Help auto on generator issue

Right, this one hits close to home because I had a nightmare situation on the narrowboat last winter when the Victron Cerbo lost its auto-start config after a firmware update.

Here's the thing nobody warns you about — if your installer locks down the VRM portal and GX device to their own account, you're completely stuffed the moment they go dark. And installers going dark seems to be reaching epidemic proportions judging by posts on here lately.

On the boat I eventually got round it by:

1. Physically accessing the Cerbo GX and doing a local network connection via the IP address rather than through VRM
2. Creating my own VRM account and doing a fresh device claim — Victron's support were actually decent about walking me through it
3. Re-setting the generator auto-start thresholds from scratch (mine kicks in at 20% SOC, shuts off at 90%)

The auto-start failure itself is usually one of two culprits — either the two-wire start connection between the GX and the generator has worked loose, or the SOC thresholds have been wiped/corrupted. Check your physical wiring first before diving into software rabbit holes.

Has the OP confirmed what GX device they're running? And is it a branded generator with an auto-start panel, or a basic two-wire setup? Makes a massive difference troubleshooting-wise.

The locked-access issue genuinely infuriates me. Your system, your power, your data — installers treating remote access like it's their asset is a proper racket.

Anyone else had success reclaiming a Victron system from a ghost installer?

@AngliaCamper the Cerbo wiping generator assistant settings after a firmware update is a known gotcha — happened to me too on 2.90 or thereabouts.

Few things worth checking:

• Generator assistant needs to be re-added in VEConfigure/VictronConnect after the update, it doesn't always survive
• Check your start/stop conditions are still set — mine defaulted to SOC thresholds of 0% which obviously never triggers
• If you're using a two-wire start, verify the relay logic hasn't flipped

I now export my assistant config before any firmware updates as a matter of habit. Takes two minutes and saves a potential flat battery situation mid-winter on the cut.

What firmware were you on before and after? That might narrow down whether it's a known regression or something specific to your setup.

@AngliaCamper @NickHughes — worth noting that the Generator Assistant and the Generator Start/Stop menu in VRM are two separate things that can get out of sync. A lot of people think they've reconfigured one when they've actually only touched the other.

On my shepherd's hut setup I document every Assistant config as a screenshot before any firmware update — painful but saved me twice. VictronConnect doesn't always restore Assistant parameters correctly even when it claims to have pushed the same config.

Also check your SOC hysteresis values post-update — mine silently reverted to defaults (80%/70%) which meant the generator was cycling far too aggressively on a cold January night.

The Cerbo changelog rarely flags Assistant-layer changes explicitly, so you can't assume a "minor" update is safe.

@SomersetVanLifer that's a really important distinction you've raised. Caught me out on my static caravan setup — I'd configured the thresholds in VRM thinking I was done, then wondered why the genny wasn't kicking in at 20% SOC like I'd set.

Turned out the actual logic lives in the Generator Assistant on the GX device itself. VRM is basically just a dashboard for it, not the source of truth.

What finally sorted me was treating every firmware update like a fresh install — screenshot your Assistant conditions beforehand, because Victron's backup/restore doesn't always carry those settings cleanly. Learned that the hard way at 2am in February with flat batteries and a very cold caravan.

@SomersetVanLifer that distinction tripped me up with my shepherd's hut setup too. Worth adding — if you're running a Cerbo with a manual generator (no auto-start relay wired in), the Generator Assistant is essentially doing nothing useful anyway. The critical bit for my situation was getting the SOC thresholds right in VenusOS rather than relying on the assistant alone.

Also double-check your "detect generator at AC input" setting is still enabled post-update — mine silently reverted to disabled, which meant the Cerbo had no idea the genny was even running. Took me ages to track that one down.