/dbus-kostal

Victron VenusOS dbus binding for Kostal Plenticore inverters

Primary LanguagePythonMIT LicenseMIT

dbus-kostal Service

Purpose

This service is meant to be run on a raspberry Pi with Venus OS from Victron.

The Python script cyclically reads data from the Kostal inverter via the Modbus TCP API and publishes information on the dbus, using the service name com.victronenergy.grid and pvinverter.pv0. This makes the Venus OS work as if you had a physical Victron Grid Meter installed.

Configuration

In the Python file, you should put the IP of your (primary) inverter device.

Installation

  1. Copy the files to the /data folder on your venus:

    • /data/dbus-kostal/plenticore.py
    • /data/dbus-kostal/kill_me.sh
    • /data/dbus-kostal/service/run

  2. Set permissions for files:

    chmod 755 /data/dbus-kostal/service/run

    chmod 744 /data/dbus-kostal/kill_me.sh

  3. Get two files from the velib_python and install them on your venus:

    • /data/dbus-kostal/vedbus.py
    • /data/dbus-kostal/ve_utils.py

  4. Add a symlink to the file /data/rc.local:

    Open the /data/rc.local file via nano and add this to the file:

    ln -s /data/dbus-kostal/service /service/dbus-kostal

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

Debugging

You can check the status of the service with svstat:

svstat /service/dbus-kostal

It will show something like this:

/service/dbus-kostal: up (pid 10078) 325 seconds

If the number of seconds is always 0 or 1 or any other small number, it means that the service crashes and gets restarted all the time.

When you think that the script crashes, start it directly from the command line:

python /data/dbus-kostal/dbus-kostal.py

and see if it throws any error messages.

If the script stops with the message

dbus.exceptions.NameExistsException: Bus name already exists: com.victronenergy.grid"

it means that the service is still running or another service is using that bus name.

Restart the script

If you want to restart the script, for example after changing it, just run the following command:

/data/dbus-kostal/kill_me.sh

The daemon-tools will restart the scriptwithin a few seconds.

Hardware

In my installation at home, I am using the following Hardware:

  • Kostal Plenticore
  • Victron MultiPlus-II - Battery Inverter (single phase)
  • Raspberry Pi 3B+ - For running Venus OS 2.84
  • Pylontech US2000 Plus - LiFePO Battery

Credits 🙌🏻

This project is build upon the basis of the inspirational work of: