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Damien avatar image
Damien asked

VE.Direct Bluetooth dongle issue

Hi all,

I have a SmartSolar MPPT 75/15 that I use along with a PV panel on the roof of my vehicle to maintain a deep cycle battery for when I go away camping and the link.

I monitor it via the Android app, connecting via the VE.Direct Bluetooth Smart dongle, this has worked flawlessly, until now.

With the updated app recently being released and apparently updated firmware for both the BT dongle and the 75/15, I went out to my vehicle to perform the upgrade.

Sadly the app could not find the BT dongle. I went through the usual procedure of disabling and re-enabling BT on my phone, still nothing, this was within a couple of metres of the dongle, yet it discovered my BlueSmart charger located 20 or so metres away on the other side of the house!


Looking at the dongle, there were no LED's lit. Disconnecting and reconnecting the dongle proved to do nothing.


I removed power from the SmartSolar charger (PV and battery), let it sit disconnected for several minutes (Hello, IT. Have you tried turning it off and on again? :) ) And reconnected battery and PV in the correct sequence. Alas, still no LEDs and no dongle to be discovered by the app.


Having a background in electronics I decided to go to the next step, check that it was getting power, opening the case of the dongle and armed with my trusty multimeter I probed the Vin and Gnd connections on the circuit board, it is getting 5 volts.

Unfortunately this is as far as I can go. Without a microscope (SMD is so tiny!) and an insight to the circuit I am at a loss.

From what I can see the BT module in the dongle (BL600-SA-05) is a 3.6volt device, so I am guessing there is a voltage regulator on the board, but once again, without a microscope I am unable to determine if this is the case, and if so which SMD it is.


Has anyone else had this experience? Can anyone provide me any guidance as to how I may be able to resolve the issue without having to purchase another dongle? That is something I want to avoid at this time as I have limited income due to upper and lower spinal injuries.

Kind regards,
Damien

MPPT ControllersBluetoothVE.Direct Bluetooth Smart Dongle
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tex260z avatar image tex260z commented ·

Exactly the same issue here, immediately after updating software, is there a bug?

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JohnC avatar image
JohnC answered ·

Hi Damien. I just spotted this on an Australian forum I frequent. This guy's first post, so he's joined just to spread the word. Full points to him, and if you try it with success, please let us know and I'll thank him via pm.

https://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=2776043



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Damien avatar image Damien commented ·

Hi John,

Many thanks for the link, I checked it out but it is not the issue I am facing.

For some reason it seems either the Bluetooth module is not getting powered up (voltage regulator issue?) or the Bluetooth module has died.

As it is only a few years old I have I contacted the retailer I purchased it from to put in a warranty claim.

Kind regards,

Damien


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lobsterman avatar image
lobsterman answered ·

@Damien

Hey! Jusg came across your post having the same issue: The bluetooth dongle is just dead, no LED would go or anything. It connected to my MPPT 75/15 and worked flawlessly so far. Could you solve the problem? Was the dongle just broken? There aint much in there to break though...

Would be nice if you could drop a line. Thanks,

Phil

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Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) avatar image Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) ♦♦ commented ·

Do you get any response from the dongle by pressing and holding the reset button when it is plugged in?

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lobsterman avatar image lobsterman Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) ♦♦ commented ·

Hey Guy! I've tried that for multiple times, pressing it at least half a minute. The thing us just dead, doesn't do anything. Unfortunately i have no other device to test the dongle with. I have the sneaky suspicion it is the MPPT. The problem occured after i disconnected the batteries from my 12V Grid. Now the MPPT is in bulk charge mode (green and orange LEDs flashing silmuranously quick) even under literally dark conditions. I disconnected the fuse and also the entire wiring to the MPPT for at least five minutes. After reconnecting everything in the right order according to the manual the problem still was exactly the same.

Would you happen to have any idea what to try next?

Thanx, Phil

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