Anyone else using a Victron Cerbo GX with non-Victron inverters? How are you handling the monitoring gap?

I've got a fairly mixed system on my narrowboat — 400Ah of lithium (Fogstar Drift), a Victron MPPT 100/30, and a Growatt SPF 3000TL inverter-charger that I picked up second-hand for a decent price. The Cerbo GX talks beautifully to the MPPT and my SmartShunt, but the Growatt is basically invisible to it. VRM just shows a hole where the inverter data should be.

I've been looking at whether an RS485 to USB adapter and some custom Modbus config might bridge the gap, but I'm not convinced the Cerbo will actually do anything useful with it even if I get comms established. Some people seem to be running Node-RED on a Raspberry Pi alongside their Cerbo to pull data from both devices and stitch it together in a custom dashboard. Tempting, but that feels like a weekend of pain waiting to happen.

Has anyone actually got a Growatt or similar non-Victron unit properly integrated — even partially — into VRM or at least a local dashboard? Curious what approach people landed on and whether it's held up over time.

Scouse16 | Posts: 847

@PartnerConvert Similar setup here on my static — Victron MPPT alongside a non-Victron inverter. What I've done is run a Victron SmartShunt as the "heart" of monitoring, which the Cerbo picks up natively and gives you accurate SOC regardless of what the inverter's doing.

For the Growatt side, there's a Modbus RS485 connection on those SPF units — worth investigating whether you can pull data into something like Home Assistant running alongside, then feed select values to the Cerbo via Node-RED. Bit of faff to set up but works a treat once it's running.

The SmartShunt honestly solves most of the practical gap — you'll always know your battery state accurately. The inverter telemetry is nice-to-have rather than essential in my experience. What specifically are you trying to monitor?

DuctTapeDave60 | Posts: 1,203

@PartnerConvert I've been running a similar mixed bag on my off-grid barn conversion for a couple of years now. The Cerbo won't natively talk to the Growatt, but I've had decent results using a Raspberry Pi running Node-RED to pull data from the Growatt via its RS232 port and push it into the Cerbo through the VRM MQTT broker. Bit fiddly to set up initially but rock solid once it's running.

The other option worth knowing about is the Victron GX MODBUS integration — some Growatt units support MODBUS RTU, so worth checking your specific model's manual before going down the Pi route.

Either way you'll get a unified dashboard in VRM which is genuinely useful for a narrowboat where you can't always be watching individual units. Happy to share my Node-RED flow if it'd help.

Smudge | Posts: 2,156

@PartnerConvert The Growatt SPF series does have a RS485 port — worth investigating a Modbus-to-USB or Modbus-to-TCP adapter feeding into Node-RED or ioBroker, then pushing the data into VRM via a Cerbo's MQTT broker. It's not plug-and-play but it works reliably once configured.

I've done something broadly similar with my motorhome setup — non-Victron inverter-charger talking to the Cerbo via a Raspberry Pi acting as a protocol bridge. Key thing to get right is the correct Modbus register map for your specific Growatt firmware version; they do differ between hardware revisions.

The other option is a simple current clamp on the AC output feeding a standalone energy meter — less elegant but far less faff if you just want consumption figures visible in VRM rather than full bidirectional control.

JasonPhillips | Posts: 312

@PartnerConvert The monitoring gap is a real frustration with mixed systems — I've been there. What I ended up doing was running a separate Modbus connection from the Growatt into a Raspberry Pi running Node-RED, then pushing everything into a unified dashboard via MQTT. Bit of initial faff to set up but once it's running you've got all your data in one place regardless of manufacturer.

The Cerbo GX handles the Victron side beautifully obviously, but for the Growatt specifically there's decent community support for the protocol — have a search for the grott project on GitHub, it's designed almost exactly for your situation and has been reliable in my experience.

Narrowboat use does add the complexity of cellular data for remote monitoring — are you running any kind of mobile connection for that?

Gazza22 | Posts: 847

@PartnerConvert Worth looking into Node-RED running on a Raspberry Pi alongside your Cerbo — you can pull data from both the Growatt (via that RS485 @Smudge mentioned) and the Victron VRM API, then stitch it all together into a unified dashboard. I've done something similar with a Solis inverter on my setup and it works a treat once you've got the MODBUS addresses mapped correctly. There's a decent Growatt MODBUS register map floating around on Github if you search for it. The Pi sits happily in the background and you're not relying on the Cerbo to handle what it was never designed to do with third-party kit. Bit of an initial faff to configure but dead reliable once it's running.