VRM portal hides DC Loads tile and shows broken layout when any external grid meter is used (affects dbus-shelly, dbus-cgwacs, and third-party drivers)

[cgoudie]

Summary

When using a third-party BLE AC energy meter driver (Hughes Power Watchdog) that publishes data on the standard com.victronenergy.grid D-Bus paths (modeled after dbus-cgwacs), the local Cerbo GX GUI displays everything correctly, but the VRM portal shows an incorrect/broken layout.

What works (local Cerbo GUI)

The local GUI correctly shows:

• Grid: 173W with L1 (166W) and L2 (7W) breakdown
• Inverter/Charger: External control
• AC Loads: 20W with per-phase breakdown (L1: 13W, L2: 7W)
• DC Loads: 154W
• Battery: 98%, Discharging, 13.63V, -0.6A, -8W

(Screenshot 1 — will be attached in comments)

What's broken (VRM portal)

The VRM portal simultaneously shows:

• DC Loads panel is completely missing
• AC Loads shows "-" (blank/no data)
• "Essential Loads" appeared with per-phase data showing Hz values — this panel doesn't exist on the local UI
• Battery shows "Idle" despite actively discharging at -14W / -1.0A

(Screenshot 2 — will be attached in comments)

Root cause analysis

I investigated the D-Bus data on the Cerbo and identified the root cause. The data on D-Bus is correct — the issue is that the VRM portal uses different D-Bus paths than the local GUI to render its dashboard.

D-Bus paths — what dbus-systemcalc-py publishes (all correct)

Path	Value	Description
/Ac/Consumption/L1/Power	14 W	Total AC consumption L1
/Ac/Consumption/L2/Power	7 W	Total AC consumption L2
/Ac/ConsumptionOnOutput/L1/Power	0 W	Loads on inverter AC-out L1
/Ac/ConsumptionOnOutput/L2/Power	2 W	Loads on inverter AC-out L2
/Ac/ConsumptionOnInput/L1/Power	[] (empty)	No loads between grid meter and inverter
/Ac/ConsumptionOnInput/L2/Power	[] (empty)	No loads between grid meter and inverter
/Dc/System/Power	153 W	DC loads (correctly calculated)
/Ac/Grid/L1/Power	167 W	Grid L1 from external meter
/Ac/Grid/L2/Power	7 W	Grid L2 from external meter

Relevant settings

Setting	Value	Description
/Settings/SystemSetup/HasDcSystem	1	System has DC loads
/Settings/SystemSetup/HasAcOutSystem	1	System has AC output
/Settings/SystemSetup/HasAcInLoads	0	No loads between grid meter and inverter
/Settings/CGwacs/RunWithoutGridMeter	0	Using an external grid meter
/SystemType	Hub-1	System topology

How the local GUI renders (correct)

The local Cerbo GUI (gui-v2) uses:

• "AC Loads" → /Ac/Consumption (total of OnInput + OnOutput) = 21W ✅
• "DC Loads" → /Dc/System/Power = 154W ✅

How the VRM portal renders (broken)

The VRM portal appears to use:

• "AC Loads" → /Ac/ConsumptionOnInput = empty [] → shows "-" ❌
• "Essential Loads" → /Ac/ConsumptionOnOutput = 2W (unexpected widget appearing)
• "DC Loads" → not displayed at all, even though /Dc/System/Power = 153W ❌

The mismatch

When HasAcInLoads = 0 (no loads between the grid meter and inverter input — which is the correct topology for Shore → Power Watchdog → MultiPlus → AC loads), dbus-systemcalc-py correctly leaves ConsumptionOnInput empty. The local GUI handles this gracefully by using /Ac/Consumption (the total).

The VRM portal, however:

1. Uses ConsumptionOnInput for its "AC Loads" widget, which is empty → shows "-"
2. Creates an unexpected "Essential Loads" widget from ConsumptionOnOutput
3. Drops the "DC Loads" widget entirely, even though /Dc/System/Power has valid data
4. Shows "Idle" for the battery state (likely using a different threshold or path than the local GUI, which correctly shows "Discharging" at -8W)

D-Bus paths published by the grid meter driver

The driver registers as com.victronenergy.grid.power_watchdog_<mac> and publishes:

• /Ac/L1/Voltage, /Ac/L1/Current, /Ac/L1/Power
• /Ac/L2/Voltage, /Ac/L2/Current, /Ac/L2/Power
• /Ac/Power (total)
• /Ac/Energy/Forward (cumulative kWh)
• /Ac/Frequency
• /Role = grid, /Position = 0

Environment

• Venus OS on Cerbo GX (firmware current)
• 120V split-phase (L1 + L2) shore power → MultiPlus-II 12/3000/120-50 2x120V
• Driver: dbus-power-watchdog (BLE grid meter)

Expected behavior

The VRM portal should render consistently with the local Cerbo GUI:

1. Show "AC Loads" from /Ac/Consumption (total), not from ConsumptionOnInput alone
2. Show "DC Loads" from /Dc/System/Power when HasDcSystem = 1
3. Not display a separate "Essential Loads" widget when the distinction between essential/non-essential isn't meaningful for the topology

Routing note

The VRM portal source is not public, so this issue can't be filed directly against it. Could this be routed to the VRM portal team?

cc @izak

[cgoudie]

Working on cerbo:

Strange and broken on VRM:

What CRM looked like before it these dbus paths were added:

[cgoudie]

Additional finding: confirmed as known VRM limitation

After further investigation, including testing D-Bus changes on the Cerbo and reviewing Victron community discussions, we've confirmed this is a known, long-standing VRM limitation — not a driver-side issue.

Root cause

The VRM portal layout is controlled by /Settings/CGwacs/RunWithoutGridMeter:

• When RunWithoutGridMeter = 0 (External Meter mode), VRM switches to the ESS-style layout with "Essential Loads" / "AC Loads (non-essential)" and hides the DC Loads tile entirely
• When RunWithoutGridMeter = 1 (Inverter metering), VRM shows the normal layout with AC Loads + DC Loads

This was independently confirmed by Victron staff member @dognose in this community thread:

"The only setting with which I could trigger the appearance of the DC-Tile is the RunWithoutGridMeter Setting"
"i've created a com.victronenergy.dcsystem service and the values are allocated to the DC-Tile as expected - but this alone doesn't make the tile visible at all"
"digged into it - Nothing that can be done without modifying the UI"

What we tested

1. Set HasAcInLoads = 1 — This populated /Ac/ConsumptionOnInput with real values (~31W, the delta between the grid meter and MultiPlus AC-in), fixing the "AC Loads: -" display. But DC Loads tile remained hidden.
2. Verified /Dc/System/Power — The data is present and correct (~153W) on D-Bus at all times. VRM simply doesn't render it in External Meter mode.
3. Community confirms — Multiple users over the past 2+ years have reported the same issue. No D-Bus workaround exists; it requires a VRM portal UI change.

Impact

Any third-party com.victronenergy.grid driver (dbus-shelly, custom grid meters, our dbus-power-watchdog, etc.) triggers this behavior. The local Cerbo GUI (gui-v2) handles it correctly — this is purely a VRM portal rendering gap.

[cgoudie]

Clarification: this affects Victron-maintained drivers too, not just third-party

To be clear, this is not a third-party driver issue. The same behavior will occur with any com.victronenergy.grid service that sets RunWithoutGridMeter = 0, including Victron's own:

• dbus-shelly — Victron-maintained driver for Shelly energy meters configured as grid meters
• dbus-cgwacs — Victron's Carlo Gavazzi EM24/EM540 driver
• Any Carlo Gavazzi, Shelly, or other supported energy meter used in the "Grid Meter" role

Any user who has both an external grid meter and DC loads (common in RV/marine systems with solar chargers, DC-DC chargers, or direct DC consumers) will see the DC Loads tile disappear from VRM while it remains visible on the local Cerbo GUI.

The community thread confirms users with EM24 meters and SmartShunts configured as DC meters experience the same issue.