question

Michael Schmidt avatar image
Michael Schmidt asked

Zigbee not making connection with EM24 and CCGX

Hello, i have a problem to establish Zigbee Connection from EM24 to CCGX.


The documentation of zigbee is horrible...

is there something known about the LED Behaviour of the zigbees?


my rs485 zigbee status:

Active LED: blinking rapidly
TX/RX LED: NO ACTIVITY


my USB zigbee status:

Active LED : on
TX/RX LED: blinking (maybe 1hz)


maybe somebody has an idea whats going wrong?
Or Maybe additional informations about LED Behavior or Button Functionality of zigbee?


best regards

Michael

Energy Meter
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irontom16 avatar image irontom16 commented ·

Dear Michael,

I have exactly the same issue with 2 pairs of ZigBees.

Two weeks before I purchased 1 pair and because I couldn't establish a connection, i ordered a second pair last week. Same problem:

RS485 Zigbee status (DRF2659C):

Active LED: blinking rapidly

TX/RX LED: NO ACTIVITY


USB Zigbee status (DRF2618A):

Active LED : on
TX/RX LED: blinking


I also have a 3rd pair, probably 1 year old. This is working without problems (DRF2619C, DRF2618A).


The 2 newer pairs (DRF2659C, DRF2618A) are marked with "Zigbee2nd" but on the old one it is just "Zigbee"


BR

Thomas

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Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) avatar image Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) ♦♦ irontom16 commented ·

Thanks for reporting as well @IronTom16, I will pass along your report as well.

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Michael Schmidt avatar image Michael Schmidt irontom16 commented ·

Hello Thomas,


thanks for your information. So im glad that im not alone with this :)

think there might be an issue with batch of the zigbee usb transmiter.


i opened a rma with my supplier now and keep you up to date here.


best regards

michael

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5 Answers
Daniël Boekel (Victron Energy Staff) avatar image
Daniël Boekel (Victron Energy Staff) answered ·

Hi @Michael Schmidt, @IronTom16

We've found out the (possible) cause of connecting issues, and updated the manuals on this:


note on old and new zigbee converters

Please note that there is a new zigbee converter available now, that is -not- backwards compatible with the old converters.

If you have a non compatible set, please ask your supplier for a correct version.

'old' type:

ASS300400100 - Zigbee to RS485 converter partnumber: DRF2619C

ASS300400100 - Zigbee to USB converter partnumber: DRF2618A

'new' type:

ASS300420100 - Zigbee to RS485 converter partnumber: DRF2659C

ASS300420200 - Zigbee to USB converter partnumber: DRF2658C


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Michael Schmidt avatar image Michael Schmidt commented ·

Hello Daniel,

thanks a lot this lights the problem up.


I will contact my supplier to receive correct set.


After this i will post the result here.


best regards

Michael

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Michael Schmidt avatar image Michael Schmidt Michael Schmidt commented ·

After receiving a set of Zigbee "2nd" (maybe Generation) it was possible to connect them.

Was not easy out of the Box they was not pairing automatic. Needed to pres Function tripple or twice and long reset togeter. then pairing startet and was finished after maybe 10 sec.

STILL not Documented what the exact way is :)

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duncan-lee avatar image
duncan-lee answered ·

Hi

I've tried 3 zigbee-usb with zigbee-rs485 and and one work straight out of the box.

I now have 2 zigbee-usb pairs that don't work!

symptom is the zigbee-usb first plugged into ccgx and just the power led lights no tx/rx flashing as the victron manual says it should!

The RS485 just has the active LED flashing.

Question which one of the pair is the master and should therefore initiate the pairing?

what do the buttons do?

Can you hard reset to a factory default that should work?


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ccc-telecom avatar image ccc-telecom commented ·
The documentation on this product is inadequate, I had one unit blow up, and needed to pair a replacement, so how exactly do you do a reset on the paired device, trial and error and two weeks wasted time, thats how
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Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) avatar image
Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) answered ·

Hi @Michael Schmidt,

Is this the documentation procedure steps that you followed when first connecting the unit?

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Michael Schmidt avatar image Michael Schmidt commented ·

Hi Guy,

glad to hear from you that soon. Customer will be here at lunch and yesterday i received the zigbee. so im in little trouble now :)

yes i did the procedure as in the Manual.


but Led behavior of RS485 Zigbee as above.

Active LED: blinking rapidly
TX/RX LED: NO ACTIVITY


is there is possibility for total reset to repeat the procedure?

should the TX/RX led from rs485 zigbee blinking?

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Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) avatar image Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) ♦♦ Michael Schmidt commented ·

For a complete restart, I think some software required, I haven't done it before, so also looking into it now.

The manual for the Zigbee product from it's manufacturer is here - 10201-drf-zigbee-module-v52e.pdf

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Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) avatar image Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) ♦♦ Michael Schmidt commented ·

@Michael Schmidt

I have the units on my bench here and I cannot recreate your LED code combination of Blinking ACTIVE LED.

On the RS485 units; With only the DC power supply connected (and measured with a multimeter between 5-28V), disconnect the RS485 communications socket.

Press and hold the reset button.

Doing this on my unit (with the USB side disconnected) I get a solid Active LED and a 3 HZ TX/RX LED on the RS485 unit for ~60 seconds.

Still with the RS485 comms cable to the energy meter disconnected, if I connect the USB converter to the Cerbo GX.

I get the same Solid Active, and 3 hz TX/RX on both for 30 seconds.

Then Solid Active and 1 hz TX/RX on the RS485 converter.

If I then connect the RS485 to Energy meter comms cable.

The both the USB side and the RS485 side begins much more frequent blinking (intermittent 5-8 hz) and the Energy meter shows up on the Cerbo GX.

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Michael Schmidt avatar image Michael Schmidt Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) ♦♦ commented ·

Hello Guy,

ok this set zigbee is dilivered to customer, but tomorrow i will recive additional set an try your instruction.

Thanks already a lot

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Michael Schmidt avatar image Michael Schmidt Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) ♦♦ commented ·

Hello Guy,

checked now with second pair of zigbee USB and Zigbee RS485.


Doing this on my unit (with the USB side disconnected) I get a solid Active LED and a 3 HZ TX/RX LED on the RS485 unit for ~60 seconds.

I tryed the same (USB zigbee is disconnected) and RS 485 only powerd by 12V.

RESULT:

RS485 to Zigbe device its only
-blinking Active LED (approx 3hz)
-no TX/RX activity on LED (not on and not blinking)


Guy can you maybe try this with Zigbee devices of actual shipped batch?
i had this exactly same behavior on 2 different divices now!


best regards

Michael


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Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) avatar image Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) ♦♦ Michael Schmidt commented ·

Thanks for reporting back.

I can’t reproduce here, and will be waiting some time for a new replacement unit to check.

So will try to escalate this and see if we can get to the bottom of it (and improve the documentation at the same time).

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Michael Schmidt avatar image Michael Schmidt Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) ♦♦ commented ·

Hello Guy,

do you already have some news for me?


best regards

Michael

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Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) avatar image Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) ♦♦ Michael Schmidt commented ·

I asked internally at Victron.

No one else has seen your issue, these things all worked out of the box when following the instructions, up and running in 10 minutes.

I was told to suggest you RMA with your supplier to see if they can reproduce the issue, and then go from there.

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quentin-bligh avatar image quentin-bligh Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) ♦♦ commented ·
Hi Guy, See my question below to Daniel, but I'm hoping you may have more info. My wholesaler is understaffed due to illness and has not been able to help. I tried your reset and pairing description multiple times and did not get the reset to produce a solid LED. But it did seem to pair, though no meter shows up on the Cerbo.
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luke85 avatar image luke85 Michael Schmidt commented ·
Hi,


What was the solution to this in the end? Today I unpacked a new pair of zigbee devices (ASS300420100 and ASS300420200) and I cannot get them to connect.


I followed the victron procedure exactly. But when I plugged in the USB side to the Cerbo, all I got was a solid blue "Active" LED. The other LED stayed off.

I powered up the RS485 side, and just get a flashing active LED (I guess around 3-4hz)

No TX or RX on either device

This is how I am stuck whatever I try.


Powering them up and down doesn't seem to make a difference, and I have disconnected the RS485 device from the energy meter (EM24), it is still the same. The reset button seems to just interrupt the power, and then the devices come back on exactly as they were.

My Cerbo is running firmware 2.72

I have read the detailed zigbee documentation from the manufacturer posted above, but the download link for the configuration software in it doesn't work any more. Is it worth trying to chase this? I feel like I shouldn't have to go to this length to get a brand new pair working.


Is it possible that I have a pair of devices which have already been pared and need to be reset somehow?

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luke85 avatar image luke85 luke85 commented ·

For anyone who finds this in the future, I found my answer in this thread on the forum:


https://community.victronenergy.com/questions/78982/zigbee-usb-setup-failure.html


Big thanks to Duncan-lee for it

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Michael Schmidt avatar image Michael Schmidt commented ·

ok but dont think this is necessary because none zigebee devices are around here.


do you maybe have documentation about led behavior?

this might be very helpful for debugging.

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Daniël Boekel (Victron Energy Staff) avatar image
Daniël Boekel (Victron Energy Staff) answered ·

To add to what Guy already wrote: we're looking into this, and will update when we know more.

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quentin-bligh avatar image quentin-bligh commented ·

Hi Daniel, I have had a few weeks of trying to sort out this issue for a customer.

I have tried @Guy Stewart instructions above but have not had the same response with the LED's, (the power led did not go solid after reset). They seem to be paired though with the Tx light flashing about 1Hz RS485 to 1-5-8Hz USB. It can be proved to be connected by placing an object in between causes the Tx LED to stop flashing. (about 30m distance and some soft vegetation in between)

But I have had no luck getting the 112 Energy Meter to show up on the Cerbo GX. This is the main issue, but I'm not sure it is on the Cerbo side or the Zigbee side.

I have updated the Cerbo to the latest firmware 2.7 and both units are the new versions of the Zigbee's and rebooted the Cerbo numerous times.

What is the latest information on this issue?

What is the LED light significance?

Thanks

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hsaman avatar image
hsaman answered ·

Hi there, I am recently playing with usb-zigbee(2658c) and 485-zigbee(2659c) module to work with victron venus OS and ET340 and no success that connection appears on venus. I have tried usb-zigbee connected to PC and use DTK configuration software, that works well, I was able to change usb-zigbee to coordinator and than I got solid activity led. After 3x push function key on 485 I get it both connected and both usb coordinator and 485 as router was visible on DTK software, with possibility to adjust any parameters described in DTK manuals. But I do not have any responce from venus, except I can see usb by lsusb in terminal, but no communication? What should be main parameters of these two modules to be recognized by venus ?

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