Victron Bluetooth dongle question

[chadjones99]

Hello all , I have a question about the Victron Bluetooth dongle. So right now my system has 2x Victron 100/30 charge controllers 1- 75/10 charge controller, 1-BP ( dumb one no Bluetooth ) 1- smart shunt. these are all the smart blue models with blue tooth, I do not have a central "hub" like a CerboGX, instead, they all communicate with each over direct Bluetooth I believe its called the VE.Smart networking.
So here's my question I need to add a 150/70 charge controller and I can save a 100$ for the none Bluetooth model and I already have a Bluetooth dongle I bought a while back by mistake. Can I use this to turn the none Bluetooth charge controller into a "smart blue" model ? i ask because I didn't know if it was for CerboGx use only.

 

[sunshine_eggo]

If it plugs into a VE.Direct port, and the BlueSolar has a VE.Direct port, I believe it will work. If you got the VE.Bus bluetooth smart dongle, it will not work.



However,

https://www.victronenergy.com/upload/documents/VE.Direct_Bluetooth_Smart_dongle_manual/VE_Direct_Bluetooth_Smart_dongle_-_Manual-en.pdf

The dongle can be used with any Victron Energy product that is equipped with a VE.Direct port (with exception of GX devices. It is especially useful for products that do not have built-in Bluetooth, such as: BMV 700 and 702 battery monitors, Phoenix Inverters, VE.Direct or the BlueSolar MPPT Solar Charge Controllers.

1.3. Limitations
There are a few limitations to be aware of
• The VE.Direct Bluetooth Smart Dongle is not compatible with Windows PC
• Synchronised charging is not possible with VE.Smart Networking
• Stored trends is not supported.

I suspect it will work to allow you to see and configure it, but it will not be able to coordinate with the other chargers in the VE.Smart Network.

 

[chadjones99]

Thanks for the input i did read samething on the Victron website that your quoted, about the sync, charging but that is one thing I wanted to do, but the main thing besides configuring it is the low charging temp set point, it needs to see the temperature displaced by the smart shut ..

 

[chadjones99]

another thing I noticed is the range of the Bluetooth on these devices are good other than the shunt. that range is short .

 

[sunshine_eggo]

Thanks for the input i did read samething on the Victron website that your quoted, about the sync, charging but that is one thing I wanted to do, but the main thing besides configuring it is the low charging temp set point, it needs to see the temperature displaced by the smart shut ..

I would still expect the dongle to pass voltage, current and temp data from the smart shunt to the dongle in the VE.Smart network.

another thing I noticed is the range of the Bluetooth on these devices are good other than the shunt. that range is short .

Yeah. The Smartshunt is terrible. The transmitter is on the shunt itself, and I expect it is best from a single direction away from the huge chunk of metal. The BMV-712 BT transmitter is in the display and has excellent range.

 

[Wilbour]

We're you able to get the Bluetooth Dongle to connect with the Be.Smart Network?

I have an older non-smart charge controller and the dongle. I've now added the smart shunt and want to creat a network but the charge controller doesn't have a networking option, even with the Bluetooth Dongle attached.

The demo shows it but even with the firmware updated I cannot see it.