Ruuvi Tags

[StogieMan]

I came across these Ruuvi Tags previously and finally decided to order three for our rig. One for the refrigerator, one for the freezer and the last one for the cabin.

These can be added via the Cerbo GX and now we can monitor our temps remotely via VRM or the VRM app and can also setup notifications for it.

These got delivered today and once we get back from vacation I’ll get them installed. Pretty easy install too. Again, the Cerbo GX offers so many options and possibilities. I’m constantly being amazed with all the things that we are able to do with it. Next, I’m going to figure out how to tie our SeeLevel tank monitors to it. It can be done but just requires some work arounds and a bit of research.

https://invertersrus.com/product/ruu...ag-pro-sensor/

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xj_aOZH2lPg

[foobar]

I have swapped the seelevel display for the version that can communicate the grey/black/fresh water tank levels to the cerbo for display.

I have also swapped the steel tanks on my 2022 globetrotter 27fb twin for aluminum tanks with the resistive level sensors and ran wires from the tank sensors to the resistive sensor interface on the cerbo gx.

With these modifications, I can locally and remotely monitor all tank levels on my trailer. See photo below.

I will also add multiple ruuvi temp sensors to my cerbo gx via a USB Bluetooth dongle as my next off season winter project (one each for fridge, freezer, bedroom, lounge, outside temperature).

Best of luck to you with your own modifications...

[trsvax]

Woke up with no propane the other day and decided I needed to solve that problem. Your post inspired me to look around for solutions and I found this:

https://www.victronenergy.com/media/...r-support.html

Cerbo GX bluetooth support is interesting and will hopefully allow all kinds of things to be monitored.

I ordered the sensors and will report back.

[Rocinante]

Ruuvi tags look pretty nifty, though we've been using SensorPush devices. Not saying SensorPush is better, because it's pretty much the same thing with a different way to monitor the sensors, and as of now I don't think SensorPush integrates with Victron.

When we have cell signal at the van so we can use our hotspot, we can also use the SensorPush wifi gateway for remote monitoring. Assuming we also have cell signal while out adventuring, which admittedly isn't all that often, the gateway allows us to monitor temps in the fridge and in the cabin via their app and that gateway.

From inside the van we just use the SensorPush app and its local Bluetooth connection to monitor temps in the fridge and freezer. We love that it gives us a graph of how temps have been over time, which helps build confidence, especially in warm weather, that the fridge hasn't gotten too warm inside when we weren't paying attention, and so we know the food inside is truly safe to eat. This avoids the nightmare scenario of unknowingly exposing refrigerated food to unacceptably warm temps over time even if the fridge is showing a good temp at any given moment in time when we think to check.

https://www.sensorpush.com/

[ZeGermans]

Originally Posted by trsvax

Woke up with no propane the other day and decided I needed to solve that problem. Your post inspired me to look around for solutions and I found this:

https://www.victronenergy.com/media/...r-support.html

Cerbo GX bluetooth support is interesting and will hopefully allow all kinds of things to be monitored.

I ordered the sensors and will report back.

The mopeka sensors work fine it took me a little tweaking in Cerbo settings to sort of calibrate to full and empty but now I can detect the levels in my steel tanks. Next is to connect the holding tank sensors to the cerbo.

Originally Posted by foobar

I have swapped the seelevel display for the version that can communicate the grey/black/fresh water tank levels to the cerbo for display.
Attachment 425977

Did you use the GX Tank 140 for that? I did a little googling on the sea level with cerbo so far I've only seen some NEMA network integrations with Sealevel.

[StogieMan]

Originally Posted by foobar

I have swapped the seelevel display for the version that can communicate the grey/black/fresh water tank levels to the cerbo for display.

I have also swapped the steel tanks on my 2022 globetrotter 27fb twin for aluminum tanks with the resistive level sensors and ran wires from the tank sensors to the resistive sensor interface on the cerbo gx.

With these modifications, I can locally and remotely monitor all tank levels on my trailer. See photo below.

I will also add multiple ruuvi temp sensors to my cerbo gx via a USB Bluetooth dongle as my next off season winter project (one each for fridge, freezer, bedroom, lounge, outside temperature).

Best of luck to you with your own modifications... Attachment 425977

Foobar, nice setup that you have there and nice work.

Would love to install some resistive tank sensors to our Interstate but it’s a bit of a PITA. I do have access to the top of the black tank and that one won’t be a problem but the gray and fresh water tanks would have to be dropped to get those installed.

I’ve looked into the Safiery ultrasonic tank sensors but those too will present some challenges. First I’ve read that that their customer support is not the greatest and they’re out of Australia. I would be able to install the sensors to the gray and fresh underneath the tanks but the black is flush to the floor if I remember correctly so no access there. I’ll check again when I get back home though. Also, for the propane tank sensor, the tank must be in an upright position vertically and not horizontally like ours to install their sensor.

https://www.safiery.com/ultrasonic-t...no-penetration

So basically, I would need to install two different type of sensors and don’t like that idea.

At this point, Victron is constantly updating its system and the products that work with it and I bet at some point they’ll come up with some easy integration with the SeeLevel II. I have the bluetooth version of the SeeLevel and I’ll probably mess with it to see if I can somehow make it work via Bluetooth through the Cerbo but I highly doubt it.

[StogieMan]

Originally Posted by ZeGermans

Did you use the GX Tank 140 for that? I did a little googling on the sea level with cerbo so far I've only seen some NEMA network integrations with Sealevel.

I’ve done a bunch of reading and research on integrating the SeeLevel II with the Cerbo GX and below are some very informative links. If you’re interested in getting this done, I suggest reading the thread links within the threads too as there is some good information there.


https://community.victronenergy.com/...-interfac.html


https://www.mygrandrv.com/forum/show...onitor-install


https://gdrvowners.com/forum/operati...nitoring/page6

[foobar]

Originally Posted by StogieMan

Foobar, nice setup that you have there and nice work.



Would love to install some resistive tank sensors to our Interstate but it’s a bit of a PITA. I do have access to the top of the black tank and that one won’t be a problem but the gray and fresh water tanks would have to be dropped to get those installed.



I’ve looked into the Safiery ultrasonic tank sensors https://www.safiery.com/ultrasonic-t...no-penetration but that too will present some challenges. First I’ve read that that their customer support is not the greatest and they’re out of Australia. I would be able to install the sensors to the gray and fresh underneath the tanks but the black is flush to the floor if I remember correctly so no access there. I’ll check again when I get back home though. Also, for the propane tank sensor, the tank must be in an upright position vertically and not horizontally like ours to install their sensor.



So basically, I would need to install two different type of sensors and don’t like that idea.



At this point, Victron is constantly updating its system and the products that work with it and I bet at some point they’ll come up with some easy integration with the SeeLevel II. I have the bluetooth version of the SeeLevel and I’ll probably mess with it to see if I can somehow make it work via Bluetooth through the Cerbo but I highly doubt it.

Thanks.

FYI: The seelevel integration with the cerbo gx is pretty simple.

You swap the existing seelevel display for a version that is designed to be integrated into marine nmea 2000 based networks. Nmea 2000 is a subset of the Canbus protocol and the cerbo gx natively supports the nmea 2000 protocol.

So you simply swap the existing seelevel display for the N2K version and connect the seelevel display to the cerbo gx canbus port using ethernet cables. The only challenge is providing proper termination on the canbus interface. There are a number of forum postings on some SOB forums that describe how to do that. I don't have the links to the postings anymore, but you should be able to find them via Google.

Seelevel has very reliable level sensors, probably the best on the market today. Airstream got this one right when they picked Seelevel products for their tank level sensing.

Do the interstates also use seelevel displays and sensors?

[StogieMan]

Originally Posted by foobar

Seelevel has very reliable level sensors, probably the best on the market today. Airstream got this one right when they picked Seelevel products for their tank level sensing.

Do the interstates also use seelevel displays and sensors?

Ours is a 2015 and didn’t come with the SeeLevel installed and I added it earlier this year.

Airstream started to install them on the Interstates but not sure of the year they started.

The problem that I also have is that I want to keep the current Bluetooth SeeLevell II as it comes with monitors for the three tanks and the LPG tank. I got this one as it also came with a pump switch that I used to wire a remote macerator switch inside via a relay instead to allow us to dump our gray tank without going outside. There is no way to keep the gray valve open by itself without turning on the macerator to dump.

So my dilemma is trying to use this monitor instead of a N2K version one. I’ll take a look though to see if they have a similar one in a N2K version.

[foobar]

Originally Posted by StogieMan

Ours is a 2015 and didn’t come with the SeeLevel installed and I added it earlier this year.

Airstream started to install them on the Interstates but not sure of the year they started.

The problem that I also have is that I want to keep the current Bluetooth SeeLevell II as it comes with monitors for the three tanks and the LPG tank. I got this one as it also came with a pump switch that I used to wire a remote macerator switch inside via a relay instead to allow us to dump our gray tank without going outside. There is no way to keep the gray valve open by itself without turning on the macerator to dump.

So my dilemma is trying to use this monitor instead of a N2K version one. I’ll take a look though to see if they have a similar one in a N2K version.

What kind of sensor is on your propane tank?

As for the N2K version of the seelevel display/controller, it has a slot in plastic back that was intended for a water pump switch in a different variant of the N2K version. This alternative version was not introduced into the market. However, the slot still there and with a razor blade or an exacto knife, you can cut the plastic sheet that covers the slot and install your own switch. There are a lot of switches that will fit in the available slot.

If your propane tank sensor has a resistive interface, you can connect it directly to the cerbo gx and let it monitor the propane tank level. If it provides a current or voltage based readout, victron makes a tank level sensor interface product that can manage those sensors and communicate the level to the cerbo gx.

I hope this information helps.

[StogieMan]

Thanks for the info Foobar - really helps and I appreciate it!

I just reused the Airstream installed old tank sensor that was there with our old tank monitor and tied it to the SeeLevel.

[foobar]

Originally Posted by StogieMan

Thanks for the info Foobar - really helps and I appreciate it!



I just reused the Airstream installed old tank sensor that was there with our old tank monitor and tied it to the SeeLevel.

I bet the propane sensor is resistance based. Airstream should be able to tell you what kind of sensor it is.

If it is resistance based, you should be able to directly connect it to the resistive sensor port on the cerbo gx.

The sensor will read 0 ohms when empty and around 93 to 93.5 ohms when full. You can use a volt - ohm meter to check out the sensor resistance when full.

[trsvax]

Got the Mopeka Propane Pro sensor last night and hooked it up this morning. Super easy and with bit of setup the Cerbo shows percentage/capacity

Very happy with the result.

[Thiss]

Great info! I need to get my trailer online and then will look into all this stuff!

[OrangeCrush]

Thanks fubar and StogieMan! This is an awesome thread with some great information. I am off to the races and working on ordering my Ruuvi, Mopeka and SeeLevel 2 for interfacing to my Cerbo GX.

fubar - Could you please let us know exactly what model Seelevel II you got? I want to make sure and get the same one so I can add a pump switch like you did. Is this it?
https://www.rvupgradestore.com/Garne...N2K-NLP-MO.htm
Also, did you terminate the CANbus at the Cerbo?

[foobar]

Originally Posted by OrangeCrush

Thanks fubar and StogieMan! This is an awesome thread with some great information. I am off to the races and working on ordering my Ruuvi, Mopeka and SeeLevel 2 for interfacing to my Cerbo GX.



fubar - Could you please let us know exactly what model Seelevel II you got? I want to make sure and get the same one so I can add a pump switch like you did. Is this it?

https://www.rvupgradestore.com/Garne...N2K-NLP-MO.htm

Also, did you terminate the CANbus at the Cerbo?

model 709-N2K-NLP-MO is the version installed in my trailer.

These are the references used for the installation and connectivity to the cerbo gx:

https://www.mygrandrv.com/forum/show...onitor-install


https://community.victronenergy.com/...-interfac.html

The termination of the can bus is required, but my Friends at A&P Vintage Trailer Works did the installation for me, so I can't speak to the nitty-gritty details regarding the termination, other than to say that they followed the information in the references above.

I spoke with the tech support at the company that makes the Seelevel systems and they confirmed that the best unit to use for the integration with the cerbo gx is the model number provided above.

Best of luck with your upgrades!

[Brainodo]

Hello,

Seelevel also has a new monitor model:709-RVC-1003
It uses the rv-c protocol and Victron recently included support for this protocol. I have this model installed and one pair of a cat 5 cable to carry the canbus signal to the Cerbo. The cerbo has a termination plug that comes with it and I put a resistor across the pair at the Seelevel to terminate it.
I also use the Mopeka pro tank sensors along with the ruuvi tag devices.
The temperature pic is from the VRM portal showing my Ruuvi tags.

[StogieMan]

Originally Posted by Brainodo

Hello,

Seelevel also has a new monitor model:709-RVC-1003
It uses the rv-c protocol and Victron recently included support for this protocol. I have this model installed and one pair of a cat 5 cable to carry the canbus signal to the Cerbo. The cerbo has a termination plug that comes with it and I put a resistor across the pair at the Seelevel to terminate it.
I also use the Mopeka pro tank sensors along with the ruuvi tag devices.
The temperature pic is from the VRM portal showing my Ruuvi tags.

Nice work Brainodo.

So you monitor your tanks with both Mopeka sensors and through the SeeLevel sensors? Or just your propane tanks with the Mopekas?

I also take it that you have either a FireFly or Multiplex System installed in your rig. The reason I ask is because I called Garnet customer service on Friday because I kept giving this some thought on how to make our bluetooth SeeLevel model work and came up with a plan to add the N2K model as a remote second monitor for the exterior macerator compartment. My idea is to wire the second display somewhere outside probably in the macerator hose compartment and then tie this monitor to the Cerbo GX. The Garnet tech first recommended the RVC model that you’re referring to and assumed that had a newer Airstream system and when I explained what I had, recommended the N2K model. He said that it would work and that I would just have to designate one as the primary one. He explained that the RVC models work better with either FireFly or Multiplex systems.

So the plan, is the install a second N2K monitor outside and tie that one in to the Cerbo.

BTW, their customer service was great. First tech that I spoke with didn’t know for sure and promised me that someone that knew would call me back after their lunch break. Sure enough I got a call back and he answered all of my questions - you can’t ask for more!

[OrangeCrush]

Originally Posted by Brainodo

Hello,

Seelevel also has a new monitor model:709-RVC-1003
It uses the rv-c protocol and Victron recently included support for this protocol. I have this model installed and one pair of a cat 5 cable to carry the canbus signal to the Cerbo. The cerbo has a termination plug that comes with it and I put a resistor across the pair at the Seelevel to terminate it.
I also use the Mopeka pro tank sensors along with the ruuvi tag devices.
The temperature pic is from the VRM portal showing my Ruuvi tags.

More great information - thanks Brainodo!

It is nice that the RVC units can be had with a pump switch. I see in the Victron spec that RVC is NOT compatible with other CAN bus devices and that once you setup the Cerbo GX for RVC that CAN port can not be used for other CAN devices. They also say in 2023 a new Cerbo GX is coming out with 2 independent CAN ports to aleviate this problem. Not a problem for me as I do not have other CAN bus devices but could be a problem for others.

So that said, how do you like the functionality of the RVC connection to SeeLevel and which do you think is the better route?

[Brainodo]

Originally Posted by StogieMan

Nice work Brainodo.

So you monitor your tanks with both Mopeka sensors and through the SeeLevel sensors? Or just your propane tanks with the Mopekas?

I also take it that you have either a FireFly or Multiplex System installed in your rig. The reason I ask is because I called Garnet customer service on Friday because I kept giving this some thought on how to make our bluetooth SeeLevel model work and came up with a plan to add the N2K model as a remote second monitor for the exterior macerator compartment. My idea is to wire the second display somewhere outside probably in the macerator hose compartment and then tie this monitor to the Cerbo GX. The Garnet tech first recommended the RVC model that you’re referring to and assumed that had a newer Airstream system and when I explained what I had, recommended the N2K model. He said that it would work and that I would just have to designate one as the primary one. He explained that the RVC models work better with either FireFly or Multiplex systems.

So the plan, is the install a second N2K monitor outside and tie that one in to the Cerbo.

BTW, their customer service was great. First tech that I spoke with didn’t know for sure and promised me that someone that knew would call me back after their lunch break. Sure enough I got a call back and he answered all of my questions - you can’t ask for more!

Hello StogieMan
I have the Victron Cerbo GX, with the Canbus set to be RVC as documented here:https://www.victronenergy.com/media/...c-support.html
It has been working fine, the one thing that I don't understand is that the Seelevel RVC model comes with a momentary pump switch. I had to swap the on/off pump switch from my old Seelevel for the one in the RVC model.
I just have the Mopeka Pro on my lpg tanks, Victron aparrently doesnt work with the non pro version, and with the settings available to reduce the number of transmits, I believe the battery life is much better.
Cheers!