ESPBMS/victron.ino

// credit to: https://github.com/hoberman/Victron_BLE_Advertising_example

#include <aes/esp_aes.h>        // AES library for decrypting the Victron manufacturer data.

uint8_t key[16]={0xd7,0x93,0xc8,0xb1,0x79,0x18,0x4c,0x97,0x97,0x6d,0x12,0x27,0xf2,0x23,0x48,0x6b};

int keyBits=128;  // Number of bits for AES-CTR decrypt.

// Victron docs on the manufacturer data in advertisement packets can be found at:
//   https://community.victronenergy.com/storage/attachments/48745-extra-manufacturer-data-2022-12-14.pdf
//

// Usage/style note: I use uint16_t in places where I need to force 16-bit unsigned integers
// instead of whatever the compiler/architecture might decide to use. I might not need to do
// the same with byte variables, but I'll do it anyway just to be at least a little consistent.

// Must use the "packed" attribute to make sure the compiler doesn't add any padding to deal with
// word alignment.
typedef struct {
  uint16_t vendorID;                    // vendor ID
  uint8_t beaconType;                   // Should be 0x10 (Product Advertisement) for the packets we want
  uint8_t unknownData1[3];              // Unknown data
  uint8_t victronRecordType;            // Should be 0x01 (Solar Charger) for the packets we want
  uint16_t nonceDataCounter;            // Nonce
  uint8_t encryptKeyMatch;              // Should match pre-shared encryption key byte 0
  uint8_t victronEncryptedData[21];     // (31 bytes max per BLE spec - size of previous elements)
  uint8_t nullPad;                      // extra byte because toCharArray() adds a \0 byte.
} __attribute__((packed)) victronManufacturerData;


// Must use the "packed" attribute to make sure the compiler doesn't add any padding to deal with
// word alignment.
typedef struct {
   uint8_t deviceState;
   uint8_t errorCode;
   int16_t batteryVoltage;
   int16_t batteryCurrent;
   uint16_t todayYield;
   uint16_t inputPower;
   uint8_t outputCurrentLo;             // Low 8 bits of output current (in 0.1 Amp increments)
   uint8_t outputCurrentHi;             // High 1 bit of output current (must mask off unused bits)
   uint8_t  unused[4];                  // Not currently used by Vistron, but it could be in the future.
} __attribute__((packed)) victronPanelData;

// FYI, here are Device State values. I haven't seen ones with '???' so I don't know
// if they exist or not or what they might mean:
//   0 = no charge from solar
//   1 = ???
//   2 = ???
//   3 = bulk charge
//   4 = absorption charge
//   5 = float
//   6 = ???
//   7 = equalization
// I've also seen a value '245' for about a second when my solar panel (simulated by a
// benchtop power supply) transitions from off/low voltage to on/higher voltage. There
// be others, but I haven't seen them.

void decodeVictron(BLEAdvertisedDevice advertisedDevice) {

  #define manDataSizeMax 31     // BLE specs say no more than 31 bytes, but see comments below!

  // See if we have manufacturer data and then look to see if it's coming from a Victron device.
  if (advertisedDevice.haveManufacturerData() == true) {

    // Note: This comment (and maybe some code?) needs to be adjusted so it's not so
    // specific to String-vs-std:string. I'll leave it as-is for now so you at least
    // understand why I have an extra byte added to the manCharBuf array.
    //
    // Here's the thing: BLE specs say our manufacturer data can be a max of 31 bytes.
    // But: The library code puts this data into a String, which we will then copy to
    // a character (i.e., byte) buffer using String.toCharArray(). Assuming we have the
    // full 31 bytes of manufacturer data allowed by the BLE spec, we'll need to size our
    // buffer with an extra byte for a null terminator. Our toCharArray() call will need
    // to specify *32* bytes so it will copy 31 bytes of data with a null terminator
    // at the end.
    uint8_t manCharBuf[manDataSizeMax+1];

    #ifdef USE_String
      String manData = advertisedDevice.getManufacturerData();      // lib code returns String.
    #else
      std::string manData = advertisedDevice.getManufacturerData(); // lib code returns std::string
    #endif
    int manDataSize=manData.length(); // This does not count the null at the end.

    // Copy the data from the String to a byte array. Must have the +1 so we
    // don't lose the last character to the null terminator.
    #ifdef USE_String
      manData.toCharArray((char *)manCharBuf,manDataSize+1);
    #else
      manData.copy((char *)manCharBuf, manDataSize+1);
    #endif

    // Now let's setup a pointer to a struct to get to the data more cleanly.
    victronManufacturerData * vicData=(victronManufacturerData *)manCharBuf;

    // ignore this packet if the Vendor ID isn't Victron.
    if (vicData->vendorID!=0x02e1) {
      return;
    }

    // ignore this packet if it isn't type 0x01 (Solar Charger).
    if (vicData->victronRecordType != 0x01) {
      return;
    }

    // Not all packets contain a device name, so if we get one we'll save it and use it from now on.
    if (advertisedDevice.haveName()) {
      // This works the same whether getName() returns String or std::string.
      strcpy(currentName,advertisedDevice.getName().c_str());
    }

    if (vicData->encryptKeyMatch != key[0]) {
      Serial.printf("Packet encryption key byte 0x%2.2x doesn't match configured key[0] byte 0x%2.2x\n",
          vicData->encryptKeyMatch, key[0]);
      return;
    }

    uint8_t inputData[16];
    uint8_t outputData[16]={0};  // i don't really need to initialize the output.

    // The number of encrypted bytes is given by the number of bytes in the manufacturer
    // data as a whole minus the number of bytes (10) in the header part of the data.
    int encrDataSize=manDataSize-10;
    for (int i=0; i<encrDataSize; i++) {
      inputData[i]=vicData->victronEncryptedData[i];   // copy for our decrypt below while I figure this out.
    }

    esp_aes_context ctx;
    esp_aes_init(&ctx);

    auto status = esp_aes_setkey(&ctx, key, keyBits);
    if (status != 0) {
      Serial.printf("  Error during esp_aes_setkey operation (%i).\n",status);
      esp_aes_free(&ctx);
      return;
    }

    // construct the 16-byte nonce counter array by piecing it together byte-by-byte.
    uint8_t data_counter_lsb=(vicData->nonceDataCounter) & 0xff;
    uint8_t data_counter_msb=((vicData->nonceDataCounter) >> 8) & 0xff;
    u_int8_t nonce_counter[16] = {data_counter_lsb, data_counter_msb, 0};

    u_int8_t stream_block[16] = {0};

    size_t nonce_offset=0;
    status = esp_aes_crypt_ctr(&ctx, encrDataSize, &nonce_offset, nonce_counter, stream_block, inputData, outputData);
    if (status != 0) {
      Serial.printf("Error during esp_aes_crypt_ctr operation (%i).",status);
      esp_aes_free(&ctx);
      return;
    }
    esp_aes_free(&ctx);

    // Now do our same struct magic so we can get to the data more easily.
    victronPanelData * victronData = (victronPanelData *) outputData;

    // Getting to these elements is easier using the struct instead of
    // hacking around with outputData[x] references.
    uint8_t deviceState=victronData->deviceState;
    uint8_t errorCode=victronData->errorCode;
    float batteryVoltage=float(victronData->batteryVoltage)*0.01;
    float batteryCurrent=float(victronData->batteryCurrent)*0.1;
    float todayYield=float(victronData->todayYield)*0.01*1000;
    uint16_t inputPower=victronData->inputPower;  // this is in watts; no conversion needed

    // Getting the output current takes some magic because of the way they have the
    // 9-bit value packed into two bytes. The first byte has the low 8 bits of the count
    // and the second byte has the upper (most significant) bit of the 9-bit value plus some
    // There's some other junk in the remaining 7 bits - i'm not sure if it's useful for
    // anything else but we can't use it here! - so we will mask them off. Then combine the
    // two bye components to get an integer value in 0.1 Amp increments.
    int integerOutputCurrent=((victronData->outputCurrentHi & 0x01)<<9) | victronData->outputCurrentLo;
    float outputCurrent=float(integerOutputCurrent)*0.1;

    // I don't know why, but every so often we'll get half-corrupted data from the Victron. As
    // far as I can tell it's not a decryption issue because we (usually) get voltage data that
    // agrees with non-corrupted records.
    //
    // Towards the goal of filtering out this noise, I've found that I've rarely (or never) seen
    // corrupted data when the 'unused' bits of the outputCurrent MSB equal 0xfe. We'll use this
    // as a litmus test here.
    uint8_t unusedBits=victronData->outputCurrentHi & 0xfe;
    if (unusedBits != 0xfe) {
      return;
    }

    Serial.printf(">>>RC.MPPT.1.Battery_Volts %f\r\n",batteryVoltage);
    Serial.printf(">>>RC.MPPT.1.Battery_Amps %f\r\n",batteryCurrent);
    Serial.printf(">>>RC.MPPT.1.Battery_Watts %f\r\n",batteryVoltage*batteryCurrent);
    Serial.printf(">>>RC.MPPT.1.Solar_Watts %f\r\n",inputPower);
    Serial.printf(">>>RC.MPPT.1.Output_Current %f\r\n",outputCurrent);
    Serial.printf(">>>RC.MPPT.1.Yield %f\r\n",todayYield);
    Serial.printf(">>>RC.MPPT.1.State %d\r\n",deviceState);
  }
}