For those of you who follow the online information, this will not be breaking news. But there are many people out there who are still using the original Cerbo GX user interface. While it’s excellent, and suits many people, I think the new style is a little better. But there are some caveats.
The first thing that annoys me is it’s all blue. We get that blue is Victron’s theme, and that’s great to follow it, but screens with blue information are not as nice on the eye as red or orange, especially at night. This is even more so for those with fading eyesight. I would really like to see a theme colour adjustment option like we see on so many devices.
I would also like to see an on-screen button to immediately turn the inverter on/off, or perhaps several on-screen buttons can be configured to do what the user wants, such as relay control. I know hardware buttons can be set up top do these things through the analogue I/O, but the point of a touch screen is to reduce the dependency on hardware to de-clutter the setup.
It may also be coincidence, but it feels like everything runs a bit faster with the new updates, especially the remote console. Being able to log into the system remotely (even if it’s just in your driveway) to make changes to the system is excellent. This is even more useful for those who may need to jump onto YouTube to remind themselves how to get to certain functions. While the system is well laid out, it can sometimes be fiddly to get to certain things if you don’t do it regularly.
The dark theme should be of good use for most people, especially at night where a brightly lit screen may flare eyesight or photo’s. And the quick access to shut the screen off is also a good feature.
I’ve just rebuilt the kitchen space of my Master van for the third time. The rebuild was primarily to fit a new fridge as the old cheap Glacio is a bit noisy and the thermostat has become finicky (in all fairness, it is 5 years old). Instead the Vitrifrigo fridge with a remote compressor has been installed, with the compressor mounted under the driver seat where it will get better ventilation. This fridge is wider than the original, so I also needed a new sink to fit properly, and of course with that came the need for a new benchtop. The benchtop was a good use for one of the mezzanine floor offcuts, while it’s not hard wearing, it’ll do the job with a few coats of PU sealer.
While all of that section was removed, it also provided chance to re-do some of the low voltage wiring that had been installed in a rush, changed, changed again and was the typical mess associated with so many modifications. The Renogy DC-DC converter was removed to make way for the Victron Orion XS, and this means full monitoring and adjustability of the entire system via Bluetooth. It also means a much more efficient system while charging, bringing down the maximum load on the alternator from potentially 80A, to just 50A.
I have still kept the weird “starter battery” setup of a massive supercap, instead of an actual battery. The supercap is kept charged by a diode and resistor from the house battery. The supercap provides much better starting energy and will effectively never wear out. Plus there’s a weight saving too. It also means the alternator voltage jumps up very quickly to 14.2v and stays there for the entire time the engine is on. The Victron system detects this and uses it to start the Orion charging the house batteries. The shunt also monitors the supercap voltage for added fault finding info. I DO NOT recommend this supercap system for most people though, it has some benefits but also some drawbacks that are unsuitable for the average user.
The house batteries are PowerPaul Scouts of course. One of them is the latest build (V8 using the MB31 cells) and the other is the very first battery that I ever built for a customer. This was retrieved back from the customer and she was provided with a new one, it has sentimental value and is also a good thing for me to watch regarding degradation over time.
All in all the revised van setup with the new Victron gear and UI, and better comfort, will provide us here at PowerPaul with real world experience and usage data. This all feeds back into our knowledge to help our customers have a better experience.
nice job, what did you do with the slide out fridge..
This one had a cheap Glacio 2 door fridge. You may be thinking of the other van that has a drawer fridge, that one is still intact and used as an every day getaround and overnighter. This van is better for longer trips.