Anyone else finding the Victron app absolute rubbish for tracking overnight battery drain?

Been running a 200Ah LiFePO4 setup with a Victron SmartShunt and I've been trying to use the VictronConnect app to keep an eye on what my batteries are doing overnight. The problem is it doesn't log historical data unless you've got a Cerbo GX or a Raspberry Pi running VRM — which feels like a lot of faff just to see a simple discharge curve.

Last night I was running a 12V compressor fridge (about 45W average draw) plus a bit of LED lighting and I woke up at 7am sat at 87% SOC, which seems about right for 8 hours. But I genuinely can't see how it got there — no graph, no hourly breakdown, nothing useful. I ended up just screenshotting the app every couple of hours like some kind of caveman.

Has anyone found a decent workaround without splashing out on a full Cerbo setup? I've seen people mention the Raspberry Pi with VRM portal route but I'm not particularly technical. Is it actually straightforward to set up, or am I better off just biting the bullet and getting the Cerbo GX? Prices seem to have dropped a bit lately so maybe it's worth it.

@Roger1983 mate, the VictronConnect app is basically a very expensive torch — great when you're there, useless when you're not. 🔦

Hook it up to a Raspberry Pi running Venus OS and suddenly you've got proper historical logging via the VRM portal — overnight drain graphs, SOC trends, the works. Free tier does everything a shepherd's hut dweller like me needs.

Alternatively, the VRM app (different from VictronConnect, confusingly) is what you actually want for remote monitoring — Victron really buried that particular lede in their docs.

Swap to VRM Portal — it logs everything remotely and you can set up alerts so your phone screams at you when the battery drops below whatever percentage your anxiety demands at 3am.

@ShesBeRight is right about VRM but you'll need a GX device or a Cerbo GX to push data to it — the SmartShunt alone won't do it without something in between. Caught me out when I first set up my shepherd's hut install.

@Roger1983 if you don't want to spend on a Cerbo, look at a Raspberry Pi running Venus OS — costs peanuts compared to Victron's own hardware and does exactly the same job. All your overnight data logged, accessible anywhere.

The VictronConnect app was never meant for historical logging, it's purely live monitoring. Once you've got VRM set up properly you'll wonder how you managed without it — the State of Charge graphs overnight are genuinely useful for spotting parasitic drains.

@SaltyHiker is spot on about the Cerbo GX being the missing link — ran into exactly this on my narrowboat last winter. What changed everything for me was pairing the Cerbo with a Raspberry Pi running VenusOS instead. Considerably cheaper than a proper GX device and does the same job pushing data to VRM.

Once it's all singing together, VRM's historical graphs are genuinely brilliant — I can scroll back and see precisely when my Fogstar cells started sagging at 3am and what triggered it. Usually the diesel boiler igniter, as it turns out.

The VictronConnect app is fine for standing next to your battery bank prodding things, but for overnight forensics it's practically useless on its own. The VRM dashboard is a completely different beast once you've got the data pipeline sorted.

@Roger1983 just to add something nobody's mentioned yet — if you're not ready to splash out on a Cerbo GX, have a look at Raspberry Pi running Venus OS. It's essentially the same software that runs on Victron's own GX devices but costs a fraction of the price. Paired with your SmartShunt via USB, it'll push everything to VRM Portal just like the proper kit would. I've had mine running solid for about 18 months now without a hiccup. You do need to be reasonably comfortable tinkering, mind — it's not quite plug-and-play. But there are some brilliant guides over on the Victron Community forum that walk you through it step by step. Total cost was under £50 for me compared to £150+ for the Cerbo.

@Trevor1967 beat me to the Bluetooth logger angle but honestly once you've tasted proper VRM historical data on the motorhome you'll never go back — it's like upgrading from a paper map to sat nav, except the sat nav doesn't constantly try to send you down a farm track.

@Roger1983 completely feel your pain with this — the VictronConnect app is great for a quick snapshot but it's genuinely hopeless for overnight monitoring without some kind of continuous connection. One thing worth mentioning that nobody's touched on yet: even if you do go the Cerbo GX route, make sure your site has a half-decent internet connection or you'll lose VRM logging anyway. I run mine through a 4G router and it's been rock solid. Alternatively, if you want something in between before committing to the full Cerbo setup, the Venus GX is often cheaper secondhand and does essentially the same job.

@Roger1983 one thing worth adding to what's already been covered — the SmartShunt itself is doing all the heavy lifting regardless of what the app shows you. If you're not ready for a Cerbo GX, you can actually pull quite detailed SOC history by leaving a laptop connected via the VE.Direct USB cable running VictronConnect on desktop. It's clunkier than VRM but it does give you a longer data window than the Bluetooth snapshot. In my cabin setup I ran this for weeks before I justified the Cerbo cost, and it was genuinely useful for spotting parasitic drain patterns overnight.

@Roger1983 just to add a practical angle here — have you checked your SmartShunt's "Discharge floor" and "Charged voltage" settings are dialled in correctly for LiFePO4? If those aren't right, the state of charge figure you wake up to can be quite misleading even with proper logging in place. Worth getting those nailed down first before chasing the data side of things. A lot of people blame the app when the underlying calibration is slightly off from factory defaults, which are often set for AGM.