My Samsung Android phone recently got corrupted and I had to go through the process of rebuilding it from scratch. It is the phone I used to use to monitor the Victron SmartShunt in my RV and now I can no longer do a bluetooth connection to the SmartShunt. I have the PIN stored in my data safe so it is not that I don’t know the password, but for some reason I can not get connected and the device tells me I have the wrong PIN.
I have the Victron Connect app installed on a separate Samsung tablet and when I try to open a connection to the SmartShunt with that I get a message telling me that the SmartShunt already has a BT connection to another device and only one such connection can exist, and that I have to disconnect from that device. But I can not get connected with that device to allow me to disconnect.
It seems odd to me. With the Samsung Android phone I do not even see the SmartShunt when trying to BT connect using the BT setup functionality but do see it using the Victron Connect app, but it rejects my PIN. When I use the Samsung tablet I do see the SmartShunt in the BT setup but get the “already connected to a different device” message when I try to connect and I don’t know if I can get that message if the shunt does not accept my PIN.
Is there anything I can do to fix this problem other than buying and installing a new SmartShunt? There does not seem to be a hardware reset on the SmartShunt or, if there is, I can’t find it. I know I can use the PUK number of the back of the shunt to reset the PIN but I don’t know if I can even reset the PIN if I can’t get a BT connection to the device and I don’t know what the PUK is. I would have to disconnect and remove the device from the battery compartment to look at the PUK and then reinstall it but I would rather not do that because it was installed in a very difficult location by the folks who installed the batteries and SmartShunt.
And I am not sure how to get to the Access Reset Option you mentioned. If I go to the Devices listing there is settings option accessible from the three bars in the upper left corner of the app, but when I open that I do not get a Factory Reset choice. And if the settings is supposed to be in the page for the SmartShunt itself, then I can not get to it because I can not open the device due to it not accepting the PIN.
I will have to look into what a VE direct connection is. At the moment the only connection I have is BT and that is not working …
Right now the only Victron device I have on this RV is the SmartShunt and I don’t think that is a GX device. On my previous RV I had 3 Victron devices, a SmartShunt, a DC-DC controller and an MPPT solar controller, and I expect as I add more solar to add more Victron devices to this RV. But with only 200 watts of solar and an existing MPPT solar controller I have not had to replace anything else.
OK. I have done some research and found out that my SmartShunt does support a VE. Direct connection and that I can buy the cable from Amazon. But what else do I need? Is it enough to buy the cable, connect it to my Mac, download any needed drivers and the Victron app for the computer? Or do I need additional hardware to use the VE. Direct connection? Do I also need a dongle? Or anything else?
Can you see the GX device in VictronConnect (Phone or Tablet)
The only Victron device that I currently have is the SmartShunt and I can see that in the Victron Connect app. I can see it, but I can not connect to it with any of my Apple or Android devices. As far as I know the SmartShunt is not a GX device.
You suggested using a VE.Direcdt cable and I asked if that was all I needed for connection to my MacBook Air, or if I also needed some additional hardware like a dongle. I still have that question. Does the VE.Direct cable make a direct connection between the Victron device and a laptop? Or is another device needed for the connection?
If you are referring to the SmartShunt display in the VictronConnect app, then no, it is not grayed out. It is a normal display and I can select it and try to connect. It is the connect that fails, telling me that I have the wrong PIN. I don’t have the wrong PIN, so something has happened to the shunt’s memory storage or micro-code, or something else has changed the PIN.
This whole thread is about what I can do to try to reset the PIN and get access to the shunt information. As it is I have no decent way to determine the battery condition since I can not see if the battery is charging or discharging, or what its current state of charge is.
I will order the cable and see if that helps. I don’t know if I connect the cable between the shunt and my computer if I will be able to reset it if I can not do a BT connection. I assume that if I have the USB connection I can access the device. My only question is whether or not it will allow me to do a reset if I don’t have whatever the shunt thinks its PIN is. That is, I worry that it will ask me for the PIN for identification.
You don’t need a cable to reset the PIN, you just need the PUK code which is on the serial number label affixed to the device.
Open VictronConnect, look for your SmartShunt in the Device List, click the “3 vertical dots” popup menu to the right of the listing which will pop up a dialog box, click “reset PIN”, and enter the PUK code. The PIN will be reset to 000000.
This is described, and example photo shown, in the VictronConnect user manual here: 3. Connecting
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The problem is that the folks who did the install placed the shunt behind the batteries and it is difficult to get out. Of course the face with the PUK code is behind and I can not see it from the front and I would have to take out at least one battery to get to the shunt to unmount it so that I could turn it over. I am trying to avoid that by finding some other way to reset the PIN.
Have you double-checked that they didn’t place the extra sticker somewhere more accessible? Every one of these units comes with an extra sticker (newer units come with 2, in fact) that can be placed somewhere easily accessible, for exactly this scenario!
Otherwise, the factory-installed sticker will be on either the right or the left edge of the blue module on the front of the shunt (the computer, effectively), so it’s usually possible to stick a phone down on those sides and take a photo of the sticker. Since you’d have to clear some space to be able to plug a cable into it anyway, would certainly try some things like that before ordering more stuff!
