dbus-mqtt-pv - Emulates a physical PV Inverter from MQTT data

GitHub repository: mr-manuel/venus-os_dbus-mqtt-pv

Disclaimer

I wrote this script for myself. I'm not responsible, if you damage something using my script.

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Purpose

The script emulates a Photovoltaic AC Inverter in Venus OS. It gets the MQTT data from a subscribed topic and publishes the information on the dbus as the service com.victronenergy.pvinverter.mqtt_pv with the VRM instance 51.

Config

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

JSON structure

Minimum required

{
    "pv": {
        "power": 0.0
    }
}

Minimum required with L1

{
    "pv": {
        "power": 0.0,
        "L1": {
            "power": 0.0
        }
    }
}

Minimum required with L1, L2

{
    "pv": {
        "power": 0.0,
        "L1": {
            "power": 0.0
        },
        "L2": {
            "power": 0.0
        }
    }
}

Minimum required with L1, L2, L3

{
    "pv": {
        "power": 0.0,
        "L1": {
            "power": 0.0
        },
        "L2": {
            "power": 0.0
        },
        "L3": {
            "power": 0.0
        }
    }
}

Full

{
    "pv": {
        "power": 0.0,
        "voltage": 0.0,
        "current": 0.0,
        "energy_forward": 0.0,           --> Total/Lifetime produced energy in kWh
        "L1": {
            "power": 0.0,
            "voltage": 0.0,
            "current": 0.0,
            "frequency": 0.0,
            "energy_forward": 0.0,       --> Total/Lifetime produced energy in kWh
        },
        "L2": {
            "power": 0.0,
            "voltage": 0.0,
            "current": 0.0,
            "frequency": 0.0,
            "energy_forward": 0.0,       --> Total/Lifetime produced energy in kWh
        },
        "L3": {
            "power": 0.0,
            "voltage": 0.0,
            "current": 0.0,
            "frequency": 0.0,
            "energy_forward": 0.0,       --> Total/Lifetime produced energy in kWh
        }
    }
}

Install

1. Login to your Venus OS device via SSH. See Venus OS:Root Access for more details.

2. Execute this commands to download and extract the files:

   # change to temp folder
   cd /tmp
   
   # download driver
   wget -O /tmp/venus-os_dbus-mqtt-pv.zip https://github.com/mr-manuel/venus-os_dbus-mqtt-pv/archive/refs/heads/master.zip
   
   # If updating: cleanup old folder
   rm -rf /tmp/venus-os_dbus-mqtt-pv-master
   
   # unzip folder
   unzip venus-os_dbus-mqtt-pv.zip
   
   # If updating: backup existing config file
   mv /data/etc/dbus-mqtt-pv/config.ini /data/etc/dbus-mqtt-pv_config.ini
   
   # If updating: cleanup existing driver
   rm -rf /data/etc/dbus-mqtt-pv
   
   # copy files
   cp -R /tmp/venus-os_dbus-mqtt-pv-master/dbus-mqtt-pv/ /data/etc/
   
   # If updating: restore existing config file
   mv /data/etc/dbus-mqtt-pv_config.ini /data/etc/dbus-mqtt-pv/config.ini

3. Copy the sample config file, if you are installing the driver for the first time and edit it to your needs.

   # copy default config file
   cp /data/etc/dbus-mqtt-pv/config.sample.ini /data/etc/dbus-mqtt-pv/config.ini
   
   # edit the config file with nano
   nano /data/etc/dbus-mqtt-pv/config.ini

4. Run bash /data/etc/dbus-mqtt-pv/install.sh to install the driver as service.

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

Uninstall

Run /data/etc/dbus-mqtt-pv/uninstall.sh

Restart

Run /data/etc/dbus-mqtt-pv/restart.sh

Debugging

The logs can be checked with tail -n 100 -f /data/log/dbus-mqtt-pv/current | tai64nlocal

The service status can be checked with svstat svstat /service/dbus-mqtt-pv

This will output somethink like /service/dbus-mqtt-pv: 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-pv/dbus-mqtt-pv.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.pvinverter.mqtt_pv" it means that the service is still running or another service is using that bus name.

Multiple instances

It's possible to have multiple instances, but it's not automated. Follow these steps to achieve this:

1. Save the new name to a variable driverclone=dbus-mqtt-pv-2

2. Copy current folder cp -r /data/etc/dbus-mqtt-pv/ /data/etc/$driverclone/

3. Rename the main script mv /data/etc/$driverclone/dbus-mqtt-pv.py /data/etc/$driverclone/$driverclone.py

4. Fix the script references for service and log

   sed -i 's:dbus-mqtt-pv:'$driverclone':g' /data/etc/$driverclone/service/run
   sed -i 's:dbus-mqtt-pv:'$driverclone':g' /data/etc/$driverclone/service/log/run
   

5. Change the device_name, increase the device_instance and update the topic in the config.ini

Now you can install and run the cloned driver. Should you need another instance just increase the number in step 1 and repeat all steps.

Compatibility

It was tested on Venus OS Large v2.92 on the following devices:

• RaspberryPi 4b
• MultiPlus II (GX Version)

Screenshots

Power and/or L1

Power, L1 and L2

Power, L1, L2 and L3