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Support for the Resol VBUS protocol?

Posted: Saturday 10 October 2015 7:57
by Sandman79
I was wondering if there is any chance there will be support for the Resol VBUS -protocol?
Resol is a German firm that makes lots of heat/ solar controllers for solarboilers.
There a many ways to log your pv panels or smart meter, but not many options to log your solar boiler.

Here is some information about the Vbus protocol:
https://danielwippermann.github.io/resol-vbus/docs.html

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/resol-vbus

I would like to help if possible to make this possible, but I am not a programmer by any means... :(

Re: Support for the Resol VBUS protocol?

Posted: Thursday 12 November 2015 11:37
by bbqkees
Actually I am in the process of making an Arduino interface for the Resol VBUS devices.
Just waiting for a few more components from China before I can get started.

What this will do initially is read out my Oranier/Resol Deltatherm FK woodstove controller and send JSON URL's to Domoticz via Ethernet.
These JSON URL's are f.i. temperature values of the sensors and the state of the pump, 3-way valve etc.
(And do a lot of other fancy stuff like controlling an I2C display next to the woodstove but this is another story).

The VBUS protocol is a bit like RS485 but not exactly the same so a few external components are needed to wire the VBUS pins of the controller to the Arduino.

Resol also sells a VBUS ethernet bridge but there is no fun in that for me.
And besides, my solution will cost around 15~20 Euro's.

If it works I will post an update about this, but do not pin me on an exact date as it is just a hobby project.
With a few parameter adjustments for your specific controller and Domoticz device ID's this could also work for you.

Re: Support for the Resol VBUS protocol?

Posted: Thursday 12 November 2015 12:00
by marcelr
I have a resol DL2 hooked up to my solar boiler plant. The DL2 logs data, and whenever I open my (homebrew) website for that plant, it downloads and processes the data. DL2 data storage is decoded VBus, IIRC. Data packet formats vary slightly per controller, so you cannot really port everything form one controller to the next, without some extra work.

grtz,

marcelr

Re: Support for the Resol VBUS protocol?

Posted: Thursday 12 November 2015 13:30
by bbqkees
marcelr wrote: Data packet formats vary slightly per controller, so you cannot really port everything form one controller to the next, without some extra work.
Indeed. But there is quite an extensive list available of controllers and their packet format.
So it should not be that hard to port once there is a working version for one type of controller.

Re: Support for the Resol VBUS protocol?

Posted: Tuesday 08 December 2015 22:24
by bbqkees
This week I made a first attempt at reading out the data.

I made a small circuit and a tiny Arduino sketch to read the VBUS data and output it 'as-is' on the serial port of the Arduino.

Image

With the Resol service center software I could connect to the serial port of the Arduino and the data actually makes sense.

Image

This means with the help of the circuit the VBUS data is received correctly by the Arduino.
So the hardware side is OK. I need to make a real PCB for the final version but for now it will do.

The next step is decoding the data on the Arduino and send this via JSON URL's to Domoticz.

I looked into several open source VBUS libraries and with a few hours of work one could create a hardware plugin for Domoticz supporting all Resol devices.
Data can be received by Domoticz via the serial port and decoding can also be done by Domoticz internally.

However, I want to do the decoding on the Arduino because I want to include other non-Resol sensors and actuators as well.

Re: Support for the Resol VBUS protocol?

Posted: Saturday 19 December 2015 21:49
by manbade
Hello!
I am working in a similar project. Reading rs485 to arduino and serve in html, share with openhab and upload to thinkspeak.
In this moment im wating a china rs485 module and collecting data to interface.
Is a good new know other people working in the same project.
Are you using a pc to retrieve data? Or directly to vbus.
Thanks.


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Re: Support for the Resol VBUS protocol?

Posted: Monday 21 December 2015 12:30
by bbqkees
manbade wrote:Hello!
I am working in a similar project. Reading rs485 to arduino and serve in html, share with openhab and upload to thinkspeak.
In this moment im wating a china rs485 module and collecting data to interface.
I already tried a Chinese RS485 module but they did not work for me.
So I built my own.

For the first test I hooked up the Arduino as a serial interface to my PC but in the end it will process the data on the Arduino.

Re: Support for the Resol VBUS protocol?

Posted: Monday 21 December 2015 12:32
by manbade
bbqkees wrote:
manbade wrote:Hello!
I am working in a similar project. Reading rs485 to arduino and serve in html, share with openhab and upload to thinkspeak.
In this moment im wating a china rs485 module and collecting data to interface.
I already tried a Chinese RS485 module but they did not work for me.
So I built my own.

For the first test I hooked up the Arduino as a serial interface to my PC but in the end it will process the data on the Arduino.
Im following your steps.
Thanks

Enviado desde mi GT-I9505 mediante Tapatalk

Re: Support for the Resol VBUS protocol?

Posted: Monday 21 December 2015 15:42
by bbqkees
As soon as it works I could also make another converter PCB for you, I have components for a few more.

Re: Support for the Resol VBUS protocol?

Posted: Friday 15 January 2016 9:17
by bbqkees
Small update here: I finally got it working.

I can now read the VBus datagrams of my controller, decode them and send the values to Domoticz via HTTP GET requests.
All the 'magic' happens on an Arduino with an ethernet shield.

I will create a Wiki article soon.

Re: Support for the Resol VBUS protocol?

Posted: Friday 15 January 2016 9:19
by manbade
Bravo!!!!!!!

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Re: Support for the Resol VBUS protocol?

Posted: Friday 15 January 2016 9:21
by manbade
If u send the electronic schema I could build the rs485 driver asap. Or has you connect directly the arduino pins to rs485?

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Re: Support for the Resol VBUS protocol?

Posted: Friday 15 January 2016 10:11
by bbqkees
manbade wrote:If u send the electronic schema I could build the rs485 driver asap. Or has you connect directly the arduino pins to rs485?
It is not RS485.

I have used this circuit:
https://piamble.wordpress.com/2014/06/1 ... ple-touch/
You need to omit the 2 resistors at the end.

Currently it is still in the breadboard-stage but I am planning to create a 5V and 3.3V switchable PCB for it and order some from China.

The circuit connects to the RX pin of the Arduino Mega Serial1 port.
If you do not have a Mega but f.i. an Uno you might need to use AltSoftSerial.

Which controller do you have?

Re: Support for the Resol VBUS protocol?

Posted: Friday 15 January 2016 10:19
by manbade
Ive mega, uno,esp8266, stm32......... various

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Re: Support for the Resol VBUS protocol?

Posted: Friday 15 January 2016 10:20
by manbade
Wonderfull work!

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Re: Support for the Resol VBUS protocol?

Posted: Friday 15 January 2016 10:23
by bbqkees
manbade wrote:Ive mega, uno,esp8266, stm32......... various

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I mean which Resol VBus device are you using?

Re: Support for the Resol VBUS protocol?

Posted: Friday 15 January 2016 10:24
by manbade
The sks3 version i think

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Re: Support for the Resol VBUS protocol?

Posted: Friday 15 January 2016 10:27
by manbade
I ve SKSC3 + SKSCH1 + HKM2 + FWM35

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Re: Support for the Resol VBUS protocol?

Posted: Friday 15 January 2016 10:29
by manbade
And a DL1 broken

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Re: Support for the Resol VBUS protocol?

Posted: Friday 15 January 2016 12:10
by bbqkees
The SKSC3 (HC) send out data on multiple ID's, but this should work too.