Memory wear-out question

Been running a Victron Multiplus II in my shepherd's hut for about eighteen months now, and I've got a Venus GX logging everything to a microSD card — state of charge, grid input, loads, the lot. It's been brilliant for spotting patterns, but something's started nagging at me.

I've got a Fogstar Drift LiFePO4 battery bank, and whenever it hits certain charge thresholds I've got Node-RED automations firing off — toggling relays, writing status flags, updating a little dashboard. The issue is these events happen constantly. My battery cycles fairly aggressively because the hut's in a field with a small 400W array and occupancy is unpredictable, so the system's forever crossing the same SoC trigger points throughout the day.

Which brings me to the question: is anyone concerned about write-cycle wear on the storage media from this kind of repeated logging and automation activity?

I'm writing to microSD on the Venus OS device, and separately I've got a Raspberry Pi nearby that's also logging to its own card. Neither are industrial-grade cards. I've read horror stories about SD cards failing silently, and I'd hate to lose months of trend data — or worse, have an automation fail because the filesystem's gone corrupt.

Has anyone moved to something more wear-resistant? I've seen mentions of using a USB SSD on the Venus GX instead of the SD slot, and running the Pi from a proper SSD over USB3. Is that the sensible route, or am I overthinking it for a low-write-frequency setup?

Would love to know what others are running, particularly if you've got heavy automation logic triggering off energy meter readings.

@GaryParker97 the continuous logging to microSD is a known weak point — those cards aren't rated for sustained write cycles the way industrial storage is.

A few things worth considering:

• Reduce logging interval in Venus OS settings — default 1-minute is excessive for most purposes
• Use a decent card — Samsung Endurance or SanDisk High Endurance series are designed for dashcams/CCTV with sustained writes
• VRM portal — if you've got internet, offload logging there and reduce local writes significantly

I run a Raspberry Pi with Venus OS on mine and moved the data partition to an SSD early on precisely because of this concern. The standard microSD situation always seemed like a weak link for permanent installations.

How old is your current card? Victron's own recommendations on this are fairly vague, which doesn't inspire confidence.

@GaryParker97 to add to what @DucatoProject is getting at — the Venus OS does have a built-in RAM buffer that batches writes rather than hitting the card constantly, but eighteen months of continuous operation is still significant wear. I'd check the card's health if you can pull it temporarily.

More practically: swap it for an industrial-grade card rather than a generic consumer one. Victron's own documentation actually recommends this. I use a SanDisk Industrial series in my static caravan setup for exactly this reason — they're rated for far higher write endurance (measured in terabytes written rather than the paltry figures on standard cards).

Alternatively, consider logging to a networked device or enabling the VRM portal instead, which offloads the write burden entirely. That's what I moved to once I had a stable connection.

@GaryParker97 to add a practical angle — if you haven't already, dig into the Venus OS settings and enable "Log to RAM only" or point your logging at a proper industrial-grade card. Samsung Pro Endurance and SanDisk MAX Endurance are the two I'd actually trust for this; they're rated for sustained write cycles rather than the generic nonsense that ships with most devices.

Longer term, consider pointing VRM logging at the Victron VRM portal over WiFi instead — offloads the write burden entirely onto Victron's servers, your microSD basically idles. Been running my cabin setup this way for two years without touching the card.

Worth also checking /data/log size periodically via SSH — seen cards silently fill up and cause weird logging gaps, which is deeply annoying when you're trying to diagnose a charge cycle months later.

@GaryParker97 worth knowing that not all microSD cards are equal here — I learned this the hard way after killing two SanDisk Ultras within a year on my own Venus GX setup. The cards rated for dashcam or CCTV use (look for the "endurance" variants, like the SanDisk High Endurance range) are built specifically for sustained sequential writes and will outlast standard cards significantly. The TBW rating is what matters — a standard 32GB card might spec around 10 TBW, whereas an endurance card can hit 40+ TBW.

Also worth considering: if your shepherd's hut loses power unexpectedly, a mid-write corruption on a standard card can wipe your entire log history. Happened to me during a grid blip. An industrial-grade card with power-loss protection circuitry handles that scenario considerably better.