Smartsolar and BMV-712

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frillip1 asked Oct 22, '19

Smartsolar and BMV-712

Hello!

I have a Smartsolar 100/20 and I'm looking at acquiring a BMV-712 and associated temperature probe.

Currently the Smartsolar is connected to a Raspberry Pi via the VE.Direct USB cable. If I bought a BMV-712 and connected the two via bluetooth/smart networking, would the VE.Direct messages from the BMV appear on the VE.Direct interface of the Smartsolar, or vice versa, or would I need to buy another USB cable to be able to recieve data on the Pi from both?

I'd much prefer to not have to get another cable as USB ports are at a premium in my setup!

MPPT Controllers BMV Battery Monitor VE.Direct

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frillip1 commented · Oct 26, 2019 at 05:33 PM

Thank you to everyone for all the responses! I had expected I'd need another VE.Direct interface, but wanted to be sure as I can't be the only person with this idea!

I've made a few changes since this photo (swapped the Pi 3 A+ for a Pi 4 and ditched the cheapo USB hub, battery cables etc etc), but this is now deployed in a field with some panels, some WiFi cameras and an electric fence energiser, so looking at getting a BMV to more accurately get an idea of my battery's SoC so I can report it out on the dashboard I have running on the Pi. Might need a bigger box though...

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brinx38 answered · Oct 23, 2019 at 12:17 PM

you are definitely going to need two USB cables. I currently do this.

Only the batt voltage and batt temp go over from the BMV to the charge controller, but it's for "internal use only" to the charge controller. AFAIK, you are not able to access this transferred data directly.

don't know if you can see it clearly, but I have two plugged in.

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Modifications Space

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Answer 1 · 2019-10-22T23:26:51Z

Justin Cook answered · Oct 22, 2019 at 11:26 PM

@frillip1, I'm unfamiliar with the Pi setup and what's needed for it (this may actually be a better question for the Victron Modifications Space here: https://community.victronenergy.com/spaces/31/index.html ) but I can definitely tell you that the BT interfaces for the BMV and the MPPT are two separate items; your BMV messages will not appear on the MPPT, and your MPPT messages will not appear on the BMV.

I'd recommend getting a Venus GX or a CCGX; these will integrate the information from both your devices and you should be able to output to your Pi from there.

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Answer 2 · 2019-10-23T09:39:47Z

Mark answered · Oct 23, 2019 at 09:39 AM

Sorry, but yes you need a separate cable for each - regardless if you use a genuine Victron Venus device or a RPi.

The only difference is that with a RPi you need to use the more expensive VE.Direct to USB interface instead of a regular VE.Direct to VE.Direct cable.

The Bluetooth VE.Smart Network that you can create between the BMV and MPPT only shares limited information used for the purpose of improving the charge cycle.

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Answer 3 · 2019-10-24T12:28:48Z

dellmassive answered · Oct 24, 2019 at 12:28 PM

i have a similar setup, and had two use two USB-VE cables connected to the PI . . . . it didnt connect properly via Bluetooth either way around.

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