dbus-victron-orion-tr

Venus OS D-Bus service for Victron Orion-TR Smart DC-DC Converters via Bluetooth LE.

📡 Requires dbus-ble-advertisements router service - This version uses centralized BLE management. For standalone operation, see the legacy-standalone-bleak branch.

This service scans for Victron Orion-TR Smart devices via Bluetooth, decrypts their Instant Readout advertisements, and publishes voltage and status information to D-Bus so they appear in the Venus OS dashboard.

Features

• ✅ Automatic BLE scanning and device discovery
• ✅ Encrypted Instant Readout decryption
• ✅ Real-time monitoring of:
  • Input voltage
  • Output voltage
  • Operating state (Power Supply, Off, etc.)
  • Error conditions
• ✅ Multiple device support
• ✅ Venus OS D-Bus integration

Supported Devices

• Victron Orion-TR Smart (all models)
  • Isolated and non-isolated versions
  • All voltage/current ratings

Note: The Orion-TR Smart devices do NOT measure or report current/power. Only voltages and operating state are available.

Requirements

⚠️ IMPORTANT: This service requires dbus-ble-advertisements to be installed first!

Before installing this service, you must install the dbus-ble-advertisements router service:

👉 Install dbus-ble-advertisements first

The router service provides centralized BLE management for all Victron BLE services. Without it, this service will not work.

Alternative: If you prefer standalone operation without the router, use the legacy-standalone-bleak branch instead.

Additional Requirements:

• Venus OS (Cerbo GX, Venus GX, etc.)
• Victron Orion-TR Smart with Bluetooth
• VictronConnect app (to get encryption keys)

---

Quick Install

Recommended: One-Line Remote Install

ssh root@<cerbo-ip> "curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/TechBlueprints/dbus-victron-orion-tr/main/install.sh | bash"

The installer will:

• Automatically install dbus-ble-advertisements (required dependency)
• Install git if needed
• Clone or update the repository
• Install or restart the service
• Check discovery status and warn if disabled

Manual Installation

# SSH into your Cerbo
ssh root@<cerbo-ip>

# Install git (if not already installed)
opkg install git

# Install dbus-ble-advertisements first (required dependency)
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/TechBlueprints/dbus-ble-advertisements/main/install.sh | bash

# Clone the Orion-TR repository
cd /data/apps
git clone https://github.com/TechBlueprints/dbus-victron-orion-tr.git

# Run the service installer
cd dbus-victron-orion-tr
bash install-service.sh

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Configuration

1. Get Encryption Keys

For each Orion-TR device you want to monitor:

1. Open VictronConnect app on your phone
2. Connect to the device
3. Tap the gear icon (Settings)
4. Tap three dots (top right) → Product Info
5. Scroll to "Instant Readout via Bluetooth"
6. Make sure it's ENABLED
7. Tap "SHOW" next to "Instant readout details"
8. Note down the MAC Address and Encryption Key

2. Configure

Copy config.default.ini to config.ini and add your devices:

cp config.default.ini config.ini
nano config.ini

[DEVICE_1]
MAC = xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
KEY = your_32_character_hex_encryption_key
# Start at 130+ to avoid conflicts with built-in Venus OS services
INSTANCE = 130

[DEVICE_2]
MAC = yy:yy:yy:yy:yy:yy
KEY = another_32_character_hex_key
INSTANCE = 131

Note: Device names are automatically read from the Bluetooth device itself.

3. Install on Cerbo GX

# Copy files to Cerbo GX
rsync -avz dbus-victron-orion-tr/ root@cerbo:/data/apps/dbus-victron-orion-tr/

# SSH to Cerbo GX
ssh root@cerbo

# Make scripts executable
cd /data/apps/dbus-victron-orion-tr
chmod +x start.sh stop.sh status.sh

Option A: Manual Mode (No Supervision)

For easy manual control and testing:

./start.sh   # Start service
./stop.sh    # Stop service
./status.sh  # Check status

Option B: Supervised Mode (Auto-start on Boot)

For production use with automatic startup:

./install.sh

This will:

• Install to /data/apps/dbus-victron-orion-tr
• Set up daemontools supervision
• Start automatically on boot

Service management:

svc -u /service/dbus-victron-orion-tr  # Start
svc -d /service/dbus-victron-orion-tr  # Stop
svc -t /service/dbus-victron-orion-tr  # Restart
svstat /service/dbus-victron-orion-tr  # Status

4. Start and Verify

# Start the service
./start.sh

# Check status
./status.sh

# View logs
tail -f /var/log/dbus-victron-orion-tr.log

# Check D-Bus (example for device with MAC ef:c1:11:9d:a3:91)
dbus -y com.victronenergy.dcdc.tr_2lfxwu69ht

Service Management

# Start service
svc -u /service/dbus-victron-orion-tr

# Stop service
svc -d /service/dbus-victron-orion-tr

# Restart service
svc -t /service/dbus-victron-orion-tr

# Check status
svstat /service/dbus-victron-orion-tr

# View live logs
tail -f /var/log/dbus-victron-orion-tr/current

Disable / Uninstall

To completely disable the service and clean up all settings:

bash /data/apps/dbus-victron-orion-tr/disable.sh

This will:

• Stop the service
• Remove the service from startup (rc.local)
• Clean up all D-Bus settings

To fully remove, also delete the install directory:

rm -rf /data/apps/dbus-victron-orion-tr

Troubleshooting

Service won't start

# Check logs
tail -100 /var/log/dbus-victron-orion-tr.log

# Check if BLE scanner is available
hciconfig hci0

# Test BLE scanning
bluetoothctl scan on

No devices detected

1. Make sure Instant Readout is enabled in VictronConnect
2. Verify MAC addresses in config.ini match exactly
3. Check Bluetooth is working: hciconfig hci0
4. Try scanning manually: bluetoothctl scan on

Wrong encryption key error

The encryption key changes when you change/reset the Bluetooth PIN. Get the current key from VictronConnect.

How It Works

1. BLE Scanning: Continuously scans for Victron BLE advertisements
2. Decryption: Uses victron_ble library to decrypt Instant Readout data
3. Mode Detection: Automatically detects if device is in DC-DC or Charger mode
4. D-Bus Publishing:
   • Power Supply mode → com.victronenergy.dcdc.tr_<mac>
   • Charger mode → com.victronenergy.alternator.tr_<mac>
5. UI Integration: Appears in Venus OS device list and VRM portal

Orion-TR (BLE) → BleakScanner → victron_ble → Mode Detection → D-Bus → Venus OS UI
                                      ↑
                              Encryption keys (config.ini)

Dependencies

• bleak: BLE scanning
• victron_ble: Advertisement decryption and parsing
• velib_python: Venus OS D-Bus integration

Known Limitations

1. No current/power data: Orion-TR Smart devices do not measure or transmit current. Only voltages are available via BLE.
2. Bluetooth range: Devices must be within Bluetooth range of the Cerbo GX (typically 10-30 feet/3-10 meters).
3. Encryption keys: Must be obtained manually from VictronConnect for each device.
4. No remote control: The Orion-TR cannot be controlled remotely via BLE (no on/off switch in UI).
5. BLE scanner conflicts: May conflict with other BLE services on the Cerbo. Stop dbus-ble-sensors temporarily if needed.

Development

Project Structure

dbus-victron-orion-tr/
├── dbus-victron-orion-tr.py  # Main service
├── config.ini                # Device configuration (gitignored)
├── config.default.ini        # Configuration template
├── start.sh                  # Start service
├── stop.sh                   # Stop service
├── status.sh                 # Check service status
├── install.sh                # Installation script (optional)
└── ext/                      # Bundled dependencies
    ├── velib_python/         # Venus OS D-Bus library
    ├── victron_ble/          # Victron BLE protocol decoder
    ├── bleak/                # BLE scanning library
    └── Crypto/               # Cryptography library

Key Features

• Dynamic service type: Automatically switches between dcdc and alternator based on device mode
• Fallback product names: Includes names for devices not in victron_ble database
• Base36 MAC encoding: Short, stable service names (e.g., tr_2lfxwu69ht)
• Dynamic instance assignment: Checks for existing settings and finds available instances
• UI integration: Appears in device list, VRM portal, and main overview

References

• Victron Orion-TR Smart Manual
• victron_ble Python Library
• Venus OS Documentation

License

This project is provided as-is for use with Victron Energy equipment.

Credits

• Uses victron_ble by @keshavdv for BLE decryption
• Based on Victron's dbus-aggregate-smartshunts service architecture