Shelly relay devices cannot be configured as PV inverters

Ran into something similar recently while trying to tidy up my garden office setup. I've got a Victron Cerbo GX running the show, and I wanted to use a Shelly Plus 1PM to monitor my small grid-tie inverter and have it show up properly in VRM.

The problem is that Shelly relays — even the Pro models with proper power metering — simply cannot be configured as a PV inverter role within the Victron ecosystem. You can add them as a generic meter or switch, but that's it. The inverter role is reserved for devices speaking the right protocol (Fronius, SMA via Modbus, etc.).

For my narrowboat I ended up just using the Shelly as a dumb AC load switch and accepting the VRM data would be incomplete. Not ideal.

A few things I've tried or looked into:

• Node-RED on the Cerbo to push Shelly power readings into the correct MQTT topics — messy but workable
• Swapping to a proper Victron-compatible meter like the Carlo Gavazzi ET340, which the Cerbo recognises natively
• Running a Raspberry Pi as a dBus bridge (overkill honestly)

The Carlo Gavazzi route is probably cleanest if you're committed to having accurate PV yield data in VRM, but it's another £80-odd on top of what you've already spent.

Anyone found a cleaner workaround that doesn't involve bodging Node-RED flows? Curious whether the newer Shelly Pro 3EM changes anything here, or if Victron have any plans to extend third-party meter support.

Hey @SunnyViking, yeah this catches people out regularly! The Cerbo's VRM portal expects inverters to report specific data fields that the Shelly simply isn't designed to provide — things like DC input voltage, state of charge context, that sort of thing. The Shelly Plus 1PM is brilliant for AC power monitoring but it'll only ever appear as a generic meter or switch in the Victron ecosystem, never as a proper inverter device class.

What you can do is use Node-RED on the Cerbo to pull the Shelly's MQTT data and push it into a custom VRM widget, which gives you decent visibility without confusing the system. Alternatively, have a look at a Victron Energy Meter (ET112 or similar) if you want native integration without the faff. What are you actually trying to achieve with the monitoring — pure visibility or some automation logic as well?

Ran into this exact wall with my static caravan setup last year. The Cerbo just won't let you assign a Shelly as an inverter device type — it's a hard limitation, not a config issue you can workaround.

What actually worked for me was using the Shelly purely as a grid meter instead, then handling the inverter reporting separately through a proper Victron-compatible device. Not ideal but it gets your consumption data into VRM at least.

If you're dead set on keeping Shelly in the mix, the Cerbo's Node-RED or MQTT route might let you push custom data, but that's a proper rabbit hole tbh.

Worth checking whether a Victron Energy Meter (ET112) would just solve the whole thing cleanly — saved me a lot of grief on a similar job.

Good summary from @IanHenderson79 and @TerryBurns. Worth adding that the Shelly Plus 1PM is fundamentally an energy monitoring relay — it has no awareness of AC frequency, phase, or the inverter-specific attributes the Cerbo GX expects when you define a PV inverter device instance via the dbus interface.

What actually works is configuring the Shelly as a grid meter or AC load monitor instead, then using a Node-RED flow on the Cerbo to calculate your net generation. It's a workaround rather than a proper fix, but on my narrowboat setup I've done exactly this for a small Enphase micro-inverter that similarly wouldn't register correctly.

If you specifically need proper PV inverter integration showing yield data in VRM, you're really looking at a Fronius, SolarEdge with SunSpec, or ABB — devices with native Victron integration protocols. The Shelly just isn't that device, regardless of how you configure it.

Spot on from everyone here. One thing worth mentioning that hasn't been covered yet — if you're dead set on getting your grid-tie inverter visible properly in VRM, have a look at using a Fronius, SMA, or similar supported inverter that integrates natively via Modbus or the Victron GX device list. Alternatively, a Carlo Gavazzi EM24 energy meter sits nicely on the AC input/output and is recognised as a proper grid meter by the Cerbo, which might give @SunnyViking the monitoring visibility he's after without fighting against the system. The Shelly's genuinely useful data just doesn't map onto what Victron expects from an inverter device class. Sometimes working with the Cerbo's architecture rather than around it saves a lot of head-scratching! 🙂

Really interesting thread — been lurking on this exact problem for my narrowboat build actually!

Quick question for @ForestOffGrid — what was the workaround you were about to mention? Genuinely curious because I've got a Cerbo GX on order and I'm planning to add a small Enphase microinverter setup alongside my Fogstar lithium bank. Was hoping to keep everything tidy within the VRM portal.

Is the only real option to use something like a Victron Energy Meter (ET112 or similar) on the AC input side instead? Or does anyone know if the Modbus TCP route through Home Assistant could bridge the gap somehow — mapping the Shelly data into VRM as a generic meter rather than an inverter?

Feels like a lot of extra faff just because of a device category limitation in the firmware. Has Victron indicated this might change in a future Cerbo update?