question

yes, you can extend the cable. I use 10m cable extensions (RJ 45 Cat6e patch cables with custom adapters to ve.direct and USB, twisted pairs and shielded)

Thanks @johanndo. Can you show a picture of the custom adapters you use? I'm confused with both the mention of RJ45 and USB. I'm guessing it's a simple double female JST 2.0 4 pin mini micro to a RJ45? Any particular pins on the RJ45 you chose?

I ordered some JST connectors (Amazon link) to do similar, though I may stick with the Victron cable and only modify one end. Not sure at this point.

Thinking out of the box - you may try using a Bluetooth repeater to extend the range of the connection too, afaik there are such devices.

I had done quite a bit of research before posting but could not find a bluetooth repeater. Many WiFi repeaters and some dedicated bluetooth for keyboards and audio but nothing applicable to the victron bluetooth transmitter.

In any case, I created my own double female VE.Direct adapter. First I soldered the pins together on two female JST connectors I ordered.

Then I used liquid electric tape to insulate them. Then I covered in a hard epoxy shell with support to hold it all together.

Note: This works only because I was able to reassign the pins correctly on the other male side to insure the proper pin order into the BMV-712:

Pin 1 – GND
Pin 2 – RX
Pin 3 – TX
Pin 4 – Power +

With this set up I can now permanently close off the compartment with access the back of the BMV-712 and relocate the corresponding VE.Direct port to an accessible and convenient location. Doing so allows me to select either the bluetooth smart dongle or the VE.Direct to USB interface and plug either easily into the relocated BMV-712 port.

One has to be very careful in doing this since the standard VE-Direct cables cross over their lines. The pin order changes from one end to the other. That is, this Female-to-Female adapter method will not allow a generic way to extend the off-the-shelf VE.Direct cables.

You can just cut a Ve.Direct cable in the middle and solder an straight extension between the ends, no need to crossover again, as the cable is crossed at the connectors. Use some shrink tube and ready to go.

Alternatively you can bundle many serial connections on one CAT5e / CAT6 cable if you need to With this RJ45 screw terminals, you cut a Ve.Direct cable and screw the ends on the terminal, then plig in a LAN cable as extension inbetween, it gives you 8 wires, so you could extend up to 3 serial interfaces easily (1 or 2 for common ground, and 3 data pairs)

@johanndo

Wow, I really like that. It looks a whole lot easier and I'm sure less expensive. The 10m Victron cable was $23 USD itself.

tnx for the rj45 adapter, it's a great idea

Hello everyone, we have a VE Direct extender joiner adapter off the shelve for last 4-years. Available on ebay/amazon/shop

Female - Female Adapter for Victron Energy VE Direct (meadotech.com)