question

hjarnek avatar image
hjarnek asked

Smartshunt cannot connect via Bluetooth

Hi,

I just got myself a second Smartshunt 500A. The problem is it won't connect to my phone. I've repeatedly tried disconnecting the Smartshunt and wait, but it doesn't make any difference. Gone through the entire Victron troubleshooting guide, but there's not much to be done from there: I can't remove it from paired devices because it never pairs in the first place, restarting the phone does not help, GPS positioning is turned on in the phone, I'm as close to the Smartshunt as I can be, the Victron Connect app is up to date – and then finally the fact that my phone can connect to my old Smartshunt. However, it does show up in the devices list in the app. The problem is that it never asks for a PIN code, it just loads for a while and then comes then error message, same thing when trying to reset the PIN code. The only reaction I get is the error LED on the Smartshunt flashing quickly once every time I press connect on my phone.

Any ideas what the reason could be? Is the unit damaged/faulty, or is there anything more to try?

SmartShuntBluetoothconnection issue
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2 Answers
Thiemo van Engelen (Victron Energy staff) avatar image
Thiemo van Engelen (Victron Energy staff) answered ·

Hi @hjarnek

This is very unexpected behavior. Can you please make a service report and attach that here as an answer/comment? The procedure for a service report is described here: https://ve3.nl/VictronConnect_How-to-create-a-VictronConnect-Service-Report


Kind regards,

Thiemo van Engelen

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hjarnek avatar image hjarnek commented ·

I tried creating a service report, but the only options I got when I pressed the button was to share it over NFC, Android Beam or WhatsApp, none of which worked. But given that the report file has already been created once I pressed the button, where in the filesystem should I look for it?

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Thiemo van Engelen (Victron Energy staff) avatar image Thiemo van Engelen (Victron Energy staff) ♦ hjarnek commented ·

Hi @hjarnek

I use File Manager (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.alphainventor.filemanager) to store the file on the phone. When pressing "Create service report", it allows me to select File Manager and that then opens and allows to choose where to store the file.

Kind regards,

Thiemo van Engelen

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hjarnek avatar image hjarnek Thiemo van Engelen (Victron Energy staff) ♦ commented ·

The file manager did the thing! Can you see anything of interest in the log? All I've done is open the app and try to connect to the Smartshunt, then press "Create service report".

VictronConnect_report.log


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victronconnect-report.log (51.9 KiB)
Thiemo van Engelen (Victron Energy staff) avatar image Thiemo van Engelen (Victron Energy staff) ♦ hjarnek commented ·

Hi @hjarnek

Thank for the service log. Unfortunately it did not show much, just that it immediately disconnects when a connection is made. And it only showed 1 SmartShunt. Was the other SmartShunt indeed out of range when making this service log?

There are a few things that you can try to diagnose the problem:

  1. Try to pair from the Android bluetooth menu. This is normally not advised, but it is worth trying.
  2. Check the cabling and then especially the red cable going to the battery+.
  3. When you have a second phone, check if that phone is able to connect and pair.

Kind regards,

Thiemo van Engelen

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hjarnek avatar image hjarnek Thiemo van Engelen (Victron Energy staff) ♦ commented ·

Thanks for your response. None of the Smartshunts are permanently installed where I currently have them, so I have just been temporarily testing them by clamping the cables to the poles of a 12V car battery. Nothing connected to the "system minus". So, the cabling is what it is. Do you think that it can have impacted in some way? How, in that case? As far as I have noticed, the Bluetooth LED has always been flashing steadily, on both of them.

I have already tried connecting via the Android bluetooth menu, but the result is the same. Although the error message I get from Android is that it couldn't connect because of an invalid key or PIN code (it never asks for one).

Testing with a different phone can be tricky, but I'll see what I can do during the weekend. Will get back here!

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Thiemo van Engelen (Victron Energy staff) avatar image Thiemo van Engelen (Victron Energy staff) ♦ hjarnek commented ·

Hi @hjarnek

Regarding the cabling, I was thinking about a bad battery+ connection. This might cause the supply voltage to drop when more current is drawn, for example when a BLE connection is made and the red LED is also turned on. This might then cause the internal dongle to reset while the phone is making the connection and trying to pair.

I am not really surprised that the Bluetooth menu gave more or less the same result. I do hope that you are able to test with a different phone as this will rule out whether the problem is somehow the phone/smartshunt combination or just the smartshunt.

Kind regards,

Thiemo van Engelen

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hjarnek avatar image hjarnek Thiemo van Engelen (Victron Energy staff) ♦ commented ·
I see. But why would it necessarily have to be the battery+ connection? Couldn't a bad battery- connection yield the same result? By the way, do you think that a loose connection could have damaged the Smartshunt to behave in this way, or would it rather be completely dead then?
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Thiemo van Engelen (Victron Energy staff) avatar image Thiemo van Engelen (Victron Energy staff) ♦ hjarnek commented ·

Hi,

I deemed it more likely that the positive connection would be problematic as that is a wire that is only used to power the SmartShunt (and measure the battery voltage) and nothing else. The negative is normally also uses by other equipment and a problem there would thus be more likely to show up. But yes, the battery minus could also be the problem.

About the loose connection, I have no idea if a loose connection could lead to damage that leads to this behavior.

Kind regards,

Thiemo van Engelen

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Matthias Lange - DE avatar image
Matthias Lange - DE answered ·

What phone do you have? Can you try another phone?

On some phones (Android) there is coming a message in the notification bar at the top that you have to pull down.

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hjarnek avatar image hjarnek commented ·
Yes, I read that. No such message. I have a Samsung phone.
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