I have Targus ACB75A USB Bluetooth adapter and up until 6 days ago I could reliably connect to my Cerbo GX (Version 1) over Victron Connect and the Cerbo could read the temperatures from my two Ruuvi temperature sensors. Approx 6 days ago this stopped working. Settings->Connectivity->Bluetooth says: “No Bluetooth available” and next level down in the menu gives the “Connect a compatible Bluetooth USB dongle to enable Bluetooth connectivity.” message.
There’s also no UX option to show the Bluetooth Ruuvi sensors anymore. Pretty sure there was one before. My device VRM website still shows the sensors, but reports them as 'last seen 6 days ago". I’ll keep them as proof to show I am not getting crazy.
The BT LED on the Cerbo is off (from recollection it used to be solid orange). I short pressed the connections on/off (reset) button on the Cerbo. Wifi goes on and off, BT LED stays off.
Just to be sure and exclude the possibility of a sudden HW failure in the Targus BT adapter I bought a TP-Link UB5A today (which AFAIK is a UB500 variant). Both the Targus and the new TP-Link do not work (after a power cycle). Since the Targus used to work, I am therefore pretty sure this is a SW bug and not a HW problem.
I have the most recent Venus 3.72 SW version running. I did a ‘factory reset’ today (yes, from 3.72 to 3.72) to disable the ‘Custom scripts that were a left over from the experimental UX days’ and status is reported as OK and custom scripts are reported as disabled. I do not know when 3.72 was originally installed but I suspect it was recent (and maybe even exactly 6 days ago). I previously had SW upgrades configured as auto updates (I changed that now to ‘check only’).
I have been reading up on documentation but the documentation is confusing and seems to refer to UX features from previous versions that are no longer there. I am reading that I need to switch off the internal BT and then the external BT will be automatically recognised. But THERE IS NO menu option to switch off the internal BT.
Yes I am aware that the TP-Link UB400 is suggested as the gold standard, but this version is not for sale anywhere I tried. I am traveling and buying something on-line and having it sent off to a post office is not very practical so I am limited to what local electronic shops such as Jaycar, Officeworks and JB-Hifi have to offer. I bought the Targus a few months ago, and it worked well. I tried another adapter before that and it didn’t work (have forgotten the model but pretty certain it as a more bleeding edge version that might not be supported by Venus/Linux). Today I bought a TP-Link UB5A and it also doesn’t work.
So some guidance to get this working again would be appreciated or if it’s a SW problem that Victron is working on, just say the word and I’ll patiently wait until it is fixed.
It would be great if Victron took some responsibility for the fact that they botched up the BT on the original Cerbo and at least give proper support by telling its customers which recent BT modules, i.e. the ones I can buy in a shop right now (as opposed to 4 years ago) are known to work. I’m OK to fork out $20 to buy a new BT adapter if that solves the problem. But I am NOT OK to have to buy every bloody BT adapter available on the market until I find one that works.