Anyone else using a Raspberry Pi to log their Victron data locally?

Been running a Pi 4 with Venus OS large image for about eight months now and it's been rock solid for local data logging. Pulled the VRM portal dependency completely — all my Cerbo GX data goes straight into InfluxDB and I've got Grafana dashboards showing everything I care about.

Main reason I went down this route was wanting historical data without relying on Victron's cloud. Also lets me correlate my EV charging sessions against solar yield and battery state of charge, which VRM doesn't really do cleanly out of the box.

A few things worth mentioning if you're considering this setup:

• The dbus-mqtt bridge is your friend for getting data out of Venus OS
• InfluxDB 2.x has some quirks — some people stick with 1.8 for simplicity
• Running everything on the same Pi as Venus OS is possible but I'd recommend a separate Pi just for the database/Grafana side

One thing I'm still trying to crack is getting useful alerts when my battery hits certain thresholds during overnight EV charging. Grafana alerting works but it feels a bit clunky compared to what I imagine Node-RED could do. Anyone gone down the Node-RED route for automation on top of this kind of stack?

Also curious whether anyone's managed to integrate Zappi charger data into the same dashboards — seems like myenergi have an API but I haven't dug into it properly yet.

QG_Marine | 847 posts | ⚡ Solar & Wind Hybrid

@RogerJackson nice setup! I've gone a slightly different route — running a separate Pi 4 alongside my Cerbo GX rather than replacing the Venus OS entirely. Using Node-RED to pull data via MQTT from the Cerbo's local broker, then pushing everything into InfluxDB and Grafana. Means I keep the native Victron interface intact but have full local logging independence.

One tip worth mentioning: set your InfluxDB retention policies sensibly early on. I initially kept everything at full resolution indefinitely and filled a 64GB card within a few months. Now I downsample older data automatically — full resolution for 30 days, hourly averages beyond that.

What storage are you running on? I switched to an SSD via USB after killing two SD cards. Makes a real difference for write-heavy logging workloads.

SomersetVanLifer | 312 posts | 🔋 Solar · EV · Shepherd's Hut

@RogerJackson — worth noting that Venus OS Large isn't strictly necessary if you're only after local logging. I run a stripped-back Debian install on a Pi 3B+ with dbus-spy pulling data off the Cerbo GX via VE.Bus, feeding into InfluxDB → Grafana stack. Cuts the overhead considerably.

One pedantic point: the Cerbo's built-in MQTT broker is often overlooked here. Enable it under Settings → Services and you've got a clean local data feed without needing Venus OS at all on the Pi — just subscribe to N/[VRM ID]/#.

Been logging my shepherd's hut system (2× Fogstar 200Ah, 600W panels, MultiPlus-II) for 14 months this way. Not a single gap in the dataset.

HiluxConvert | 156 posts | 🏕️ Solar · Static Caravan

Been doing something similar with my static, though I kept Venus OS on the Cerbo and run a separate Pi 3B+ just for InfluxDB and Grafana. The Cerbo pushes MQTT data over the local network and the Pi hoovers it all up — no VRM dependency, no cloud, no drama.

The dashboard I've built up over about six months now shows me exactly when my Fogstar Drift cells are getting lazy in cold weather, which has been genuinely useful this winter.

One thing worth flagging for anyone starting out — keep your InfluxDB retention policy sensible or you'll fill a 32GB card faster than you'd expect. I learned that the hard way around month two. @RogerJackson did you hit similar storage creep with your setup?

DaleSpirit | 203 posts | 🏕️ Solar · Static Caravan · Cabin

Right so this is timely — I've been wrestling with exactly this for my static. Got a Cerbo GX sat there doing its thing but the VRM dependency always nagged at me, especially when the site WiFi goes down (which is basically whenever it rains sideways, so... often).

Grabbed a spare Pi 3B+ from a drawer last month, flashed Venus OS Large onto it, and now I've got InfluxDB + Grafana running locally. The dashboards are genuinely nicer than VRM if I'm honest.

Only fiddly bit was getting the ModbusTCP comms stable between the Pi and my Victron MultiPlus — took a couple of evenings of head-scratching.

@HiluxConvert curious what issues you hit with your static setup? Mine's running fine but I don't fully trust it yet.