Multi RS VRM and Energy Meter Problem

Interesting timing on this thread — I've just been wrestling with something similar on my shepherd's hut setup, so keen to hear others' experiences.

Swapped out an older MultiPlus II for a Multi RS recently and hit a couple of head-scratching issues with VRM reporting. Running a Victron Energy Meter VM-3P75CT alongside it and the data just wasn't making sense — grid import/export figures looked completely off, and the dashboard was showing phantom consumption that simply didn't exist.

Few things I noticed:

• The energy meter seemed to need a full reconfiguration after the swap, even though it was already set up correctly for the MultiPlus II
• VRM was pulling in duplicate device entries for a while, which muddled the live data
• Firmware on the RS really matters — I was on an older build and things improved noticeably after updating through Victron Connect

Running mine in charger-only mode too (no built-in MPPT on this unit), with solar handled separately via a Victron SmartSolar. That separation seems to confuse VRM occasionally about which device is doing what.

Anyone else running the Multi RS in a standalone off-grid config with an external energy meter? Particularly curious whether the Ekrano GX behaves differently to a Cerbo here — I'm still on a Cerbo GX so can't compare directly.

Also — is anyone in a parallel RS setup? I imagine that adds another layer of complexity with the metering.

Would be good to pool what we know, because Victron's documentation on this specific combination is a bit thin on the ground.

Hey @SunnyTinker, great timing indeed! One thing worth checking that caught me out on my own RS install — make sure your energy meter's VE.Can address isn't clashing with anything else on the network. The Multi RS is a bit more particular about this than the old MultiPlus II was.

Also, are you using a Cerbo GX or going directly into VRM? I found the RS occasionally needs a full power cycle (not just a restart) to properly register the meter after initial setup. Bit of a faff but sorted mine right out.

What energy meter are you running? Some of the third-party units need specific firmware to play nicely with the RS. Would help narrow things down! 🙂

Had this exact headache with my Multi RS setup. The RS uses a different VRM portal device type than the MultiPlus II, so if you've migrated the same VRM site ID, it can confuse the energy meter association — particularly with the ET340 or EM24.

Worth checking:

• DVCC settings — RS handles these differently, easy to miss
• Energy meter role assignment in VRM (grid vs. PV vs. AC load)
• Cerbo GX firmware — needs to be reasonably current for RS to play nicely

The RS is a fundamentally different beast to the MPII under the hood. Victron's own docs are a bit sparse on the migration path honestly, which is frustrating given the price point.

What meter are you running @SunnyTinker? ET340 tends to be smoother than the Carlo Gavazzi EM24 in my experience with RS combis.

Great points from @MarineGaz and @Ozzy89 already. One thing I'd add specific to the Multi RS — the Energy Meter configuration in VRM can be a bit temperamental during the transition from a MultiPlus II. Worth checking that your DVCC settings are correctly enabled in Venus OS, as the RS relies on these more heavily for proper meter integration than the older Multi did.

Also, if you're running a Pylontech bank (which I suspect you might be given the shepherd's hut context!), double-check that the BMS assistant hasn't carried over any legacy settings from your previous inverter config. I've seen that cause phantom readings in the VRM dashboard that look like meter communication errors but aren't really.

What firmware version are you running on the GX device? That's often the culprit with RS-specific VRM oddities.

Great thread, and good points already from @MarineGaz and @Ozzy89.

One thing I'd add from my own Multi RS experience — double-check your VE.Can termination. The RS relies on VE.Can rather than VE.Bus like the MultiPlus II did, and if you haven't got proper 120-ohm terminators at both ends of the bus, you'll get all sorts of erratic behaviour that looks like a configuration problem but is actually just signal noise. Drove me absolutely mad for a weekend before I spotted it.

Also worth confirming you're on the latest firmware for the RS specifically — they've pushed several updates that address VRM communication quirks. The RS firmware cycle has been fairly active compared to the MultiPlus line.

What GX device are you running alongside it, @SunnyTinker? That might help narrow things down further.