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Victron MPPT connected to ICC Software communication


hjr

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Good day

I am running ICC on a Raspberry monitoring an Axpert Inverter, Victron SmartShunt via a VE Direct to USB cable. These monitoring works like clock work.

Yesterday evening, I have linked up a Victron Smart Solar MPPT 150/60 to my system and connected it up via a VE Direct to USB cable also to the Raspberry.

On ICC "Victron MPPT" is on, "Add Victron MPPT PV to Total PV" is On, "Use external Victron Battery Monitor" is On.

After restarting the Raspberry, ICC picked up the MPPT, showing the model, serial number, firmware version and battery voltage in the Victron MPPT tab. The battery data from the SmartShunt update correctly and around every second.

However it was dark and no PV data was shown.  After the panels started to produce power today, I noticed that the ICC PV info updated very slowly and does not correspond with info shown on VictronConnect. The ICC Battery Voltage and MPPT Voltage update around +/- every 60 seconds incorrectly and the other values update like once or twice in the hour.

First, I thought the VE USB cable was faulty, swop the cables around between the SmartShunt and the MPPT and still no luck with the data feed from the MPPT to ICC. The SmartShunt updates correctly with any of the two cables.

On the MPPT, the TX port is set for Normal Communication and the RX Port is set for Remote On/Off, Smart Networking is enable between the MPPT and the SmartShunt.

Have spoken to Manie at ICC and he said that they have other clients with a same setup and on their systems both the MPPT and Battery values update fast and correctly.

Can someone assist me to get the MPPT data feed correctly?

Thank you for a great forum.

Herman

 

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6 hours ago, hjr said:

Have spoken to Manie at ICC and he said that they have other clients with a same setup and on their systems both the MPPT and Battery values update fast and correctly.

Can someone assist me to get the MPPT data feed correctly?

I am also running a Victron MPPT together with ICC. I am not having the issues that you are describing. I have never really timed the update frequency, but it is definitely more frequent than 60 seconds. Here is a screenshot of my PV watts graph

PV.thumb.JPG.382de3c5a594ae179af8fcd53e35386b.JPG

What version of ICC are you running? If I remember correctly, then the update frequency in the first version that supported Victron MPPTs was still a bit sluggish - but Manie fixed that shortly afterwards

6 hours ago, hjr said:

On the MPPT, the TX port is set for Normal Communication and the RX Port is set for Remote On/Off

Same settings on mine

6 hours ago, hjr said:

After restarting the Raspberry, ICC picked up the MPPT, showing the model, serial number, firmware version and battery voltage in the Victron MPPT tab.

Here is what my MPPT tab shows (it's dark outside, so obviously some values are at 0)

PV2.thumb.JPG.21822dcd40dc98c916328511614aca25.JPG

6 hours ago, hjr said:

First, I thought the VE USB cable was faulty, swop the cables around between the SmartShunt and the MPPT and still no luck with the data feed from the MPPT to ICC. The SmartShunt updates correctly with any of the two cables.

Have you tried different USB ports on the Pi? 

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37 minutes ago, wolfandy said:

What version of ICC are you running?

Update done, MPPT screen is now the same as yours and now showing "MPPT Tread Running"

Thanks again. Never thought about a software update recently. ICC was running like clock work and my believe is not to fix something that isn't broken.

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10 minutes ago, hjr said:

Thanks again. Never thought about a software update recently.

Cool - happy to hear that fixed the problem

17 minutes ago, hjr said:

ICC was running like clock work and my believe is not to fix something that isn't broken.

On the one hand I am with you on that. But at the same time, my experience with Manie and his updates has always been outstanding - so I typically run the updates as soon as they are available

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On 2020/09/05 at 9:24 PM, wolfandy said:

On the one hand I am with you on that. But at the same time, my experience with Manie and his updates has always been outstanding - so I typically run the updates as soon as they are available

Since I've done the version upgrade ICC is freezing randomly anywhere after 25H runtime, something I've never experienced with V2.996. I've looked up my upgrade path and have done an upgrade from 2.996 to 2.999, and on 2.999 I've experienced random freezing problems and rolled back to V2.996

Wolfandy, are you having any freezing or hanging problem with V2.99996?

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39 minutes ago, hjr said:

are you having any freezing or hanging problem with V2.99996?

No problems at all. My current runtime is at 156h

Are you using the USB cable that originally came with the Axpert? If yes, then I would recommend replacing it with a current one. The original cable (older USB standard) can cause comms problems between the Axpert and the Pi

And your Raspberry OS is also current/updated?

Have you restarted your Pi after the update (usually not necessary, but might sometimes help)?

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Not the cable, using a shielded USB external hard drive cable, Pi (Pi 2B) is update to date with the latest updates and I have restarted every-time when ICC hangs to clear any possible static charges that may accumulate. I'm sitting with my hands in my hair, can I pm you?

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50 minutes ago, hjr said:

using a shielded USB external hard drive cable

Is it a current or older one? I originally replaced the Axpert USB cable with another USB cable that I had lying around (had no idea how old). Eventually picked up a new one and since then the occasional hiccups that I had with ICC (e.g. dying on me when changing something via VNC from my iPad) have virtually disappeared

53 minutes ago, hjr said:

I'm sitting with my hands in my hair, can I pm you?

Of course

Have you asked Manie to look into your new freezing problem? Do you have VNC running and granted him access, so that he can dig around a bit? He's been able to help me like that in the past

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  • 2 weeks later...

Status Update

At the end of a couple of weeks of testing various combinations of ICC versions on a Pi3 and a Pi2, with Debian Buster Operating system and with the Debian Stretch Operation system, I figured that the culprit was a SD Card with some sort of file corruption.

On creating a new SD Card from the latest Pi4 image (with the Buster OS) to test on a Pi3, ICC immediately started to run smooth without any freezing problems. When testing the same on a Pi2, the same result as with the Pi3, no freezing. However the Pi2 struggled with the screen refresh rates of ICC on Buster OS. Done the same with the new SD Card but with Stretch OS on the Pi2, also no freezing so far, but with better screen refresh rates of ICC.

As part of the tests, I replaced the power supply on the Pi2 with the power supply of the Pi3 (5.1V 3.0A), and then realize that the Pi2 was under powered. According the Raspberry Pi forums, an under powered Pi can cause SD Card corruption.  On a Pi2, the red LED must be constant On, this is showing that the Pi2 is receiving sufficient power. If it flickers or is Off then the Pi2 is under powered. This was the case with the Pi2 before changing the power supply.

My only conclusion, at the moment, is that there is file corruption on the old SD Card of the Pi2 which caused the newer versions of ICC to freeze. The file corruption was caused by an under powered Pi2.

So far, the current run time of ICC V2.9996 on a new SD Card with Stretch OS on a Pi2 with a Pi3 power supply is approaching 70:00 with out any freezing problems.

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13 hours ago, hjr said:

So far, the current run time of ICC V2.9996 on a new SD Card with Stretch OS on a Pi2 with a Pi3 power supply is approaching 70:00 with out any freezing problems

Cool - happy to hear that you got it sorted

Power and SD card problems are apparently not uncommon with the Pi. But have to admit that I also did not think of that at the time...

I've got the 4GB version of the Pi and have moved directories with frequent writes into RAM to reduce the number of writes to the SD card (see here for details and other tips on extending the life of the SD card)

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  • 3 months later...
On 2020/09/09 at 10:22 AM, hjr said:

Not the cable, using a shielded USB external hard drive cable, Pi (Pi 2B) is update to date with the latest updates and I have restarted every-time when ICC hangs to clear any possible static charges that may accumulate. I'm sitting with my hands in my hair, can I pm you?

This is actually a common issue with various PIs (2B, 3B+, 4, etc.):

 

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  • 4 weeks later...

I've just installed a Victron Smart Shunt which is working fine in the Victron app.

I understand the Smart Shunt will talk to the ICC software however the toggle for 'use external battery monitor' does not appear to work.

The Smart Shunt is connected to the RPi via the Victron USB to VE Direct cable.

Is there something I'm missing?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

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On 2021/02/10 at 11:41 AM, wolfandy said:

I know that the BMVs are supported by ICC - but am not sure if the Smart Shunt is. Maybe drop Manie an email?

I can confirm that the Victron Smart Shunt works with the ICC software in the same way as the BMVs.

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  • 1 month later...

Hi,

Perhaps someone can assist:

I have 2 x Axpert inverters and 3 x Pylon batteries connected to my Pi running ICC.

The display continuously hangs. If I reboot, it runs for a while and then display would freeze. The systems seems to be still working and the Pi responds to other commands, but he ICC display freezes. Sometimes it will start working and then freeze again.

 Is there a solution to this issue. This has been there since Day One.

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@Eddie R The problem that ICC hangs has been around for years as discussed in link below. The only solution I found was to use solar assistant instead of ICC. It's basically a drop in replacement for ICC, works with the inverters, batteries, cables, etc. but supports extra ones such as sunsynk, etc.

https://solar-assistant.io/explore/axpert

 

 

 

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So I would like to share my recent experience with ICC software and my Mercer inverter/solar system:

I contacted Manie at ICCsoftware.co.za. My ICC software was version 2.8.5,.The new version being 4.1.

I upgraded to the new software and after a few issues and help from Manie at 11pm in the evening, I was up and running.

However, I still had freezing issues on the Pi3.

So I bit the bullet and purchased a new Pi4 from Manie.

Once again, with online assistance from Manie, the installation went smoothly. Touch wood, the problems have been solved - 23hrs no freezing!

I believe the issues were related to the older Pi and perhaps a problematic SD card. I remember the old Pi hitting 75degC + with operating temperature. The new Pi averages around 45 degC.

Yes, a bit of pain having to FORK out $$ for an new ICC version, but worth it if it gives me reliability and consistent system monitoring.

Thank you Manie for the support.  

 

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  • 2 months later...
On 2021/03/12 at 1:24 PM, Denarius said:

@Eddie R The problem that ICC hangs has been around for years as discussed in link below. The only solution I found was to use solar assistant instead of ICC. It's basically a drop in replacement for ICC, works with the inverters, batteries, cables, etc. but supports extra ones such as sunsynk, etc.

https://solar-assistant.io/explore/axpert

 

 

 

Hey Thank You Eddie.  I will immediately try this solution.  The pictures look excellent. Will inform you of my doings.  

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