Victron energy CCGX Operating instructions

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Troubleshooting CCGX to VRM connectivity
This document outlines the procedure to troubleshoot connectivity between a CCGX and the VRM
Portal.
Please also read the manual of the CCGX on how to setup an internet connection and the logging to
the VRM Portal:
Not using a CCGX but a Victron Global Remote or Victron Ethernet Remote? See this document
instead.
Trouble shooting Remote Console on VRM? See last section in this document.
On initial contact with the VRM site it may take a few minutes for data to appear, as a newly-
connected or re-connected CCGX’s presence requires that data to be filtered through our back-end
systems, before the information becomes visible on the VRM site.
If the data backlog size continues to increase after the chosen logging interval time is met, then you
have internet connectivity issues. You could try to increase the logging interval to a longer time, in
order to reduce necessary bandwidth. Bandwidth requirement is quite low, so this normally only
happens when using a cellular data connection. Try moving the antenna or obtain a higher gain
antenna.
Step 1. Update the CCGX to the latest available firmware
How to update a GX device
Step 2 - Verify that the CCGX has a valid IP address
In the menu Settings → Ethernet or Settings → Wi-Fi, State should be ‘Connected’ and there should be
an IP address that does not start with 169:

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When using Ethernet and State shows 'Unplugged', verify that the Ethernet network cable is not
faulty: try another one. The two lights at the back of the CCGX, where the Ethernet RJ45 cable plugs
in, should be lit or blinking. Two dead lights indicate a connection problem.
When using Wi-Fi and the menu shows 'No Wi-Fi adapter connected' check the USB connection to the
Wi-Fi dongle. Try to remove the dongle and insert it again.
When using Wi-Fi and the State shows 'Failure', it might be that the Wi-Fi password is incorrect. Press
'Forget network' and try to connect again with the correct password.
In case there is an IP address that starts with 169, check whether your network has a DHCP server
running. 99% of all networks have a DHCP server running and it is enabled by default on all well-
known ADSL, cable and 3G routers. If there is no DHCP server running, then configure the ip address
manually.
Step 3 - Check connectivity between CCGX and VRM Portal
Navigate to Settings → VRM online portal.
Check 'Last contact'. If this shows dashes or a time that is much larger than 'Log interval', the CCGX is
not able to contact the VRM database.
Resolution: make sure that your network has access to the internet. Plugin a laptop and navigate to
https://vrm.victronenergy.com/ for example.

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If 'Buffered items' is larger than 0, it means that the CCGX can not connect to the VRM Portal. All data
is sent using the First in First out principle: the VRM Portal will only show the most up to date
information after all old data has been sent.
In case all above checks have been done, internet connection is sure to work, and still 'Last contact'
keeps showing dashes, try re-installing the firmware with a recovery image.
The communication required to communicate to the VRM Portal is:
Working DNS1.
Proper IP address2.
Working internet connection3.
Outbound http(s) connection to http://ccgxlogging.victronenergy.com on port 80 and 443. Note4.
that should never be an issue, unless on very specialized company networks.
Note that the CCGX does not support a proxy setup.
For details on the required networking, see here.
And if that also doesn't help, you can dig deeper. But that requires knowledge of Linux, working on
the console, and ssh. Note that in 99.99% of all cases the root cause lies in the internet connection.
Step 4 - Add the site to your VRM account
Adding a CCGX to your account is only possible after the CCGX has made its first initial contact to the
VRM Portal.
As long as 'Last Contact' shows 'Never', go back to step 1 and 2.
Once the internet communication is up, and 'Last contact' shows several seconds or minutes ago,
continue with ADD Site on the VRM Portal. See Getting started with VRM for further instructions.
Trouble shooting Remote Console on VRM
The Remote Console on VRM feature allows full remote control of a CCGX, over the internet:

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After enabling the feature in the CCGX setting menu, and then restarting the CCGX, a green button
will show on the VRM website. Click it to open the Remote Console.
Steps to take when it does not work:
First make sure that basic communication with VRM works, see above steps.1.
After enabling the feature, make sure to restart the CCGX.2.
Make sure to update the CCGX to the latest firmware version: v2.11 or newer.3.
After the restart, check the Remote Console on VRM status shows online or a port number. In4.
case it says offline, or port number 0, the CCGX was unable to connect to the Remote Console
server. This is normally caused by a (company) firewall, blocking the connection. The solution is
then to configure an exception rules in the firewall.
Verify that your local web browser can access the websocket port (8080 on5.
vncrelay.victronenergy.com). If you click that link and get 'Error response, method not allowed',
it means the connection between your PC and the VNC relay is working. If you get a timeout or

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another (browser) error, there may be a firewall blocking the connection.
Remote Console on VRM uses the same reverse SSH tunnel as is used for Remote Support: outbound
connection to supporthost.victronenergy.com on port 22, 80 or 443. It is not necessary to set up port
forwarding in routers to use Remote Console on VRM. It is necessary for the firewall/router to which
the CCGX is connected, to allow outbound connections to supporthost.victronenergy.com on at least
one of these ports: 22, 80 or 443. Most routers will allow this by default.
In case all above does not help, it might be that your internet connection very frequently changes its
IP-address. Remote Console on VRM checks the IP Address for security reasons. Note that it is not
necessary for the CCGX to be addressable itself, and/or have a public IP address. Worded differently:
traversing NAT translation is no problem. The problem is the frequent change of public IP address. The
solution is to contact your internet provider, and/or change internet provider.
Further debugging VRM communication
(advanced)
Debugging the connection (advanced)
Data is sent to the VRM Portal using HTTP POST requests to
http://ccgxlogging.victronenergy.com/log/log.php. In case all above checks have been done, internet
connection is sure to work, and still 'Last contact' keeps showing dashes: try logging into the CCGX
with ssh. And do:
wget --quiet -O- http://ccgxlogging.victronenergy.com/log/log.php
The output should be a line containing the text 'vrm: OK'. If it does not, or wget hangs, check your
network. Apparently communication is blocked.
Using HTTPS instead of HTTP (advanced)
If your provider is blocking HTTP requests (e.g. the wget request above times out or fails), you can
change the CCGX to log to the VRM portal via HTTPS:
root@ccgx:~# dbus -y com.victronenergy.settings /Settings/Vrmlogger/Url
SetValue https://ccgxlogging.victronenergy.com/log/log.php
Verify that the setting has been changed:
root@ccgx:~# dbus -y com.victronenergy.settings /Settings/Vrmlogger/Url
GetValue
'https://ccgxlogging.victronenergy.com/log/log.php'
It is then recommended to reboot the CCGX to apply the changes. (Alternatively, you could manually
restart the vrmlogging services, but it's easier just to restart)

Last
update:
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After you reboot, you should see the buffer size decrease:
# before rebooting
root@ccgx:~# dbus -y com.victronenergy.logger /Buffer/Count GetValue
375
# after rebooting
root@ccgx:~# dbus -y com.victronenergy.logger /Buffer/Count GetValue
362
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