venus-os_dbus-mqtt-tank-levels-x2 - Emulates up to 2 separate tank level sensors in VenusOS from info in MQTT data

First off, a big thanks to mr-manuel that created a bunch of templates that made this possible

GitHub repository: LundSoftwares/venus-os_dbus-mqtt-tank-levels-x2

Disclaimer

I'm not responsible for the usage of this script. Use on own risk!

Purpose

The script emulates up to 2 tank level sensors in Venus OS. It gets the MQTT data from a subscribed topic and publishes the information on the dbus as the service com.victronenergy.tank.mqtt_tank_levels with the VRM instances from the Config file.

Config

Copy or rename the config.sample.ini to config.ini in the dbus-mqtt-tank-levels folder and change it as you need it.

Example: Set number of instances to create, then set custom name, VRM Instance, tank capacity, type and sensor standard for all Sensors

;How many Tank instances? 1 or 2
instances = 1	

;-------------------------------------------------------------

; Device name Tank 1
; default: MQTT Tank 1
device_name = MQTT Tank 1

; Device VRM instance 1
; default: 150
device_instance = 150

; Tank 1 Capacity in m3
capacity = 0,25

; Fluid Type Tank 1
; 0=Fuel; 1=Fresh water; 2=Waste water; 3=Live well; 4=Oil; 5=Black water (sewage)
; 6=Gasoline; 7=Diesel; 8=Liquid  Petroleum Gas (LPG); 9=Liquid Natural Gas (LNG)
; 10=Hydraulic oil; 11=Raw water
; default = 0
type = 0

; Sensor Standard Tank 1
; 0=European (resistive); 1=USA (resistive); 2=Not applicable (used for Voltage and Amp sensors)
; default = 0
standard = 0

JSON structure

Minimum required

{
    "level": 90
}

1 tank with remaning volume

{
    "level": 90,
    "remaining": 0.225
}

Full

{
    "level": 90,
    "remaining": 0.225,
    "level2": 50,
    "remaining2": 0.125,
}

Install

1. Copy the dbus-mqtt-tank-levels folder to /data/etc on your Venus OS device

2. Run bash /data/etc/dbus-mqtt-tank-levels/install.sh as root

The daemon-tools should start this service automatically within seconds.

Uninstall

Run /data/etc/dbus-mqtt-tank-levels/uninstall.sh

Restart

Run /data/etc/dbus-mqtt-tank-levels/restart.sh

Debugging

The logs can be checked with tail -n 100 -F /data/log/dbus-mqtt-tank-levels/current | tai64nlocal

The service status can be checked with svstat: svstat /service/dbus-mqtt-tank-levels

This will output somethink like /service/dbus-mqtt-tank-levels: up (pid 5845) 185 seconds

If the seconds are under 5 then the service crashes and gets restarted all the time. If you do not see anything in the logs you can increase the log level in /data/etc/dbus-mqtt-tank-levels/dbus-mqtt-tank-levels.py by changing level=logging.WARNING to level=logging.INFO or level=logging.DEBUG

If the script stops with the message dbus.exceptions.NameExistsException: Bus name already exists: com.victronenergy.tank.mqtt_tank_levels" it means that the service is still running or another service is using that bus name.

Compatibility

It was tested on Venus OS Large v3.01 on the following devices:

• RaspberryPi 3b+
• Simulated Sensor data sent from NodeRed

And on Venus OS Large v2.92 on the following devices:

• RaspberryPi 4
• Real Sensor data sent from NodeRed

NodeRed Example code

Import into NodeRed runing on your VenusOS device for some simple testing

[{"id":"9b8c640eb36eca97","type":"mqtt out","z":"36b8e7c267cde307","name":"MQTT out","topic":"Tank/Levels","qos":"","retain":"","respTopic":"","contentType":"","userProps":"","correl":"","expiry":"","broker":"3cc159c0642d9663","x":720,"y":460,"wires":[]},{"id":"25b4ff51ccfe4cce","type":"function","z":"36b8e7c267cde307","name":"function 3","func":"msg.payload=\n{\n    \"level\": 90,\n    \"remaining\": 0.225,\n    \"level2\": 50,\n    \"remaining2\": 0.125,\n}\nreturn msg;","outputs":1,"noerr":0,"initialize":"","finalize":"","libs":[],"x":520,"y":460,"wires":[["9b8c640eb36eca97"]]},{"id":"fa09c9bc13a91df8","type":"inject","z":"36b8e7c267cde307","name":"","props":[{"p":"payload"},{"p":"topic","vt":"str"}],"repeat":"30","crontab":"","once":true,"onceDelay":"1","topic":"","payload":"","payloadType":"date","x":350,"y":460,"wires":[["25b4ff51ccfe4cce"]]},{"id":"3cc159c0642d9663","type":"mqtt-broker","name":"","broker":"localhost","port":"1883","clientid":"","autoConnect":true,"usetls":false,"protocolVersion":"4","keepalive":"60","cleansession":true,"birthTopic":"","birthQos":"0","birthPayload":"","birthMsg":{},"closeTopic":"","closeQos":"0","closePayload":"","closeMsg":{},"willTopic":"","willQos":"0","willPayload":"","willMsg":{},"userProps":"","sessionExpiry":""}]

Screenshots

Device List

Device Status

Device Settings

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