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Venus OS 3.50 Release

New User Interface, Security and Generator Improvements

Please refer to the Venus OS 3.50 release slide deck at https://ve3.nl/gx-v350-slides

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GUI-v2, now called “New UI”, was released in Venus OS 3.50

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Venus OS GUI v2.0

Beta Release Announcement for Public Testers

November 2023

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Contents

Screenshots and impressions ………………………………………………………… 3 - 24

Compatibility, feature list ………………………………………………………..….… 25 - 27

How to install …………………………………………………………………………..…… 28 - 35

Developers / tinkerers …………………………………………………………..…… 36 - End

Slide Nr

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Venus OS GUI v2.0

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Venus OS GUI v2.0

Brief - Dark mode

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Venus OS GUI v2.0

Brief - Light mode

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Venus OS GUI v2.0

Brief - Sidebar

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Venus OS GUI v2.0

Brief - Battery

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Venus OS GUI v2.0

Brief - Battery

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Venus OS GUI v2.0

Overview - Light mode

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Venus OS GUI v2.0

Overview - Dark mode

(and showing Alternator output!)

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Venus OS GUI v2.0

Device Controls

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Venus OS GUI v2.0

Device Controls

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Venus OS GUI v2.0

Device Controls

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Venus OS GUI v2.0

Generator Start Control

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Venus OS GUI v2.0

Overview - Wind

Wind energy sources are now handled differently from solar and DC system

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Venus OS GUI v2.0

Tank Levels

Tanks are highlighted by type and will automatically be grouped by type if there are more tanks than can be displayed.

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Venus OS GUI v2.0

Solar Devices

All solar energy sources are summarised in a single list.

DC coupled solar is listed in the PV Charger section. AC coupled solar is listed in the PV Inverter section.

Each device can be drilled down to get more detail.

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Venus OS GUI v2.0

Solar Details

Devices with multiple trackers are listed one tracker per line.

Each solar array can be viewed separately under the heading of the Solar Charger device.

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Venus OS GUI v2.0

Brief ➔ Overview

  • Brief is a new visualisation which provides an elegant summary of the entire system
  • The values on the Brief link clearly with the logical blocks on the Overview
  • Production on the left, storage and conversion in the centre and consumption on the right

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Venus OS GUI v2.0

Temperatures

Temperature sensors including the Ruuvi Bluetooth smart sensors can be displayed.

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Venus OS GUI v2.0

Multiple Batteries

Drill down into batteries by clicking on the battery in the Overview to get details of all the batteries in the system.

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Venus OS GUI v2.0

A New Design Paradigm for the Overview

The Pages view of the legacy UI is a simplified line diagram where each component of the system is located in the electrically correct position.

The new design does that differently, and uses three columns:

  • Production (left)
  • Batteries and power conversion (centre)
  • Consumption (right)

The blocks in each column are logical groupings, for example all solar is in a single block including AC and DC coupled and a drill down provides all the detail.

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Venus OS GUI v2.0

GX Device Support

On screen

Remote Console�on LAN

Remote Console�on VRM

Ekrano GX

Yes

Yes

Yes

Cerbo GX

Yes (GX Touch)

Yes

Yes

MP-II GX / ES-II GX

No

Yes

Yes

CCGX

No

Yes

Yes

Venus GX

N/A

Yes

Yes

Octo GX

N/A

Yes

Yes

CANvu GX

No

Yes

Yes

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Venus OS GUI v2.0

Highlights

  • Modern high-resolution redesign including dark mode
  • A new brief page which gives a less technical view of the system: battery, tank levels, and actual power (or current) readings
  • Operational controls, ie. inverter on/off, input current limit, are accessible with just one click of a button
  • Remote Console is much much faster and multiple people can use Remote Console at the same time
  • Menu items auto-hide after a few seconds to use the full area of the screen for displays
  • Multiple batteries are supported eg. starter, house

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Venus OS GUI v2.0

New Settings

  • Dark mode / Light mode / Auto
  • Various Brief settings: which value to show in which circle, and whether to show or not show percentages on the Brief
  • Choose Watts or Amps for units
  • Choose to show % or not on the Brief

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Installing and Testing

Venus OS Graphical User Interface 2.0

Public Beta Testers

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Venus OS GUI v2.0

Beta Testing Guidelines & how to give feedback

This document makes beta testing of gui-v2 generally available to the public. There are many known issues which are already logged and being worked on.

The latest Venus OS beta community topic is available you to to record issues or requests relating to the new interface. As is practice at Victron, we have a very strict prioritisation regime and we will work through all feedback from the community and where relevant or practical, we will work it into the schedule.

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Venus OS GUI v2.0

Known Limitations

  • Keyboard navigation is not yet supported in the Remote Console
  • Drill down for AC loads, showing the split between normal and critical loads is not available yet
  • Solar and wind priority controls are missing
  • There is no secure mode (authentication + encryption) for accessing on LAN/WiFi�

Last update 2024-06-14. Applies to Venus OS v3.40~27

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How to install

The slides hereafter show how to install and test for the various methods.

In summary:

The recommended way to see and test the new UI is via a web browser, local to the system. Better known as Remote Console on LAN.

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Venus OS GUI v2.0

HOWTO: Test in Remote Console over LAN

To test in a browser:

  • Install the latest release candidate version (3.20~18 or newer)
  • In Settings > Services, enable MQTT on LAN (SSL) and thereafter enable MQTT on LAN (Plaintext)
  • In a web browser, open http://<ip-address>/gui-beta

(note http:// not https://)

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Venus OS GUI v2.0

HOWTO: Test on GX Touch and Ekrano GX

  • Requires a Cerbo GX + GX Touch 50 or 70 or Ekrano GX.
  • Install release candidate, and leave the Update to setting on the Release candidate option
  • Go into Settings > Display, all the way down, and there enable the beta gui

Now the new UI is visible.

To revert, in the new menu go to the same place and restore the setting..

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Venus OS GUI v2.0

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Will this new UI also run on the CCGX?

A: The CCGX is not capable of displaying gui-v2 on the physical display but it will work over Remote Console on LAN and VRM for a CCGX.

Q: Why doesn’t gui-v2 work on a Raspberry Pi yet, having a Waveshare or other display?

A: It may be possible but we have not yet investigated that.

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Venus OS GUI v2.0

Developers / Tinkerers FAQ

Q: Do Kevin Windrem’s GuiMods work with gui-v2?

A: GuiMods, ExtTransferSwitch, ShutdownManager and SetupHelper all modify the original GUI and will not work with gui-v2. Porting such modifications to gui-v2 will require a complete rewrite and a new method of installing them on the GX device. gui-v2 incorporates many of the concepts provided by GuiMods so it is not clear at this point if any of GuiMods will be incorporated into gui-v2. See the discussion on Victron Community.

Q: How to modify the gui-v2

A: Modding the Remote Console aka web assembly version is more difficult than it is for gui-v1, since just modifying the QML files on the GX device is not enough. We’re 100% committed to finding a solution to make it modifiable - more on that in the near future. Meanwhile:

Q: Will the new UI be open source, and when?

A: Yes. We expect to publish the code by the end of the year. See https://github.com/victronenergy/gui-v2/. The licence will allow using it in “Victron systems”, ie. systems where the core power conversion products are Victron (inverter, inverter/charger, solar charger and so forth).

Q: What is the role of WebAssembly in gui-v2?

A: gui-v2 is a single project with one set of source files developed using the Qt6 cross-platform UI framework. The project source code is used to build two versions:

1. the compiled version on the GX device which shows on the physical screen and gets its data over dbus; and

2. a WebAssembly version, which runs at near-native speed in the web browser and gets its data over MQTT.

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NEXT PAGES SHOW SOME DETAILS

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Amps vs Watts

The UI allows the user to choose between seeing either Amps or Watts. Mainly intended at the Marine and Mobile market, where the system often consist of mainly DC and users are familiar with thinkin in Amps rather than in Watts.

Note that for three phase AC metrics, the total is shown in Watts.

For solar, if there are only Solar Chargers, the overview will show amps: the amps going into the DC system, not the amps coming from the solar panel. See next page for an example. And in case there are one or more PV Inverters in the system, then it will revert to showing Amps per AC phase and total solar output in Watts.

Screenshot above: user setting is Amps, and since it is a three phase system, Amps is user per phase and total is shown in Watts.

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Amps vs Watts

Screenshot on the right:

Use setting is Amps, and since there is only DC coupled solar, the solar box shows the amps going into the battery

JESUS MAKE SCREENSHOT

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Amps vs Watts

Screenshot on the right:

User setting is Amps, and since there is DC + AC coupled solar, the solar box shows the Amps per phase and total in Watts.