The premise
The official Victron touchscreen for the Cerbo GX sells online for €200 and up. Robbert's view: that is far too much for a screen with these specs. He builds a fully functional replacement for around €30 using parts anyone can order, including a 3D-printed housing in Victron blue.
The screen
A 7-inch IPS LCD panel sold on AliExpress for €22.59. Intended for the Raspberry Pi, 1024 horizontal resolution, capacitive touchscreen included.
The board ships bare: no enclosure, no frame, exposed PCB on the back. Three ports on the panel:
- HDMI (video input)
- USB (touch interface)
- USB (5V power)
An HDMI cable and a USB power cable are included with the panel. One additional micro-USB cable is needed for the touch interface.
The case
The bare PCB cannot just hang on a wall, so Robbert designs a two-part 3D-printed frame in Windows 3D Builder:
- A backplate with four screw holes for mounting to a wall or rack, plus a USB cutout
- A front bezel that screws over the panel and traps it against the backplate
Print time around 90 minutes. The screen drops into the backplate, lines up with the USB cutout, and gets pinned with two short metal screws. Front bezel goes on with four more small screws after peeling off the panel's protective plastic. The fit is tight by design.
Mounting it next to the Cerbo
The Multiplus stack already takes up the upper part of Robbert's wall, which he wants to keep free for future charge controllers. So the touchscreen goes below the Cerbo: close enough that all cables stay short.
The Victron rack does not have a full backing plate yet, so the touchscreen mounts on only two of the four screw holes. Stable enough until the full plate goes in.
The three cables
The supplied HDMI cable is too short to reach across the rack to the Cerbo. A longer HDMI cable plugs into the top of the Cerbo, runs through the cable channel, and into the side of the screen.
A standard micro-USB cable handles power: into the top of the Cerbo through the cable channel, into the bottom USB port of the screen. As soon as that line connects, the screen powers up and the Victron interface appears.
The touchscreen does not work yet. The second micro-USB cable goes through the channel into the Cerbo's middle USB port and into the touch USB port on the screen. The Cerbo auto-detects the screen and the touch driver. After a few seconds the touchscreen is fully responsive.
What you have at the end
Identical functionality to the official Victron display. Full touch. Live Multiplus and Cerbo data on screen. Total spend around €30 instead of €200.
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| 7-inch IPS touchscreen (AliExpress) | €22.59 |
| 3D-printed case | filament only |
| Micro-USB cable (touch) | small |
| Longer HDMI cable (if needed) | small |
| Approximate total | €25 to €30 |
Takeaways
- The Cerbo GX accepts a generic HDMI display with USB touch. No proprietary connector or driver is needed.
- A Raspberry Pi 7-inch panel is the closest off-the-shelf match: HDMI input, USB power, USB capacitive touch.
- A two-part 3D-printed frame is enough to make the bare panel wall-mountable.
- HDMI cable length is the only sizing concern. Verify the cable reaches before ordering.
