Victron Connect and BMV-712 - Latest software / firmware update issue with bluetooth range?

[Samsonite801]

So I have a Early-2015 Macbook (latest OS Monterey) which I install the Victron Connect app via the app store, then every month or couple months it may tell me there's an update available, so usually I click on Update, and no problem. Usually the updates help it out, offer more features, or something to that effect.

Well the other day I clicked Update to install Victron Connect Version 5.7.3, it did its thing, then of course I did all the firmwares on the BMV-712, and the two 250|100 charger firmwares, no problem right then.

But now the bluetooth range kinda stinks. The old version I only would get the occasional disconnect and reconnect on the BMV-712 (I am in front passenger seat with laptop, while BMV-712 is midway back in the motorhome in the kitchen wall, maybe 18-20 ft away, line of sight...

I notice on the release notes they forced upgrade of bluetooth driver...

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If I go a few feet closer, it works fine, but it used to always work from this location in the front seat (basically my office) since I installed the BMV a few months ago...

Is anyone else seeing this behavior with 5.73?

I'm to the point where I want to figure out how to somehow downgrade.

I also had an old Android tablet (which is not upgradable past Android Kit Kat 4.4.2), and I used to be able to run an older Victron Connect app version on it (just leave the tablet in view on the dashboard) and it would read the BMV-712 just fine, so I would just leave that on and use it instead, but this latest upgrade also broke that older app from being able to read live data off the BMV (only would read the freeze frame of the data when opening app, but never update live changes after that). So now that tablet is basically obsolete.

I might go buy a used iPad so I can at least run the latest Victron Connect app on it and try that for bluetooth range. But it's just not reliable connection at the same distance on my laptop anymore, it shows for 10 seconds then goes back into loading data, like repeated cycle, sometimes timing out saying unable to establish connection (please move closer to the unit).

Seems to work ok on the iPhone at similar distance still though.

 

[sunshine_eggo]

This is a bit on the old side, but rumblings about mac bluetooth compatibility are pretty common on community:

VictronConnect Bluetooth pairing on macOS 12.1 aka Monterey broken? - Victron Community

community.victronenergy.com

 

[Samsonite801]

This is a bit on the old side, but rumblings about mac bluetooth compatibility are pretty common on community:

VictronConnect Bluetooth pairing on macOS 12.1 aka Monterey broken? - Victron Community

community.victronenergy.com

Cool, thanks for sharing the thread, that's informative to know that Monterrey has been known to be problematic. It does seem like the laptop is having the struggle, and the phone seems to be fine. And on the laptop, it seems like every other version of the Victron Connect app update, it would sometimes crash, or when you try to close the app gracefully, it would pop up the crash dialogue, then an upgrade would fix that, then another upgrade it would start doing that again. On this current version now, the app always can be closed gracefully as it should, it just doesn't seem to have the same range as before, so it just gets into an endless cycle of breaking connection, reconnecting, etc..

It's fine, I just bought a used iPad cheap on eBay just to run Victron Connect on, on forefront, because I was really liking to just have the geek information display sitting right there (the BMV native LCD display only shows one value like SoC and is too far away to see it from my chair)...