dbus-mqtt-openwb - displays and controls an OpenWB 1.9 wallbox in Victron ESS

GitHub repository: gvz/dbus-mqtt-openwb

Disclaimer

I wrote this script for myself. I'm not responsible, if you damage something using my script. It is derived from the work of mr-manuel: /mr-manuel/venus-os_dbus-mqtt-pv

Purpose

The script integrates the OpenWB Wallbox in Venus OS. It connects to the MQTT broker on the OpenWB, subscribes to configured topics and publishes the information on the dbus as the service com.victronenergy.evcharger with the VRM instance 53.

Config

Copy or rename the config.sample.ini to config.ini in the dbus-mqtt-openwb folder and change it as you need it. Minimum requirement should be to adapt the IP address

Install

1. Login to your Venus OS device via SSH. See Venus OS:Root Access for more details.

2. Execute this commands to download and extract the files:

   # change to temp folder
   cd /tmp
   
   # download driver
   wget -O /tmp/dbus-mqtt-openwb.zip https://github.com/gvzdus/dbus-mqtt-openwb/archive/refs/heads/master.zip
   
   # If updating: cleanup old folder
   rm -rf /tmp/dbus-mqtt-openwb-master
   
   # unzip folder
   unzip dbus-mqtt-openwb.zip
   
   # If updating: backup existing config file
   mv /data/etc/dbus-mqtt-openwb/config.ini /data/etc/dbus-mqtt-openwb_config.ini
   
   # If updating: cleanup existing driver
   rm -rf /data/etc/dbus-mqtt-openwb
   
   # copy files
   cp -R /tmp/dbus-mqtt-openwb-master/dbus-mqtt-openwb/ /data/etc/
   
   # If updating: restore existing config file
   mv /data/etc/dbus-mqtt-openwb_config.ini /data/etc/dbus-mqtt-openwb/config.ini

3. Copy the sample config file, if you are installing the driver for the first time and edit it to your needs.

   # copy default config file
   cp /data/etc/dbus-mqtt-openwb/config.sample.ini /data/etc/dbus-mqtt-openwb/config.ini
   
   # edit the config file with nano
   nano /data/etc/dbus-mqtt-openwb/config.ini

4. Run bash /data/etc/dbus-mqtt-openwb/install.sh to install the driver as service.

   The daemon-tools should start this service automatically within seconds.

Uninstall

Run /data/etc/dbus-mqtt-openwb/uninstall.sh

Restart

Run /data/etc/dbus-mqtt-openwb/restart.sh

Debugging

The logs can be checked with tail -n 100 -f /data/log/dbus-mqtt-openwb/current | tai64nlocal

The service status can be checked with svstat svstat /service/dbus-mqtt-openwb

This will output somethink like /service/dbus-mqtt-openwb: up (pid 5845) 185 seconds

If the seconds are under 5 then the service crashes and gets restarted all the time. If you do not see anything in the logs you can increase the log level in /data/etc/dbus-mqtt-openwb/dbus-mqtt-openwb.py by changing level=logging.WARNING to level=logging.INFO or level=logging.DEBUG

If the script stops with the message dbus.exceptions.NameExistsException: Bus name already exists: com.victronenergy.pvinverter.mqtt_pv" it means that the service is still running or another service is using that bus name.

Multiple instances

It's possible to have multiple instances, but it's not automated. Follow these steps to achieve this:

1. Save the new name to a variable driverclone=dbus-mqtt-openwb-2

2. Copy current folder cp -r /data/etc/dbus-mqtt-openwb/ /data/etc/$driverclone/

3. Rename the main script mv /data/etc/$driverclone/dbus-mqtt-openwb.py /data/etc/$driverclone/$driverclone.py

4. Fix the script references for service and log

   sed -i 's:dbus-mqtt-openwb:'$driverclone':g' /data/etc/$driverclone/service/run
   sed -i 's:dbus-mqtt-openwb:'$driverclone':g' /data/etc/$driverclone/service/log/run
   

5. Change the device_name and increase the device_instance in the config.ini

Now you can install and run the cloned driver. Should you need another instance just increase the number in step 1 and repeat all steps.

Compatibility

It was tested on Venus OS v3.22 on the following device:

• CerboGX