Anyone else using a Raspberry Pi to monitor their Victron system instead of the official Cerbo GX?

Running a Raspberry Pi 4 with Venus OS on my narrowboat setup — pairs beautifully with my Fogstar Drift 200Ah LiFePO4 and costs about £40 vs £250+ for the Cerbo GX. Does everything the official unit does as far as I can tell, including the VRM portal sync.

Only snag is I've had the Pi throttle itself on hot summer days in my battery compartment — thermal throttling at around 80°C which is less than ideal when you're watching your SOC remotely from the towpath.

Anyone solved the heat issue, or am I just living dangerously with a £40 piece of kit running my entire electrical system?

Bazza41 | 847 posts | ⚡ Solar Addict

@BrookLover great shout, been running Venus OS on a Pi 3B+ for nearly two years now on my static setup and honestly can't fault it. One thing worth mentioning that people overlook — get yourself a proper UPS hat or at least a clean shutdown script triggered from your battery BMS. Lost a perfectly good SD card when my battery hit low voltage and the Pi just died mid-write. Switched to a good quality industrial SD card as well, makes a noticeable difference to longevity.

Also worth enabling the VRM portal — it's completely free and gives you remote monitoring from your phone anywhere with signal. Absolute lifesaver when I'm away from site wondering whether the solar's keeping up.

Total cost of my setup was under £60 all in. Cerbo GX is lovely kit but hard to justify the premium honestly.

WattKaren | 134 posts | 🔋 Off-Grid Curious

Interesting thread — been considering this for my static caravan setup. Few questions before I commit:

1. Does Venus OS on the Pi handle VE.Direct to USB adapters reliably, or do you need the proper VE.Direct cables? I've got a Victron MPPT 100/30 and a BMV-712 both needing connections.

2. What happens during a power interruption — does the Pi corrupt the SD card on sudden shutoff? Wondering if an industrial-grade card or a UPS on the Pi itself is necessary.

3. Can you still access VRM portal remotely the same way you would with a Cerbo GX, or are there limitations on the free tier?

Running 400Ah Fogstar Drift cells so decent monitoring matters — don't want to be guessing at state of charge remotely.

Ian1968 | 312 posts | ☀️ Solar Enthusiast

Been running this exact setup on my off-grid cabin for about 18 months now — Pi 4 with Venus OS and it's rock solid. One tip I'd add for @WattKaren if you're going the static caravan route: make sure you've got a decent SD card or better yet boot from a USB SSD. Lost my first install when a cheap SD card gave up the ghost after a few months of constant read/writes. Sandisk Endurance series or just a small SSD via USB adapter sorted it completely. Also worth enabling the built-in MQTT broker if you fancy pulling data into Home Assistant — opens up a whole world of automation. @BrookLover are you monitoring your battery temps through it as well? The Fogstar Drift's BMS data would be interesting to see graphed over time.

HannahDavies85 | 203 posts | 🚐 Van & Boat Nerd

Running this on my narrowboat and the van conversion — two Pi 4s, two setups, zero regrets, and enough money saved for a Fogstar battery upgrade which frankly was the real goal all along. The VRM portal integration works flawlessly once you stop fighting the network config (pro tip: just use ethernet on the boat, the bilge somehow eats Wi-Fi signals). Only genuine gotcha is the Pi's SD card dying if you cut shore power without a clean shutdown, so stick a quality Samsung card in and enable read-only mode.

HollyWatson | 89 posts | ☀️ Solar Enthusiast

Great thread! One thing worth flagging that I haven't seen mentioned — if you're running Venus OS on a Pi, make sure you're using a decent quality SD card or better yet, boot from a USB SSD. I killed two SD cards within six months from constant read/write cycles before switching over. A small 32GB SSD on a USB 3.0 adapter sorted it completely and the whole thing feels much snappier too.

Also @WattKaren for a static caravan setup it's honestly a no-brainer — you're not exactly bouncing down rough roads so reliability concerns are minimal. I've had mine running solid for nearly a year now. The VRM portal integration works just as well as on the official Cerbo from what I can tell. 👍

NeilRoss | 547 posts | ⚡ Off-Grid Veteran

Solid thread. One thing I'd add that nobody's mentioned yet — if you're running the Pi headless and want remote access beyond VRM portal, set up a WireGuard VPN rather than leaving SSH open to the world. Takes about 20 minutes and saves a lot of potential headaches.

Also worth noting: a Pi 4 does run noticeably warmer than a Cerbo GX in a confined battery compartment. I've got mine in a small enclosure on my off-grid shed and fitted a passive heatsink case — temperatures dropped considerably. Probably overkill for most installs but worth considering if yours is tucked away somewhere poorly ventilated.

@BrookLover the Fogstar Drift pairing is interesting — are you pulling the BMS data through separately or just relying on the Victron shunt for SOC?

WayneClark | 312 posts | 🔧 DIY Systems

Great setup @BrookLover — been running Venus OS on a Pi 3B+ for nearly two years now without any issues. One thing I'd add: grab a decent quality SD card or, better yet, boot from a USB SSD. SD cards can corrupt over time with the constant read/write cycles, especially on a boat where temperatures fluctuate. Lost my config once that way and it's a pain to rebuild. A cheap 32GB SSD on a USB3 adapter has been rock solid since. Also worth enabling the remote VRM portal — monitoring from your phone anywhere is genuinely brilliant.

RustyCaptain | 203 posts | ⚓ Liveaboard

Great to see more narrowboaters going down this route! Been running Venus OS on a Pi 4 on my own boat for about 18 months now and it's rock solid. One thing worth adding — the Pi draws noticeably less power than the Cerbo GX, which genuinely matters when you're trying to squeeze every watt overnight at winter moorings. I've also found the community driver support far superior; there are some brilliant custom scripts floating around the Victron community forum that you simply can't run on official hardware. @WayneClark — have you tried the Node-RED integration? Changed everything for me.

RetiredNurse96 | 203 posts | 🏡 Off-Grid Homesteader

Lovely thread — I came to Venus OS on Pi quite late but wish I'd known about it sooner! One thing I'd mention for anyone nervous about the technical side (like I was): the VRM portal integration works just as smoothly as with a proper Cerbo. I can check my battery state from my daughter's house in Edinburgh without any fuss. Also worth knowing that the Pi runs cool enough in a well-ventilated cabinet — I did worry about heat initially. @BrookLover what case are you using on the narrowboat? Condensation was my main concern in a similar damp environment.