Victron connect solar stopped working

[Russ M]

Hi
Vanbitz recenrly fitted a new electric system to our Dethleffs motorhome , including lithium batteries , inverter and solar panels .
The system has been brilliant up to now , amd Sod’s law I have a problem at a weekend so cant get hold of Vanbitz till Monday .

hopeful someone on this forum may know what’s happening and suggest an easy fix .

my issue is as follows .
the victron smartshunt and two solar panels are normally accessible through the victron connect app. It’s all Bluetooth .
for some reason one of the solar panels has dropped out and won’t connect. I’m assuming this means there is a fault of some kind with the solar panel ?

ive done the usual reset and reboot of my iPhone . the app still only finds the smartshunt and one solar panel. The other panel is missing .
ive also done the same with my wife’s iphone ,and hers also finds just the two items when it should find 3 .

im concerned that this means the solar panel has packed up ( it’s only a few months old ) or it could just be a Bluetooth issue from the panel and the panel is still working and loading the battery . Trouble is I’ve no way of knowing as I can’t see the info in the app

hopefully this will all make sense to someone on this forum and you can give me some advice as to what I can check . Is the solar panel likely to be fused somewhere perhaps ?

many thanks in advance for any advice.
if I don’t hear anything I will of course wait to speak to Vanbitz on Monday , but we are due to go away in the motohome on Monday afternoon .

as I say , sods law at play as ever

thanks
Russ

 

[Googlebot]

I would try waiting till dark and then pulling the fuse on the solar controller that won’t connect and putting it back in.

My smartshunt did this and disconnecting the power sorted it.

 

[Russ M]

I would try waiting till dark and then pulling the fuse on the solar controller that won’t connect and putting it back in.

My smartshunt did this and disconnecting the power sorted it.

Thanks for the quick reply
I’ve had a look at the fuses on the big blue inverter in the garage area. There are a lot of fuses but only one is labelled solar . The others just have numbers .
not sire I can tell which is the second solar fuse .
the one labelled solar is shown as 15v. There are 4 others with 15v fuses so it’s a fair assumption that one of these is the other solar ?
will it do any harm if I pull out all four fuses to check them . Or should I properly turn off the who,e system first . If so how would I do that ?
thanks again

 

[Googlebot]

Just turn off the main panel and pull the fuses you think. You will know you have the right one when the light stops blinking on the controller.

Pulling the fuses with everything off will be fine.

 

[Wissel]

I would suggest waiting until Monday morning and call eddievanbitz

He will know how your system is wired up.

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[Russ M]

I would suggest waiting until Monday morning and call eddievanbitz

He will know how your system is wired up.

Hi,
I will call them on monday anyway , was just hoping there was a simple fix that someone had done for a similar problem.
pulling the fuse and checking it cant do any harm ( or can it ? ) so I’ll try that .

 

[Revolvor]

Forget the fancy Apps. Just put a multimeter across the leisure battery when the sun is shining. If it's 13.4 volts or higher the solar is working. (even if it's only one panel) Relax and phone Eddie on Monday.

 

[Russ M]

X

 

[Russ M]

I’ve been out and removed the solar fuse . Looks ok so put it back. Also removed amd refitted the other 15v fuses in the hope one of them was the other solar .
still not working .
I attach a couple of photos of what I can see in my garage .
there are what seem to be the two solar panel boxes , which both have a blue light flashing . Hopefully this means the panels are both still working and that it’s simply a Bluetooth issue not transmitting to the control app ?

anyway , will wait till Monday and call vanbitz who can hopefully reassure or fix prior to my trip .
thaks all

 

[Russ M]

Forget the fancy Apps. Just put a multimeter across the leisure battery when the sun is shining. If it's 13.4 volts or higher the solar is working. (even if it's only one panel) Relax and phone Eddie on Monday.

Would if I could , but don’t have a multi meter

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[steveh57]

I do find the bluetooth / Victron Connect App can be temperamental, it will only connect to one device at a time, so check you've not forgotten a tablet etc that maybe still connected. If you've not already done so I would remove the bluetooth pairing just for the device that will not connect and start afresh.

 

[eddie]

If you want to check the panel is working, tomorrow, turn everything off, check the charge using the smart shunt, then check the charge on the Smartsolar App

if its less that the charge rate shown on the SmartShunt it’s a Bluetooth issue

 

[Russ M]

If you want to check the panel is working, tomorrow, turn everything off, check the charge using the smart shunt, then check the charge on the Smartsolar App

if its less that the charge rate shown on the SmartShunt it’s a Bluetooth issue

Thanks for the reply Eddie .
not sure what you mean about the different apps ?
when it was all installed , Ash downloaded the victron connect app for me . No other app .
the victron connect app showed the smart shunt and the two solar panels . So there were three links .
it now only shows one solar panel amd the smart shunt . One solar panel is missing so I can’t tell if it’s working or not .

are you saying there is another app I can download and try ?
thanks again

 

[eddie]

Thanks for the reply Eddie .
not sure what you mean about the different apps ?
when it was all installed , Ash downloaded the victron connect app for me . No other app .
the victron connect app showed the smart shunt and the two solar panels . So there were three links .
it now only shows one solar panel amd the smart shunt . One solar panel is missing so I can’t tell if it’s working or not .

are you saying there is another app I can download and try ?
thanks again

The Victron Smart Solar shows what you panel in doing, let’s say 2 amps

If you look at the Victron Smart Shunt it tells you whether the battery is charging or discharging

if you turn everything off, your Smart Solar 2 amp should show as a charge on the Smart Shunt.

So as you have two Smart Solar regulators, but can only ‘see’ one, your trying to work out if it’s a Bluetooth issue, or, if you have a problem with the solar panel

So, if the Smart Solar says 2 amps, and that Smart Shunt with everything turned off shows 4 amps, the 2nd panel is working fine and it’s a Bluetooth issue

 

[XxAnthxX]

Have you accidentally removed one of the smart solar regulators from the app?

in the app try searching for and re-adding the missing controller.

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[Russ M]

Have you accidentally removed one of the smart solar regulators from the app?

in the app try searching for and re-adding the missing controller.

Hi. That’s not the issue but thanks for the message. I’ve tried searching for missing solar and it isn’t showing in either the app or on my phone. there is clearly a Bluetooth issue from the solar

The Victron Smart Solar shows what you panel in doing, let’s say 2 amps

If you look at the Victron Smart Shunt it tells you whether the battery is charging or discharging

if you turn everything off, your Smart Solar 2 amp should show as a charge on the Smart Shunt.

So as you have two Smart Solar regulators, but can only ‘see’ one, your trying to work out if it’s a Bluetooth issue, or, if you have a problem with the solar panel

So, if the Smart Solar says 2 amps, and that Smart Shunt with everything turned off shows 4 amps, the 2nd panel is working fine and it’s a Bluetooth issue

Many thanks Eddie.
I’ve done as you suggest and it seems the “missing “ solar panel is still charging the battery.
The smart solar shows 1.1 amps and the smart shunt shows 2.2 amps so that’s exactly double.
I assume from your message this means the panel is still working. I attach two screenshots for you to check please , am I reading the correct info ?

that leaves a Bluetooth problem with the solar regulator ?
ive again reinstalled the app and rebooted my phone. No other devices have the app installed.
It still only finds the smartshunt and one solar. Must be a Bluetooth issue with the solar.
I’ll ring you tomorrow to see what the options there are with this issue , bearing in mind it’s a newly fitted system
thanks again for your help today
Russ

 

[Raul]

Try this fix, it worked for me. Go to Bluetooth device you connect with and forget the devices you missing; the solar charger. Then open the victron connect app and scan for Bluetooth devices. Re pair, and it works. Make sure your app is up to date.

 

[Russ M]

Try this fix, it worked for me. Go to Bluetooth device you connect with and forget the devices you missing; the solar charger. Then open the victron connect app and scan for Bluetooth devices. Re pair, and it works. Make sure your app is up to date.

Thanks.
tried that. I did “forget this device “ on my phones Bluetooth list yesterday . I reinstalled the victron app but it doesnt find the missing solar.
this missing solar doesnt now show in my phones Bluetooth either . Pretty sure now that this is a Bluetooth fault on the solar .

 

[eddie]

Try this fix, it worked for me. Go to Bluetooth device you connect with and forget the devices you missing; the solar charger. Then open the victron connect app and scan for Bluetooth devices. Re pair, and it works. Make sure your app is up to date.

What he said

 

[Raul]

Thanks.
tried that. I did “forget this device “ on my phones Bluetooth list yesterday . I reinstalled the victron app but it doesnt find the missing solar.
this missing solar doesnt now show in my phones Bluetooth either . Pretty sure now that this is a Bluetooth fault on the solar .

That’s a first of this fault I hear. The way round this, is to borrow a Bluetooth dongle and plug in the VE direct port of the controller. If works that way then the BT built in has failed. Maybe total re boot of the controller could restore function. That can be done by disconnecting the solar and the battery. The re connect the battery and see if is life on BT.

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[XxAnthxX]

Please be aware if you have accidentally switched Bluetooth off on that device it may need connecting to a PC to turn it back on again.

See the last paragraph on this post from the Victron community forum.

 

[eddie]

Hi. That’s not the issue but thanks for the message. I’ve tried searching for missing solar and it isn’t showing in either the app or on my phone. there is clearly a Bluetooth issue from the solar


Many thanks Eddie.
I’ve done as you suggest and it seems the “missing “ solar panel is still charging the battery.
The smart solar shows 1.1 amps and the smart shunt shows 2.2 amps so that’s exactly double.
I assume from your message this means the panel is still working. I attach two screenshots for you to check please , am I reading the correct info ?

that leaves a Bluetooth problem with the solar regulator ?
ive again reinstalled the app and rebooted my phone. No other devices have the app installed.
It still only finds the smartshunt and one solar. Must be a Bluetooth issue with the solar.
I’ll ring you tomorrow to see what the options there are with this issue , bearing in mind it’s a newly fitted system
thanks again for your help today
Russ

Yes the Bluetooth on one of the solar regulators is not working for some reason

You said that your going on holiday Tuesday, everything is working OK except the App, and now you know how to "check" the output of the panels without needing the Smart Solar App, why not go and enjoy your holiday and contact us on your return and we can either send you a replacement Victron Regulator to swap over, easily done with just for wires into screw terminals or, if you'd prefer make an appointment to come into us and we'll swap the regulator over.

 

[eddie]

Please be aware if you have accidentally switched Bluetooth off on that device it may need connecting to a PC to turn it back on again.

See the last paragraph on this post from the Victron community forum.

View attachment 533468

Good point, I'd forgotten that you can switch it off. I assume that the OP would remember if he's turned it off? Mind you some days I don't remember what I did yesterday

 

[eddie]

That’s a first of this fault I hear. The way round this, is to borrow a Bluetooth dongle and plug in the VE direct port of the controller. If works that way then the BT built in has failed. Maybe total re boot of the controller could restore function. That can be done by disconnecting the solar and the battery. The re connect the battery and see if is life on BT.

That's pretty much what the Victron trouble shooting guide suggests

 

[Russ M]

Yes the Bluetooth on one of the solar regulators is not working for some reason

You said that your going on holiday Tuesday, everything is working OK except the App, and now you know how to "check" the output of the panels without needing the Smart Solar App, why not go and enjoy your holiday and contact us on your return and we can either send you a replacement Victron Regulator to swap over, easily done with just for wires into screw terminals or, if you'd prefer make an appointment to come into us and we'll swap the regulator over.

Thanks very much Eddie.
as you say , now we think the panel is actually working ( it’s just a Bluetooth / app issue) we will go on our trip this week and then arrange to bring it up later in the month.
I’ll ring the office tomorrow to set that.
thanks again for your help
Ps. Out of interest , If I was going to switch the regulator myself how would I know which of the two is the faulty one ? They seem identical
Russ

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[eddie]

They have serial numbers which you can check through the App

 

[Russ M]

They have serial numbers which you can check through the App

If I could check the app for them both I would
Sorry , couldn’t resist.

 

[Ditcha]

I switched the Bluetooth off on my smart shunt and came out of the app then couldn't reconnect or see the shunt with Bluetooth, ended up purchasing a VE Direct to usb cable to re enabled it all's well now.

 

[Russ M]

I switched the Bluetooth off on my smart shunt and came out of the app then couldn't reconnect or see the shunt with Bluetooth, ended up purchasing a VE Direct to usb cable to re enabled it all's well now.

Interesting.
what exactly is it if need to get ?
eddievanbitz / is this something we should try , is it worth you sending me one of these cables ?

 

[XxAnthxX]

Interesting.
what exactly is it if need to get ?
eddievanbitz / is this something we should try , is it worth you sending me one of these cables ?

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