Monitors a list of Victron devices, decrypts their Instant Readout advertisements and logs every field. This is the reference for using the Zephyr API.

Don't know your devices' addresses yet? Build ../scan first.

Configure your devices

Edit the known_devices table at the top of src/main.c:

static const struct { ... } known_devices[] = {
	{
		.name = "Rainbow48V",
		.addr = "E4:05:42:34:14:F3",
		.addr_type = "random",
		.key = "0ec3adf7433dd61793ff2f3b8ad32ed8",
	},
};

The key is in VictronConnect: device → gear icon → Product info → Instant readout via Bluetooth → show/copy the encryption key (32 hex characters).

The address type must be random. Victron devices use random static Bluetooth addresses, and the registry lookup compares the type as well as the bytes. Get it wrong and the symptom is quiet and confusing: adverts climbs in the stats line but decoded stays at zero, because the adverts arrive and never match a registered device.

Add more than four devices and you also need to raise CONFIG_VICTRONBLE_MAX_DEVICES in prj.conf.

Build and run

west build -p -b nrf52840dk/nrf52840 -d /tmp/vb_obs samples/observer \
    -- -DZEPHYR_EXTRA_MODULES=$PWD
west flash -d /tmp/vb_obs

Console (115200 baud):

<inf> observer: VictronBLE observer starting
<inf> observer: monitoring Rainbow48V (E4:05:42:34:14:F3)
<inf> victronble: observing (interval 2048 window 18)
<inf> observer: E4:05:42:34:14:F3 (random)  solar charger  rssi -67  model 0xa060  nonce 4660
<inf> observer:   state bulk  error 0
<inf> observer:   battery 13.24 V 5.4 A   pv 340 W   yield today 1200 Wh
<inf> observer:   load n/a
<inf> observer: stats: adverts 61 queued 30 dropped 0 decoded 28 dup 2 err 0

Reading the stats line

Printed every 30 s, and the fastest way to diagnose a quiet console:

Counter	Meaning if it misbehaves
`adverts`	Victron adverts seen from any device. Zero → nothing in range, or Instant Readout is off on the device.
`queued`	adverts from your registered devices. Zero while `adverts` climbs → wrong address or wrong address type.
`dropped`	queue was full. Raise `CONFIG_VICTRONBLE_QUEUE_DEPTH`.
`decoded`	records delivered to the callback.
`dup`	repeats suppressed by nonce dedup. A steady trickle is normal — each advert is broadcast on three channels.
`err`	decode failures. A wrong key shows up here, and in the `decode failed: key mismatch` warning.

What the code demonstrates

bt_enable() before victronble_start() — the application owns the Bluetooth stack, the library only scans.
bt_addr_le_from_str() + victronble_parse_key() to turn human-readable config into what victronble_device_add() wants.
victronble_cb_register() with both record and decode_error set. Callbacks run on the library's decode thread, not the Bluetooth RX thread, so logging in them is safe.
Formatting a record: isnan() guards on every float, and remaining_minutes == 0xFFFF for time-to-go. Absent fields are normal — an MPPT with no load output always reports load n/a.
victronble_get_stats() for the periodic health line.

Printing floats needs CONFIG_CBPRINTF_FP_SUPPORT=y; without it the numbers come out empty.

To decode a captured advert on your PC instead — no board involved — see examples/NativeDecode.