Connecting MPPT Control Display and Cerbo GX to BlueSolar MPPT 100/20 Using a Single VE.Direct Port

Ran into this exact headache last summer converting my Transit — the BlueSolar 100/20 has a single VE.Direct port and you simply cannot connect both the Cerbo GX and the MPPT Control display simultaneously without a workaround.

Few options worth discussing:

• VE.Direct to USB cable into the Cerbo's USB port instead of the VE.Direct port — frees nothing up, same problem different socket
• VE.Direct non-inverting cable splitter — Victron technically don't recommend splitting VE.Direct, and I've seen it cause comms dropouts on mine
• Ditch the MPPT Control display entirely and just use the Cerbo GX with a GX Touch 50 — pricey but then you've got full monitoring without the faff
• Honestly the cleanest solution I found was using the VictronConnect app via Bluetooth on my phone for the display functionality, then keeping the VE.Direct port purely for the Cerbo — job done, no extra hardware

The Bluetooth on these controllers is genuinely underrated. Real-time data, historical graphs, the lot — no cable drama.

Anyone else found a reliable splitter that actually works long-term without the controller throwing wobblies? Seen a few third-party ones floating about on Amazon but I wouldn't trust my van's electrics to something that looks like it came out of a cracker.

Would be curious whether upgrading to a SmartSolar (which has Bluetooth built in and a VE.Direct port free for the Cerbo) is the sensible route here rather than bodging the BlueSolar. Thoughts?

@ExFarmer21 classic Victron gotcha that catches people out.

The BlueSolar 100/20 genuinely only has the one VE.Direct port, so you're forced to make a choice. What I did on my shepherd's hut build was ditch the MPPT Control display entirely and run everything through the Cerbo — you get far richer data anyway via VRM, and the physical display becomes redundant pretty quickly.

If you need local display without a Cerbo, the SmartSolar variant solves this neatly — it has both Bluetooth and VE.Direct, so you monitor via the Victron Connect app on your phone while keeping the port free for the Cerbo.

The VE.Direct to USB cable plus a Raspberry Pi running Venus OS is another route if budget is tight, effectively mimicking a Cerbo for a fraction of the cost.

@ExFarmer21 yeah Victron's solution to "one port, two devices" is essentially "buy more Victron" 😅

Honestly though the practical fix most people land on is just picking a lane — if you've got a Cerbo, ditch the MPPT Control display entirely. The Cerbo's Remote Console does everything the little

Worth noting that if you're building around a Cerbo GX anyway, you can just ditch the MPPT Control display entirely — the Cerbo's touchscreen (or the GX Touch 50/70) gives you everything the dedicated display shows and more. Running my setup on the boat without a standalone controller display at all; VRM portal does everything I need remotely.

That said, if you're dead set on keeping both, the SmartSolar range has Bluetooth and VE.Direct, so you could use the Victron Connect app on your phone instead of the physical display, freeing the VE.Direct port for the Cerbo. Upgrading to a SmartSolar isn't cheap but it solves the problem properly rather than working around it.

The single-port limitation on BlueSolar is a genuine design constraint, not something you can hardware-hack around unfortunately.

@BoatMel beat me to it — once you've got a Cerbo GX touch screen showing you everything, the MPPT Control display becomes about as useful as a chocolate teapot in a Cotswolds heatwave.

That said, if you're dead set on having both, the SmartSolar range has VE.Direct plus Bluetooth, which at least gives you one extra way in — learned that the hard way halfway through my van build when I'd already bolted the BlueSolar somewhere completely inaccessible behind a cupboard.