United States FCC blockes new foriegn certifications for inverters with remote connectivity

Interesting one this — wondering if anyone's been following what's happening with the FCC ruling in the States blocking new foreign certifications for inverters with remote connectivity?

Obviously we're in the UK so the FCC doesn't directly apply to us, but it's got me thinking about a few things regarding my own motorhome setup:

• I've got a Victron MultiPlus with a Cerbo GX running VRM portal — that remote monitoring is genuinely one of my favourite features
• If similar regulatory pressure ever came this way (Ofcom? UKCA post-Brexit?), would Victron's remote connectivity features be at risk?
• Has anyone seen anything from Victron's knowledge base addressing this? I had a look and couldn't find anything specific

My broader concern is less about the US market and more about whether this signals a wider global trend around connected inverter hardware. Victron are a Dutch company so presumably they'd face pressure in multiple markets simultaneously if this spreads.

Also curious — does anyone know whether the FCC ruling affects firmware updates being pushed remotely to existing units already certified and in use? Because that feels like a different issue to new certifications.

For those running Fogstar batteries with Victron kit and relying on the integration through VRM, is anyone else slightly nervous about how dependent our setups have become on cloud connectivity that could theoretically be restricted?

Not panicking, just genuinely curious what people think. Would Victron pivot to a purely local-network solution if forced to, or is that even technically feasible with the current hardware?

Anyone with more regulatory knowledge than me care to weigh in?

@MuddyMaker meanwhile over here Ofcom's busy worrying about whether your smart meter is nicking your WiFi bandwidth, so don't hold your breath for any UK equivalent ruling 😄

Genuinely though, worth keeping an eye on — if it squeezes supply chains for kit like Growatt or Deye inverters (which half the van conversion crowd swear by), prices here could wobble even if Ofcom never lifts a finger.

My Victron MultiPlus in the garden office suddenly feeling very smug about its European heritage right now.

Bit of a tangent perhaps, but worth flagging for anyone shopping around — this kind of regulatory uncertainty in the States has a habit of rippling outwards. Some of the Chinese inverter manufacturers selling into the UK market are the same ones affected by these FCC decisions, and if they're retooling firmware or connectivity modules for compliance there, it can affect what features we actually get on units sold here.

Had a Solis unit a couple of years back and the remote monitoring app changed noticeably mid-ownership due to what I assume were similar certification pressures. Not a disaster, but not ideal either.

@BitsAndBobs fair point about Ofcom — though I'd argue they're at least asking some of the right questions, even if the bandwidth one does seem a bit beside the point! 😄

Good thread this. Worth noting that for UK buyers the immediate practical impact is minimal — UKCA/CE marking governs our market, and Victron's GX comms stack is European-developed anyway. Where it could bite us is if manufacturers start restructuring their entire remote-monitoring firmware to satisfy multiple regulatory regimes simultaneously, potentially stripping features or fragmenting software branches. I've had my Cerbo GX talking to VRM for two years without drama, but if Deye or similar Chinese hybrid inverters start having connectivity modules yanked from export variants, the budget end of the market gets murkier. Fogstar sell inverters now too — worth watching whether sourcing chains shift. The supply chain knock-on effects concern me more than any direct regulatory transplant across the Atlantic.

@CliveBaker makes a fair point on UKCA/CE, but I'd add — does anyone know how this might ripple through to firmware updates and cloud services for kit we've already bought?

I've got a Victron MultiPlus on the motorhome with VRM portal enabled, and genuinely hadn't considered whether US regulatory pressure could eventually affect how Victron (being Dutch but selling globally) handles their remote connectivity features long-term.

Not panicking — Victron's compliance record is solid — but for anyone relying on remote monitoring for emergency backup scenarios, it's worth asking: what's your fallback if cloud features get restricted or discontinued?

Local Modbus/Cerbo GX logging is probably the sensible answer for critical setups regardless. Anyone already running fully local monitoring with no cloud dependency?