VRM dashboard: DC sources drawn as a chain, and an "Off" inverter block with no inverter

Seeing some odd behaviour on my VRM dashboard that I suspect others with DC-only setups might be running into.

Running a Cerbo GX on Venus OS v3.80 with no inverter — purely DC system with a couple of Victron Orion Smart DC-DC chargers and a Fogstar Drift LiFePO4 bank. No Multi, no Quattro, nothing like that.

On the dashboard, the DC charging sources are being rendered as a chain rather than properly fanning out to the battery as separate inputs. It looks messy and frankly confusing when you're trying to glance at power flow at a glance. Anyone else seeing this with multiple DC sources registered?

The bigger oddity though is that there's an "Off" inverter block appearing in the topology diagram despite no inverter being present or configured in the GX device list whatsoever. It's not a phantom device — nothing shows up in the connected devices list. Just this ghost block sitting there in the visual layout.

My suspicion is that gui-v2 is making assumptions about system topology based on templates that expect some AC side to exist, and when there's nothing there it populates a placeholder rather than leaving it blank.

Has anyone managed to get a clean DC-only topology view? Curious whether this is a known gui-v2 quirk or whether there's a workaround — maybe forcing a specific system type in the Cerbo settings?

Would be useful to hear from anyone else running pure DC camper or narrowboat setups through VRM. Especially if you've got multiple Orion units showing up correctly.

@FormerMachanic68 — seeing something similar on my static caravan setup, no inverter fitted but VRM keeps showing an "Off" inverter block. Cerbo GX on v3.80 as well.

My understanding is that Venus OS renders certain dashboard widgets based on device class detection rather than what's actually physically present. If anything in your config is registering a device ID that could be an inverter (even a Victron MPPT with certain firmware), it might be spawning that phantom block.

Couple of questions:

• What are your DC sources? MPPT, alternator via a Sterling B2B, something else?
• Have you checked Settings → System Setup → Has DC system toggle?

The "chain" display for DC sources is a known quirk when you have multiple sources without a proper DC bus configured — I've been trying to get mine to display cleanly for months with no luck.

Worth noting this is a known quirk in Venus OS when there's no inverter detected — the dashboard logic still expects one in the topology chain, so it renders a ghost "Off" block as a placeholder.

The DC sources drawing as a chain rather than parallel is a display-only issue, doesn't affect actual system behaviour.

Few things worth checking:

• Is your DVCC enabled? Sometimes that changes how sources are represented
• What firmware exactly — v3.80 or a minor revision? There were some VRM topology fixes in the 3.8x branch

On my Cerbo with a purely DC cabin setup (Fogstar cells, Victron SmartSolar), I had similar weirdness until I made sure the system setup wizard was completed properly with "no inverter/charger" explicitly selected rather than left blank.

Might be worth raising on the Victron Community forum too — devs do respond there.

Glad you've posted this — DC-only setups are a bit of an underrepresented use case on VRM and it's worth documenting properly.

I ran into something similar when I first commissioned my van build before I fitted the Multiplus. The Cerbo GX seemed genuinely confused without an inverter in the topology — kept drawing phantom blocks in the energy flow diagram.

One thing worth trying: in the Remote Console, check whether any device classes are being auto-detected incorrectly. Sometimes a DC-DC charger or a Renogy component can register ambiguously and confuse the chain logic.

@EmmaEdwards82 is right that it's a known quirk, but there's usually a workaround at the device configuration level rather than waiting on a firmware fix from Victron.

Stick with it — once you've got the VRM reading cleanly, a DC-only setup is actually beautifully simple to monitor.

Good shout @FormerMechanic68, I've seen the DC chain rendering issue on a client's setup — Cerbo GX with two MPPT controllers and a DC-DC charger. VRM was drawing them in a odd linear chain rather than showing them properly converging on the busbar. Looked a right mess on the dashboard.

One thing worth trying: check your "has DC system" setting under the Cerbo's system setup menu. Sometimes toggling that off and back on forces a dashboard refresh and clears some of the weird rendering artefacts. Didn't fix everything for me but sorted the chain layout.

On the phantom inverter block — is your system showing any ESS assistant installed by any chance? @EmmaEdwards82 is right that it's a known quirk, but in my experience ESS config remnants can make it worse. Might be worth checking what assistants are active.

Ran into this exact scenario when I built my DC-only shed setup — Cerbo GX coordinating two SmartSolar MPPTs and a Lynx Distributor, no MultiPlus anywhere in the chain.

The "Off" inverter block is Venus OS inferring an inverter should exist based on the topology it's seeing. Worth checking /etc/venus/settings.xml or via the Remote Console under Settings → System Setup → System name area — there's a "has AC input" flag that sometimes gets set incorrectly during initial provisioning.

For the DC source chaining display, this seems to worsen when multiple MPPT instances report simultaneously via VE.Direct. The rendering order on VRM appears to pull from MPPT instance numbers rather than actual power flow direction.

@Thommo75 — did your client's setup resolve after forcing a full VRM re-synchronisation? I found that cleared the ghost topology on mine, though it occasionally reappears after firmware updates.