Victron Connect (Win 10 PC) cannot detect any devices

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raw asked Jan 24, '22

Victron Connect (Win 10 PC) cannot detect any devices

Set up:

Two separate battery units each with a BMV-702 battery monitors
Serial connections to a common Phoenix terminal server.
Laptop connected (via Ethernet) to the terminal server
Laptop has COM port setup to the terminal server.
All software and COM ports are correctly setup
Open PuTTY terminal software and connect to the assigned COM ports and they connect OK, and data from the BMV-702 can be seen - al good, setup confirmed.
Open older BMV reader software, choose the COM port and the BMV data can be observed.
So the setup is 100% OK..
Open Victron Connect (tried versions 5.3, 5.8, 5.52) none of them will detect the BMV-702's
Interestingly, while the Victron Connect is open, it is holding the two COM ports, so it has detected the two COM ports ok (and held them) but fails to progress. I know they are held because I cannot connect by PuTTY while Victron connect is active.
We tried another Win 10 laptop - same issue.
All Windows firewalls were disabled, etc.
To me it looks like the issue is with the BMV-702 (firmware?), because I have the same setup working OK last year on another system that was built

any suggestions...very welcome

it would be really good if the Victron Connect allowed you an option to assign the com ports to use...

BMV Battery Monitor VictronConnect

victronconnect-not-working.mp4 (23.1 MiB)

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Modifications Space

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Answer 1 · 2022-01-24T08:53:24Z

Thiemo van Engelen (Victron Energy staff) answered · Jan 24, 2022 at 08:53 AM

Hi

Can you perhaps make a service report and post that in a comment here? The procedure is described here: https://ve3.nl/VictronConnect_How-to-create-a-VictronConnect-Service-Report

Kind regards,

Thiemo van Engelen

5

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raw commented · Jan 25, 2022 at 02:22 AM

Hi @Thiemo van Engelen (Victron Energy staff)

I will endeavour to do so..and update ASAP
Please also see more details in my post below

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raw raw commented · Jan 25, 2022 at 02:33 AM

Hi again @Thiemo van Engelen (Victron Energy staff)

Please find the service report attached.

VictronConnectIssue.log

This was using the following hardware configuration below:

Thanks...

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hardware-setup-for-service-report.jpg (73.9 KiB)

victronconnectissue.log (53.2 KiB)

Thiemo van Engelen (Victron Energy staff) ♦ raw commented · Jan 25, 2022 at 08:47 AM

Hi @RAW

Thank you for the service log. This actually was helpful for both the situation with the Phoenix terminal server and the situation with the USB/RS-232 cable.

In the case of the USB/RS-232 cable, it seems that data transmitted by the PC is never received by the BMV. Perhaps this is an electrical problem that the USB/RS-232 is not providing enough current to power the isolation in the RS-232/VE.Direct cable, perhaps this is a software problem where the software does not properly initialize the flow control pins.

In the case of the Phoenix terminal, it seems that the Qt programming framework that we use for VictronConnect runs into a problem when trying to open the COM ports of the phoenix terminal server. Because of this, it does not want to communicate. We have not idea what the underlying reason is and it will probably not be solved on a short notice.

Kind regards,

Thiemo van Engelen

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raw Thiemo van Engelen (Victron Energy staff) ♦ commented · Jan 25, 2022 at 12:36 PM

Hello @Thiemo van Engelen (Victron Energy staff)

Firstly, I very much appreciate the quick response on this inquiry – thanks

I’m pleased the log assisted in identifying possible issues.

For the Laptop > USB-RS232 > RS232-VE.Direct issue (possible power issue) – maybe worth trying an active power USB hub – yes?

The fact it is not working is both very intriguing and disappointing, especially as this was previously all working OK on an identical system mid-last year.

In fact, on the original prototype system (early 2020), I had successfully set up Victron Connect connection on my colleague’s PC, which was connected to the office network.

In between the office network was a router that used NAT to the terminal server. It work perfectly first time.

We were very pleased as this represented our intended customer experience. We wanted to enable remote monitoring of the BMV’s from a central location across mine’s wireless network.

I’ve successfully deployed similar setups with Enerdrive e-Pro battery monitors and using Dashboard software remotely.

So something has changed…

I will add that I know we recently had to update the Windows PC drivers and the firmware for the Phoenix TS (https://www.phoenixcontact.com/online/portal/us?uri=pxc-oc-itemdetail:pid=2702760&library=usen&tab=1)

So there is a possible influence there, I will see if we have a Win7 laptop available.

As the BMV data is broadcasting in all connection cases (seen on PuTTY) maybe we will need to write our own application to remotely monitor the BMV

Please let me know if you can think of anything in addition to try/test.

Regards

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raw Thiemo van Engelen (Victron Energy staff) ♦ commented · Jan 27, 2022 at 01:53 AM

Hi @Thiemo van Engelen (Victron Energy staff)

some updates:

No matter what the configuration setup, PuTTY connects and see the BMS data stream.

I tried RealTerm, data coming through OK and could see the DTR and RTS pins were high (set)

From the link: https://www.victronenergy.com/live/vedirect_protocol:faq:

"Please note that most RS232 drivers are inverting so the logic level of the DTR must be programmed to zero in most cases. When one of those pins is not driven high, you will not be able to receive data!"

So I cleared them, DTR and RTS clear, but didn’t seem to make any difference, data still visible, once RealTerm is closed, they return high again.

I tried a WIN7 PC and another Phoenix TS (that had not been FW upgraded) same result, PuTTY, RealTerm, BMV Reader all connect ,all work, Victron Connect doesn’t detect any hardware (but holds the COM ports)

0 ·

realterm-connected.mp4 (8.5 MiB)

Answer 2 · 2022-01-25T02:19:30Z

@Thiemo van Engelen (Victron Energy staff)
Here is some more information:

Setup

We have two battery modules each with a BMV-702 (FW3.11)
The BMV-702 are connected to a Phoenix Terminal server (Ethernet to RS232) via RS232-VE.Direct cable
(REF: https://www.victronenergy.com.au/accessories/ve-direct-to-rs232-interface)
COM Port redirection is setup on the PC with the Phoenix Terminal server.
This then enables a the PC (Win 10) to monitor the battery modules using Victron Connect (v5.52)
This was all previously working early last year.
The setup of the Phoenix Terminal server and COM ports are OK
If I use a terminal software (like PuTTY) I can connect to the two BMV’s and see the data stream
If I use older BMV Reader software, I can select the COM ports and it connects to the BMV’s and I can see the data.
However if I use Victron Connect, it cannot detect the BMV’s – BUT interestingly, it does hold the COM ports, but cannot seem to resolve the device?
I have captured this in a short video:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tGZqzB60Y9JaVmTq8_M8bV5VfkyUA2jZ/view?usp=sharing

This is the diagram below:

Checks:

Part 1: Direct Connection

Connected the PC to the one of the BMVs directly using a USB-VE.Direct cable

(REF: https://www.victronenergy.com/accessories/ve-direct-to-usb-interface)

This worked OK – Victron Connect can detect and connect to the BMV

Part 2:

Removed the Phoenix terminal server from the equation.
Connected the PC to a generic USB-RS232 Adapter cable, then connected the Victron RS232-VE.Dircct cable to between the adapter cable and the BMV, as shown.
PuTTY terminal can see BMV data OK
This time BMV Reader could not connect

Victron Connect could not detect, but again was holding the COM port, so testing with PuTTY could not access the COM port while VC was open.

Answer 3 · 2022-01-31T07:17:08Z

raw answered · Jan 31, 2022 at 07:17 AM

Hi @Thiemo van Engelen (Victron Energy staff)

good news...problem solved....
Cabling...
The PuTTY and BMV Reader had us fooled and chasing ghosts...

Cabling had also been checked, but this was the issue.

In our two battery modules, we use a 1/2 of a VE.Direct - VE.Direct cable in each one... and on this build we got the "wrong half" which meant the colours/pin outs were reversed...

Once the orientation of the connections was reversed the Victron Connect worked :)

No more action required... good day to all!

bms-comms-setup.jpg (146.0 KiB)

victron-connect-now-working.jpg (128.3 KiB)

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