Bluenova Serial (CANbus) Protocol

[JacquesVDM]

Good day all,

Does anyone know the communications protocol of the BlueNova BN52V-xxxx range? Looking at designing a controller (Raspberry Pi / ESP8266 / ESP32) to communicate to the batteries and operate relays based on SOC. Or have anyone maybe designed something like that?

Thanks

Jacques

[Sc00bs]

What inverter are you connecting the batteries to @JacquesVDM ?

Might be easier just to get the SOC from the inverter

[BritishRacingGreen]

On 2021/10/13 at 5:49 PM, JacquesVDM said:

Good day all,

Does anyone know the communications protocol of the BlueNova BN52V-xxxx range? Looking at designing a controller (Raspberry Pi / ESP8266 / ESP32) to communicate to the batteries and operate relays based on SOC. Or have anyone maybe designed something like that?

Thanks

Jacques

Hi Jacques , bluenova does not reveal much other than being canbus , but victron supports the battery on their charge controllers via ve.can protocol.  Maybe @Sarel can shed some light for on this protocol wether the specifications are available. I know the ve.direct  is widely available , I have just used it in a project not unlike the one you describing , but for another type of BMS.

 

hope you come right.

 

cheers.

Edited October 14, 2021 by dropkick
Missing syntax

[BritishRacingGreen]

On 2021/10/13 at 5:49 PM, JacquesVDM said:

Good day all,

Does anyone know the communications protocol of the BlueNova BN52V-xxxx range? Looking at designing a controller (Raspberry Pi / ESP8266 / ESP32) to communicate to the batteries and operate relays based on SOC. Or have anyone maybe designed something like that?

Thanks

Jacques

Just downloaded the ve.can public registers  public file on victron website. Protocol does not seem to be trivial , so brace yourself, but one thing I must say is victron does know how to document a protocol. 

Edited October 14, 2021 by dropkick
Spelling

[Guest Sarel]

Modbus is easy in comparison, but Canbus it is. Victron adheres to the international standards, and extended it somewhat. VE.Can / NMEA2000
Canbus is the preferred protocol for third parties to communicate with our products. Our CANbus protocol is based on the NMEA2000 and J1939 protocols.

You can request the link for this document from Victron here Look for this: Interfacing with VE Bus products - MK2 protocol it should get you started me thinks

 

[Guest Sarel]

2 minutes ago, dropkick said:

Protocol does not seem to be trivial , so brace yourself, but one thing I must say is victron does know how to document a protocol. 

Hehehe see first paragraph on the doc I shared above: 

1 Introduction
This document describes the MK2 protocol, used to communicate with VE.Bus products. Note that implementing the MK2 protocol is a task which is not to be underestimated. It is a complicated protocol. There are other alternatives, with ModbusTCP being the most popular one. See our whitepaper ‘Data communication with Victron Energy products’ for more information:

[BritishRacingGreen]

4 minutes ago, Sarel said:

Hehehe see first paragraph on the doc I shared above: 

1 Introduction
This document describes the MK2 protocol, used to communicate with VE.Bus products. Note that implementing the MK2 protocol is a task which is not to be underestimated. It is a complicated protocol. There are other alternatives, with ModbusTCP being the most popular one. See our whitepaper ‘Data communication with Victron Energy products’ for more information:

Thanks Sarel ,from my side , geez you have become some anchor here on the forum .  Always very detailed .

[Guest Sarel]

You may be aware of these already: Various Can bus interfaces for u controllers

There are SPI or shield type boards available  at the above link. It may allow sniffing on the Can bus. Soooo the rabbit hole entrance is here :

https://www.karambasecurity.com/blog/2018-01-17-how-to-build-a-can-sniffer or here https://www.hackster.io/MyLab-odyssey/can-bus-sniffing-3730a5 and in the latter link they sniffed battery cell voltages in a car. 

[Yellow Measure]

Wireshark also does CAN bus, may be a bit easier.

@JacquesVDM have you reached out to @HubbleLithium? They recently acquired RIOT systems, who have done a lot of work on CAN bus systems of various battery manufacturers.

[JacquesVDM]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for all the info. Will start working through all of the links. Don't have the batteries yet. Also not sure which inverter(s) we are going to use. Currently having a look a Sunsynk and are supported by Bluenova. Will post an update "if" I come right with the protocol/interface.

 

[HubbleLithium]

@JacquesVDM take a look at our Cloudlink device (used to be called Riot) here: https://www.hubblelithium.co.za/hubble-cloudlink.html

The Cloudlink is an optional add-on to the Hubble X & AM range of products. It will cloud all battery and inverter data to our cloud-server enabling users to remotely monitor (and Control in the case of Axpert Inverters) their power system. The Cloudlink is also compatible with 45+ inverter models!

You can view our battery range here: https://www.hubblelithium.co.za/products.html