EN: CAN/Iso Shield for Fusion PCB is coming (including support for 2x Victron), DE: Fusion Platine bekommt CAN/Iso Aufsteckboard

[markusdd]

English:
Hi, I know since I participated myself here that many people use the Fusion PCB.
We've got many requests for this, so we followed. There will be a 1x CAN 2x ISO Shield for the Fusion, which is super tiny, can be
put on the SPI Display header, AND is compatible with the PoE Shield as well.
The first batch has been ordered and should arrive just within a few weeks. The v1 Prototypes which just have 1x ISO will be available in limited numbers as well much sooner, so if you have just a single Victron these might suit you well.

Deutsch:
Hi, seitdem ich hier selbst Hilfe gesucht und gefunde habe, habe ich mitbekommen, dass viele hier auch die von mir designte Fusion-Platine nutzen und es große Nachfrage nach einer ISO/CAN erweiterung gibt. Diese wird es jetzt geben, die erste Charge ist im Zulauf.
Das Board ist super winzig, passt auf den SPI-Displayheader und ist sogar kompatibel, wenn ihr schon das PoE-Shield benutzt!
Wir haben eine begrenzte Stückzahl v1 Prototypen die nur 1x ISO haben, diese sind aber perfekt gut wenn ihr nur einen Victron nutzt. Diese werden etwas eher verfügbar sein.

Sneak peek:

[markusdd]

Documentation now available.

Dokumentation ist jetzt verfügbar.

https://github.com/markusdd/OpenDTUFusionDocs/blob/main/CANIso.md

[markusdd]

Yes same channel as the fusion.

[Farquarl]

Okay, reading your phrasing, it dawns on me that posting a specific shop here might be against the TOS. So I'll edit out the name.

[schlimmchen]

I have neither written nor read a TOS, but AFAIK you are welcome to mention the shop: AllianceApps

[markusdd]

as posted by Tim below, the v1s with 1 iso channel are now available in limited quantity.
We are selling them essentially 'at cost' for the community. The v2 with 2 serial ISO channels will come in a few weeks.
https://shop.allianceapps.io/products/opendtu-fusion-can-iso-shield-beta

[rudolfp1979]

v2 is available got one is working

[schlimmchen]

I love this and I am exited about this 😊

If you allow me to nag a little bit: It seems to be that the PCB will not be mounted very securely, only held in place by the pin header, correct? Even if it made for a weird PCB shape (and would increase cost), I would have considered an extension which reaches to the "upper left" mounting hole of the base PCB (and PoE shield), something like this:

The new CAN/Iso should could then be secured to a stud in the mounting hole.

[markusdd]

Yes. This has been discussed but we ended up not doing it for 5 reasons:
a) such a shape would make assembly a pain
b) the shape would make panelling much more difficult
c) this board is actually universal. The pinning is of course made for the fusion but in principle it can also be used by anyone with an existing setup by using just DuPont lines to connect it
d) the i2c connector is in the corner and if we sneak over there we might interfere with people's display mounting setups, also it limits compatibility with possible future shields
e) tension relief must be done on the case level anyway. None of the connectors are made for sustained physical load so you should be using a clamping pass-through anyway for your cables coming in.

Also, finally, that is the reason the board is so small: it actually is quite rigid sitting on top of the 8 pins there.

So overall this is a valid point but we decided to make that trade-off.

[schlimmchen]

Thanks for taking the time to reiterate the arguments! Very good points.

[Sorbat]

ich habe auf der Grundlage deiner Idee mal versucht etwas passendes in Fusion zu erstellen. Die Pins für RS458 und die ersten beiden Pins oben links werden dadurch zwar verdeckt, aber ich brauche die sowieso nicht und wenn man die braucht, könnte man ja noch eine Aussparung dafür machen.



also man kann es ja nach den eigenen wünschen anpassen https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6660528

[markusdd]

sehr nett!

[Farquarl]

You want to drop any info on pricing?

[markusdd]

It won't be 50€ 😂

We'll have to pan out what our costs will be everything included (WEEE, CE, shipping, customs etc.) but it should be well below 20.
What makes it a little expensive are the analog devices isolators and the fact that it is 2-sided assembly. We made 125 I believe in the first batch so that should spread the cost out per piece.

[cat24max]

"The v1 Prototypes which just have 1x ISO will be available in limited numbers as well much sooner, so if you have just a single Victron these might suit you well."

The v1 prototype is now available (15 pieces only): https://shop.allianceapps.io/products/opendtu-fusion-can-iso-shield-beta
Just keep in mind, this is a pre-production version.

[boennemann]

What shall I say. It obviously immediately works.
I can feel the pain @markusdd. This really is undocumentable.
You could literally save all the writing down and just say try variant A, if it doesn't work try B. And I was SO sure that I did it right 🙈

Thanks so much for the hand holding!

[markusdd]

hahahaha no worries.

I swear there is no way to do this right. You only get lucky or you don't xD

[boennemann]

And I got extra lucky, because I messed up the other cable, too. That lead me into questioning the shield in its entirety instead of the cables.

But it all works now. What a relief :)

[jaybanane]

"The v1 Prototypes which just have 1x ISO will be available in limited numbers as well much sooner, so if you have just a single Victron these might suit you well."

The v1 prototype is now available (15 pieces only): https://shop.allianceapps.io/products/opendtu-fusion-can-iso-shield-beta

Just keep in mind, this is a pre-production version.

Hi, do you already know when the v2 version can be baught? I am sooo excited to get one and use it with 2 ve.direct channels.
Thanks a lot!

[cat24max]

Hi, do you already know when the v2 version can be baught? I am sooo excited to get one and use it with 2 ve.direct channels. Thanks a lot!

Sorry, didn't get to it until now: https://shop.allianceapps.io/products/opendtu-fusion-can-iso-shield

[Manos1966]

The pin labelled "RX" on the addon board is supposed to be connected to the Victron RX pin. It is not labeled for the function at the ESP's side, but for the charge controller's pin.

Manos66 laughing.... 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣
I could write books on the RX/TX story...

[Manos1966]

Bought a CAT5E ethernet cable, cut off one side, used 4 and 5

The cable colors of the RJ45 are Blue and White/Blue

Is it your camera or, do I see in your picture Blue and White/Green ???

[boennemann]

Well … it works :) 🫶

And there I was wondering how both cables coming from the same pair would make so much more sense … well because it does make so much more sense apparently 🤦

[markusdd]

hahahaha nice.

glad it works.

Enjoy your setup!

[boennemann]

Enjoy your setup!

I will! Currently enjoying all the million new Home Assistant entities and quite busy updating all the Dashboards.

I've gone through the Zendure Solarflow hell before and it's hard to describe how nerd-happy this all makes me. In a way I'm happy Zendure was so bad that it forced me to engage with all the new stuff that I learned and having a way better setup for it, too.

Super curious for the first days now.

[markusdd]

you will enjoy it a lot. in case you want to build a dashboard in Grafana I have open-sourced my battery and non-baterry version here on github: https://github.com/markusdd/solar_dashboard

[Sorbat]

The cable colors of the RJ45 are Blue and White

Hallo zusammen, ich hatte längere Zeit nach einem passenden Kabel gesucht. Ich wollte kein Netzwerkkabel nehmen und unbelegte Adern haben, sondern nur ein 2 poliges Kabel mit Mantel, dünn genug zum crimpen. Aber irgendwie waren alle Kabel, die ich getestet hatte, zu dick für den rj45.

Ich hatte dann gesehen, dass hier bei diesen Kabeln https://amzn.eu/d/ddvBGhc nur 4+5 mit blau/weiß belegt sind und sogar Stecker schon dran ist. Und glücklicherweise habe ich davon noch so ca 300 Stück im Keller :) Aber ich finde es eine ziemlich cleane und auch einfache Lösung.

[Manos1966]

I mention this here, just in case...

When it comes to the CANbus connection, you can use a standard RJ45 network cable (as long as you connect only the two cables (Blue & White/Blue) on the CAN-H & CAN-L side.

When it comes to the RS485 connection (we do not use in OpenDTU-OnBattery) it is IMPORTANT (if you use a RJ45 cable) to have ONLY Brown & White/Brown connected on BOTH sides of the cable!
I have experienced Data corruption only because I connected a standard RJ45 network cable on the Pylontech side and using only two cables on the other side.

[Mickel4711]

Hello, sorry to chime in here. I want to use the CAN 1 ISO board.
I only need CAN-H and CAN-L for this.
Does this work without ground?

[Manos1966]

Pending confirmation from @markusdd I would say yes:
GND1 and GND2 (as seen on the board picture) are aimed for the VE.Direct 1 and VE.Direct 2.
There is no GND anywhere else.

[markusdd]

yes. CAN Lines have no corresponding ground.
The ground pins are for the VE.Direct/other serial connections.

If CAN is your only use case you just need CANL/CANH.

[cat24max]

FYI, the final v2 version is now available to purchase: https://shop.allianceapps.io/products/opendtu-fusion-can-iso-shield
Order right now for shipping on Sunday :)

There is 2x v1 boards left, now available at a discount: https://shop.allianceapps.io/products/opendtu-fusion-can-iso-shield-beta

[schlimmchen]

Order right now for shipping on Sunday :)

Enable checkout with a German address, then we can order 😉

[jaybanane]

Same here :(

[markusdd]

it's fixed now, just talked to Tim

[jaybanane]

Perfect, thanks!!!