Pulling parameters from a Cascade Aerotherm Plus Heat pump

[johnmacleod101]

Hi, I have 2 Aerotherm Plus 12 KW heat pumps that i am trying to pull data from. I can successfully pull data and see 1 heat pump when I do a scan (ebusctl info) but I cant (I dont think) can see the second heat pump.

You can see on address 36 it just says scanning but does not return a result. Maybe this is second heat pump. Is there a way to resolve what that is on address 36?
Doing a full scan I get this and that address does not appear.

Any help would be appreciated. I dont see any history of anyone with a cascade configuration using ebusd.
Thanks in advance.

[JonesGW-MGD]

So generally when you connect two similar devices (like boilers or heat pumps in cascade mode) which otherwise would try to secure the same ebus address, Vaillant solve this by having you install a VR32 bus coupler to give the second device a different address.

There is no way ebusd can 'guess' what device is behind a VR32 so there are no VR32 config files per say.

I would say your heat pump behind the VR32 is presenting as address 18.

If you search this forum, you should be able to see how you can rename the heat pump file to this address. I've posted a few responses on the forum. (I am short of time currently but if you are struggling, re-post and I'll see about tracking these down).

You will likely also need to change the latency parameter as the VR32 does not play well with the official ebus spec

[JonesGW-MGD]

So, in a little bit more detail:

1. You're going to have to run the configuration files locally if you're not already doing this - essentially involves copying/cloning the repository of the configuration files to your local, and then changing the configpath on ebusd startup

2. You'll also need to change the latency parameter to 100000 as discussed in this post: Bus coupler/bridge latency #109

3. You then need to copy 08.hmu.csv and rename it 18.v32.csv. (Obviously don't just rename it - you need a copy of the original 08.hmu.csv for the first heat pump as well!)

Basically, ebusd matches configuration files on start-up to the slave address of device (boiler, heat pump, controller etc.) and ID (and SW/HW versions if necessary) - see the wiki on auto config naming - https://github.com/john30/ebusd/wiki/4.7.-Automatic-configuration. Because any device could sit behind a VR32 - a boiler, heat pump or an air recovery system as examples, there is no way ebusd can work this out so consequently there are no vr32 configuration files in the repository. But since you know it's your heat pump, creating your own VR32 file (18.v32.csv) with the message definitions for a heat pump will allow the ebusd auto config to pick this file up and all should work fine!

Here a few threads I've commented on where it seemed to work in a similar situation to yours:

#1223 (comment)
#1197 (reply in thread)

[johnmacleod101]

Hi,
Well looks like you are onto something. With these 2 files both devices are mapped to config files

But as i am sure you expected there are still duplicates
For address 08:

> 2024-06-20 20:02:20.133 [main notice] read scan config file vaillant/08.hmu.csv for ID "hmu00", SW0607, HW5103
> 2024-06-20 20:02:20.136 [main error] error executing instructions: ERR: duplicate entry, last error: error including "vaillant/hcmode.inc" for "08": ERR: duplicate entry vaillant/hcmode.inc:22: ERR: duplicate entry, duplicate ID, included "vaillant/errors.inc" for "08"
> 2024-06-20 20:02:20.136 [main notice] found messages: 71 (0 conditional on 0 conditions, 0 poll, 13 update)
> 2024-06-20 20:02:20.136 [bus info] scan 08 cmd: 3108b5090124

So looks like it is now getting to the lines with !include.

For address 18

2024-06-20 20:02:26.076 [main notice] read scan config file vaillant/18.v32.csv for ID "v32", SW0117, HW9802
2024-06-20 20:02:26.077 [main error] error executing instructions: ERR: duplicate entry, last error: error including "vaillant/hcmode.inc" for "18": ERR: duplicate entry vaillant/hcmode.inc:22: ERR: duplicate entry, duplicate ID, included "vaillant/errors.inc" for "18"
2024-06-20 20:02:26.077 [main notice] found messages: 588 (0 conditional on 0 conditions, 0 poll, 14 update)
2024-06-20 20:02:26.077 [main info] scan config 18 message received

So for the include files should I create 2 new errors.in and 2 new hcmode.inc files and customize them and define the new circuits for each heat pump?
I have been busy with other jobs today and only managed to drop the files in and try but need to get my head around what you changed in the files to get this far.
Really appreciate the help.
Kind regards
John

[JonesGW-MGD]

Hi John - small steps!

I'll have a think in the am but yes, you could maybe customise each hcmode and errors file to have the [CIRCUIT] and [ZZ] specifically in each and rename and re-point but I'm not totally sure how they work - might be you can just omit the includes from one of the files.

But I DNU why it's suggesting an error at line 22 in hcmode.inc - doesn't seem to exist? So I maybe don't understand the error line semantics myself. But I've had a whisky already tonight so maybe tomorrow...!

Notwithstanding the errors - do you seem more data on a scan or via MQTT?

Gareth

[JonesGW-MGD]

for what it's worth...

I removed the include statement for hcmode.inc and included the hcmode messages into each, adding the circuit name and the slave address as I had done for the main messages.

I didn't do this for the errors.inc file - I have two files - my boiler message file and my SensoCOMFORT controller message file that both include the same errors.inc so can't see that that is causing the issue.

Not very elegant and probably not the best thing to do but may help with further troubleshooting?

08.hmu.csv
18.v32.csv

[johnmacleod101]

Hi Gareth,
A quick update. I replaced the 08.hmu.csv and the 18.v32.csv files with the files you created and I can see the data from both pumps now and no error when loading the files. Really appreciate your help. I wont have time for a couple of days but going to try and summarise so that if someone else has this it will be easy to navigate to a solution.

[JonesGW-MGD]

Fingers crossed then! Hopefully you get some good data. I've been very happy to help - When I got into ebusd in Feb after having replaced my night storage heaters with a LPG gas combi late last year (rural, old property not really suitable for HP and no chance of solar on the straw roof..!), I felt like a kid in a toy shop with the stuff I got out (and am still logging). I found the discussion forums invaluable especially since I'm technically minded but not a 'techie' so whatever small contribution I can make in return seems fair! Good luck! Gareth

[JonesGW-MGD]

Oh - and it's the ebus adapter you have on 31/36 (Looks like you've got a nice setup btw!)

[johnmacleod101]

Thanks for all the information on how to set up to read data from the second heatpump. You you are correct there is a bus coupler for the 2 heat pumps.
I will give this a try tomorrow and let you know how I get on.
Really appreciate support and direction in how to get this working.
Kind regards
John