available firmware version and update from there.

 

[cbrookson]

There is a good run though on the Victron pages here
You download the image and put on the card - use something like balena etcher or Pi imager
Cheers

 

[Diabalo]

Does your Ras Pi already have a previous copy of Venus OS on it?
If yes then go to the "Firmware" menu in the settings and check for the latest available firmware version and update from there.

Yes it has, I looked at the menu and saw firmware but didn't go any further ( what am I like) anyway all sorted now, thanks for the very quick response.

 

[Diabalo]

Is VRM connected to the servers constantly? If so how much data is used.

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[Raul]

You can set a time interval to connect to the vrm, for low data I have set mine at 10 mins. You can set 15 as well. Go into settings-vrm portal-log interval.

 

[Diabalo]

Cheers Raul

 

[Driventemple]

Been playing with the Venus OS on a Raspberry pi for some time now and I thought "why not a screen?"
Trouble is my prefered location limited me to a 5" screen, so I purchased an Elecrow from Amazon

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CGTT7MBJ/?tag=mhf04-21

Together with two 5m cables - HDMI and USB at a total on less than £60, I'm quite pleased with the result.
Need to get some Matt Black acrylic sheet to finnish off...
Did I say finish? I own a campervan, I'm never finished!

 

[Raul]

Add has DC in settings and gui mods simple, it will show a nice overview of the flow.

 

[Driventemple]

Add has DC in settings and gui mods simple, it will show a nice overview of the flow.

Yes, I must play with gui mods - I am on 3.14

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[Raul]

You must have gui, as you got the settings at the top of the menu. That’s a feature only supported by gui mods, victron stoc OS, does put the settings at the bottom.
If you scroll in settings all the way down, you find package manager; that’s where you will find your gui mods active and available add ons. I think Gui mods is at 10.1 now.

 

[Two on Tour]

Been playing with the Venus OS on a Raspberry pi for some time now and I thought "why not a screen?"
Trouble is my prefered location limited me to a 5" screen, so I purchased an Elecrow from Amazon

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CGTT7MBJ/?tag=mhf04-21

Together with two 5m cables - HDMI and USB at a total on less than £60, I'm quite pleased with the result.
Need to get some Matt Black acrylic sheet to finnish off...
Did I say finish? I own a campervan, I'm never finished!
View attachment 864146
View attachment 864148

You are showing the low voltage yellow arrow on both of your photos, if you are powering your screen from your Pi then that will be the reason why.
If you are powering your screen from your Pi then you would be better off powering your screen from a separate power source.

 

[Guigsy]

Does it use Bluetooth? Or does it still need wiring in to the data ports?

 

[Driventemple]

You are showing the low voltage yellow arrow on both of your photos, if you are powering your screen from your Pi then that will be the reason why.
If you are powering your screen from your Pi then you would be better off powering your screen from a separate power source.

I did a lot of research on this 5" screen on YouTube and they all mentioned two micro USB ports on the back of the Monitor. One was for the touchscreen feedback and one for the monitor power.
But no. All I got was a blank screen, and so in frustration pulled out the lead connected to a power supply - to my surprise the screen lit up!
It appears that I have the later model and this uses just one of the sockets to communicate the touch screen and to receive power. This is going to present a small problem as I was hoping to place a switch in the power lead to switch off the display. I'm going to have to break into the combined lead and insert the switch there.
A further problem is that the Venus OS insists on the Pi running in 'headless' mode. When you first get a display you have enter a couple Linux commands to include 'headless.off' There is no Bluetooth, it has to be hard wired with an HDMI and a single USB connection. You do need to plug a keyboard into the Pi to give the above commands and will have to repeat this each time the OS updates.
It's been a fun project totally in keeping with my low cost attitude and satisfies my wife by keeping me quiet.

 

[Raul]

There is a package on Github, that you ssh into the Pi via laptop, that contains all in one, package manager, display set up and gui. You have to go into nano editing, and set your screen resolution, then come out and run a calibration. All in ssh. After that you will have the screen working without the need to tell it to run headless.
I power the screen from the Pi pins. I do get the yellow message sometimes, depending how busy is the Pi.

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[treblid]

I came across this video on YouTube. Has to be the easiest install I have seen for the latest version of Venus OS onto a Raspberry Pi 4 plus how to add GUI Mods, etc. packages.

Victron VenusOS | Easiest Install possible | Raspberry Pi 4B | NO Cerbo GX or Venus GX:

 

[Raul]

I came across this video on YouTube. Has to be the easiest install I have seen for the latest version of Venus OS onto a Raspberry Pi 4 plus how to add GUI Mods, etc. packages.

Victron VenusOS | Easiest Install possible | Raspberry Pi 4B | NO Cerbo GX or Venus GX:

I had trouble with that one to get the touch screen going again when I updated. I followed Andy’s way and it worked.

 

[Two on Tour]

Just been testing on one of my spare RasPi's, temperature sensors so I can monitor our hot water tanks via my Victron screen on our van.
I'm using the cheap 1-wire DS18B20 sensors.

 

[landranger]

Just been testing on one of my spare RasPi's, temperature sensors so I can monitor our hot water tanks via my Victron screen on our van.
I'm using the cheap 1-wire DS18B20 sensors.

View attachment 879667

You have solar water heating on the van?? Didn't even think that was an thing ,WOW!
Think I'd rather use the limited roof space I have for battery charging type solar.

Rasp 3b+ arrived a week or so back, Venus OS installed along with some other options, USB to serial leads made up, connected to Wi-Fi at home, all appears to be OK

Still waiting for the case to mount it in, I did order an aluminium one, but after I fitted it I couldn't communicate with the Pi over Wi-Fi , so, that went back (good old Amazon) and a genuine Raspberry case is on its way.

Then all I need to do is fit it in the van and see whether it works.

Do I really need a touch screen in the van? Strikes me that the information is available on my phone, what does the screen bring to the party (other than another toy to play with, which is a valid enough reason)? Not criticising, genuine question.

Thanks for the encouragement to get this started, lets see where it goes.

Regards
Colin

 

[Two on Tour]

You have solar water heating on the van?? Didn't even think that was an thing ,WOW!
Think I'd rather use the limited roof space I have for battery charging type solar.

I fitted a second hot water tank to which I fitted a 12 volt heating element and I use the excess solar we product to power the 12 volt element rather than let all that lovely free solar power go to waste.

As for a touch screen, I just find it more convenient to use our touch screen rather than pulling my phone out of my pocket, waking my phone up, opening the app and then viewing the info.

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[Driventemple]

Do I really need a touch screen in the van? Strikes me that the information is available on my phone, what does the screen bring to the party (other than another toy to play with, which is a valid enough reason)? Not criticising, genuine question.

Found enough space to fit a 5" screen and, as it's current draw is so low, I can leave it on all the time. Saves getting the phone out.

 

[Raul]

Found enough space to fit a 5" screen and, as it's current draw is so low, I can leave it on all the time. Saves getting the phone out.
View attachment 879759

If you go to settings-display, you should be able to dim the screen after a preset time.
I dim after 1minute.

 

[Driventemple]

If you go to settings-display, you should be able to dim the screen after a preset time.
I dim after 1minute.

That option is not available to me, presumably because I am powering the screen from a USB port. I had to 'break into' the usb lead so as to insert the push switch on the right.

 

[Two on Tour]

That option is not available to me, presumably because I am powering the screen from a USB port. I had to 'break into' the usb lead so as to insert the push switch on the right.

As Raul says you should have the option to dim and turn off your screen.
In the "Device List" screen, tap on "Settings" and scroll down to "Display & language" and within that menu you will have these options.

 

[Lenny HB]

I've been playing with a 3B, now the 4B is available again at a sensible price and even the 5 is not extortionate, is there much advantage in upgrading?

When I eventually mount it in a van it will be hard wired. The Bluetooth & WiFi range on the 3B is so poor it's unusable are the 4 & 5 any better?

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[Driventemple]

As Raul says you should have the option to dim and turn off your screen.
In the "Device List" screen, tap on "Settings" and scroll down to "Display & language" and within that menu you will have these options.

View attachment 879942

How are you powering your screen?
This option is not available to me.

 

[Vansflyer]

I've been playing with a 3B, now the 4B is available again at a sensible price and even the 5 is not extortionate, is there much advantage in upgrading?

When I eventually mount it in a van it will be hard wired. The Bluetooth & WiFi range on the 3B is so poor it's unusable are the 4 & 5 any better?

When I last looked a coupe of weeks ago the Pi 5 isn't supported on Venus yet. Lucky I checked as I was just hovering on the "buy it now" button. Apparently a BT dongle improves the range of the older ones, but not tried myself yet.

 

[Two on Tour]

I've been playing with a 3B, now the 4B is available again at a sensible price and even the 5 is not extortionate, is there much advantage in upgrading?

When I eventually mount it in a van it will be hard wired. The Bluetooth & WiFi range on the 3B is so poor it's unusable are the 4 & 5 any better?

I have no intention at present of upgrading my 4B to a 5 as the 4B does all I need and is fast enough for the Venus OS, plus the 5 is more power hungry as said the 5 is yet to have VenusOS support.
I have had no issues with the Bluetooth range on my 4B.

 

[Two on Tour]

How are you powering your screen?
This option is not available to me.
View attachment 879952

How your screen is power will not affect accessing the screen above. Is your screen a touch screen, and have you set up a VRM account?

 

[Onemanandhisdog]

Every time someone updates this post, I fancy getting a Pi.

What size RAM is sufficient for running Venus and van related stuff?

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