// HOME ASSISTANT × VICTRON
Victron Cerbo GX + Home Assistant, done properly
Most guides for putting a Victron system into Home Assistant predate the official integrations that shipped in 2025–26, so they walk you through custom components you no longer need. Here’s the current, working route — from a firm whose own campervan runs 141 Home Assistant entities off a Cerbo GX, live on this website right now. Rated 4.9 on Google.
- ● Official victron_gx integration
- ● MQTT & Modbus, measured
- ● Our own van as proof
Which route
Three official integrations — pick by what you own
Since Home Assistant 2025–26 there are three official Victron integrations, and most of the advice you’ll find online predates all of them:
- Victron GX (
victron_gx, HA 2026.5+) — talks MQTT to a Cerbo GX, Venus GX, Ekrano or any Venus OS device on your network. Whole-system, local, bidirectional. If you have a GX device, this is the one you want. - Victron BLE (
victron_ble) — reads the Bluetooth Instant Readout advertising from individual devices (SmartShunt, SmartSolar, batteries). No GX needed, read-only, per-device. Right for small systems with no GX hub. - Victron Remote Monitoring (
victron_remote_monitoring) — pulls from the VRM cloud API. Works from anywhere, but it’s cloud-dependent and slower than local. Right when Home Assistant can’t reach the van/boat network at all.
They compose: our own van runs all three — local MQTT for the live system, BLE for devices the GX can’t see, and VRM as the away-from-home fallback.
Measured, not opined
MQTT vs Modbus TCP — we measured both so you don’t have to
The older DIY route is Modbus TCP (port 502) with a community integration; the official route is MQTT. We ran both against the same Cerbo GX and compared 1,057 paired samples on a parked van:
- MQTT tracked the system cleanly — mean disagreement with the device’s own figures: effectively zero.
- Polled Modbus produced ~8.8% physically implausible samples in our test (e.g. charge figures exceeding what the solar could deliver) — polling catches registers mid-update; push-based MQTT doesn’t.
Verdict: use the official MQTT integration. Keep Modbus for one-off scripted reads and diagnostics, where a rogue sample doesn’t matter.
The traps
The four traps that waste evenings
- The USB port next to the HDMI socket is power-only. Plug a WiFi dongle or GPS into it and nothing happens — no error, just silence. Use the other USB ports.
- The Cerbo’s built-in WiFi is 2.4 GHz only. A 5 GHz-only hotspot is invisible to it — on an iPhone hotspot, turn on “Maximise Compatibility”.
- MQTT needs a keepalive. The Cerbo only publishes the full topic tree while something asks for it — the official integration handles this for you, which is one more reason to prefer it over hand-rolled MQTT.
- Name your devices before you integrate. Home Assistant imports whatever the GX calls each device — renaming 141 entities afterwards is an evening of its own. (Ask us how we know.)
Live proof
Our own Cerbo GX, in Home Assistant, on this page
This isn’t theory. Our support van — the one that runs our IT business off-grid — carries a Cerbo GX, three lithium batteries and a 141-entity Home Assistant install, and its Home Assistant pushes a snapshot to this website every 30 seconds:
Battery
—%
Solar
—W
Signal
—dBm
Near
—
More of the same: the live Victron dashboard with grid-cost comparison, and the live 4G/5G signal map the same Home Assistant records as the van drives.
Beyond monitoring
What Home Assistant adds that VRM can’t
VRM is excellent at what it does — remote monitoring, alarms, history. Home Assistant earns its keep where VRM stops:
- Automations across systems: our van cuts the projector when battery state of charge drops — Victron data driving a non-Victron device. VRM can’t reach the projector; Home Assistant can.
- Non-Victron sensors beside Victron ones: router signal strength, internet speed, temperatures, GPS — one dashboard, everything.
- Local control with no internet: in a field with no signal, the local MQTT integration keeps working. Cloud dashboards don’t.
If what you actually want is a polished view of VRM data — branded, simplified, on any screen — that’s exactly what our custom VRM dashboards are, and we build them for customers worldwide.
Independent guide: 365 Techies is not affiliated with, endorsed by or authorised by Victron Energy B.V. or Nabu Casa, Inc. Home Assistant is a trademark of Nabu Casa; Victron Energy is a trademark of Victron Energy B.V. Our dashboard work is listed on Victron’s Recommended Software Integrator programme — the opinions and measurements here are our own, from our own installation.
// RELATED
Cerbo GX refusing to talk to VRM instead? Work through the VRM connection fix. Want the finished article without the learning curve? See custom VRM dashboards (worldwide) or our Victron installation on the South Coast — or talk to us.
FAMILY-RUN SINCE 1995 · ★ 4.9 ON GOOGLE · 200+ COMPUTERS UNDER OUR CARE · NO FIX, NO FEE · SAME-DAY REMOTE SUPPORT
// GOOD QUESTIONS
Frequently asked
Do I need a Cerbo GX to use Home Assistant with Victron kit?
No — but it changes which integration you use. With a GX device (Cerbo, Venus, Ekrano), use the official Victron GX integration over MQTT and you get the whole system. Without one, the Victron BLE integration reads SmartShunts, SmartSolar chargers and compatible batteries directly over Bluetooth, one device at a time, read-only.
Which is better for Home Assistant: MQTT or Modbus TCP?
MQTT, and it isn’t close. It’s the official integration’s transport, it’s push-based so you aren’t polling registers mid-update, and in our own 1,057-sample comparison it tracked the system essentially perfectly while polled Modbus produced around 8.8% physically implausible readings. Keep Modbus for scripted one-off reads.
Does the Victron GX integration need the internet?
No — it’s fully local over your own network, which is precisely its advantage in a van or boat. The internet only matters for the separate VRM cloud integration, remote access to Home Assistant itself, and VRM’s own portal.
Can Home Assistant control the system, or only read it?
The Victron GX integration is bidirectional: switchable outputs like the inverter mode and relays appear as controllable entities alongside the read-only sensors. Treat control with respect — an automation that switches an inverter is operating your power system, so test on the bench before you trust it while away.
Will you set all this up for us?
Yes — remotely, worldwide, for campervans, boats and off-grid buildings, and every job is quoted individually rather than sold as a fixed package (systems differ too much for one price to be honest). Tell us your kit and what you want to see and we’ll scope it. If what you need is a polished branded dashboard on VRM data, see our custom VRM dashboards.
Rather have it working than read about it?
We integrate Victron systems into Home Assistant and build custom dashboards on VRM data — for campervans, boats and off-grid buildings, remotely, worldwide. Installs and integrations are quoted individually: tell us your kit list and what you want to see, and you’ll get an honest scope, not a package price.
01202 775566 · help@365techies.co.uk · MON–FRI 9AM–5PM