Good Day, I am having some issue trying to connect to my Victron devices via Bluetooth.
Details:
I’m experiencing a pairing issue with my Victron devices after switching to a new phone (OnePlus 12, Android 15). My old phone (OnePlus 7T Pro, Android 12) connects without issues.
Devices:
Victron Energy Blue Smart IP22 Charger 12/30
Victron Energy SmartShunt IP65 500A
Steps Taken:
Turned off the old phone to avoid conflicts.
Installed Victron Connect on the new phone.
Opened the app; devices populate on the home screen.
Attempted to connect to a device.
Device reaches 80%, requests PIN.
Entered PIN (000000).
Connection pauses at 80%, resets to 0%, and repeats the PIN request loop.
Troubleshooting:
Iv reset the PIN using the PUK code, and also by using the old phone which can still connect.
I’ve verified the PIN (000000) works on the old phone, but not on the new.
Bluetooth works fine with other devices on new phone (e.g., headphones).
Since the devices pair with my old phone, this seems to be a software or app compatibility issue with the OnePlus 12. Does anyone have suggestions for resolving this?
As I see more people with problems mention that audio works fine, some extra background information:
Our products use Bluetooth Low Energy and audio uses Bluetooth BR/EDR. These standards are maintained by the same organization and share parts of the protocol/specification, but they are quite different in a lot of aspects. They are also treated differently in Android / iOS in what software can and cannot do. So the fact that headphones work is unfortunately only evidence that the Bluetooth chip works (for the most part).
Thank you for the report. Unfortunately this does not give an answer on what it going wrong. It does show that the phone thinks it is indeed bonding. The pincode popup did show and you filled in a pincode? If that is the case, it looks like the phone is not sending the PIN to the SmartShunt. Do you also have another app installed that communicates with “gadgets” (using Bluetooth Low Energy)? This might “intercept” the bonding request.
What you can also try is trying to pair via the Android bluetooth menu. This is normally not advised but it is worth the try.
What you can also try with the IP22 Smart Charger is connect with the IP22 charger within nRF Connect. nRF Connect then opens a tab specifically for that device. You can then open a menu using the three dots in the top right (next to Disconnect), and the top item should be bond. When you press this, it should also try to bond and show the pincode popup and perhaps more information when it fails.
I have been experiencing this exact same issue with an Android 12 phone. If I try to pair directly from Android, the 3 LEDs flash together 5-8 times on the device and stop. It is not long enough to enter the PIN and pairing fails too.
I have a question / comment about this issue. Thanks to the guy who used nRf app. And to everyone who has said “make sure the phone location permissions are approved”.
Well, check the attached. On a fresh clean install of Victron Connect on my Android 15 it never asked me for Location permissions, only nearby. Could that be the difference?
I have more notes from doing testing which I think are weird.
Victron Smart Shunt
PC: Windows 11 USB 3 port via VE.Direct to USB cable
Phone: Google Pixel 7a Android 15 via Bluetooth
Phone (Alt): Same device but using VE.Direct to USB via USB OTG
While plugged into PC, I reset to defaults the smart shunt. The results are that the info displayed via the different connection methods is different. It’s like the bluetooth data is stuck or something.
This view is on phone with USB OTG connected. The 2 devices are the same device. I only have 1 smart shunt.
Still cannot “bond” to the smart shunt via Bluetooth, can’t create VE Smart Network or anything advanced like that. Pretty much a uselsss $100 hardware device at the moment.
I would like to get this to work. I’ll send you any logs or data you want, just tell me what to do to get it.
Well, for me, and it seems a lot of people, the device will not pair. When Android asks for the PIN ( 000000 ) the dialog goes away instantly, and it says incorrect key or something. So for me, the issue is the I cannot connect to it via Bluetooth and as such cannot create / join it to VE Smart Network or get the secret key to join it to my Home Assistant network, etc.
Doubt its phone problem, since I am clearly not the only one having the issue, and all my other BLE devices work fine. but I will submit a service report.
Hi Brian,
In your case you may be nixing Wifi and Bluetooth. The results can be slightly different.
A Win PC is incompatible with it’s version of BLE (I haven’t heard of any fixes with that yet).
Not understanding what you mean by mixing WiFi and Bluetooth? Smart Shunt can’t communicate over WiFi. So here’s basically the issues:
Connection to Win 11 over VE Direct USB I can read values, set device name, reset to default. Cannot get the Advertisement Key (something ble related) for Home Assisrtant integration and obviously cannot create or join VE Smart Network.
Connection to Win 11 over Bluetooth - nope
Connection to Android 15 - can read values, can reset pin code, cannot pair, even after resetting pin code, and cant get advertisement key and cannot join or create VE Smart because I cannot pair. In Android, it keeps erroring out saying incorrect pin without letting me even enter one. As reported by many other people as well,.
After I reset to default using the Win 11 VE Direct USB cord connection, in Win app the name of the device is blank. However, the name when Android Bluetooth finds it or when the Android Victron Connect app finds it still says the name of the very first time I set it. So why does it hold the name and not reset it to blank? And yes I have uninstalled the app and reinstalled and restarted phone countless times. Is something corrupted on the ble networking in the Smart Shunt? Is this the pin that keeps saying is incorrect? And how can I truly truly reset the Smart Shunt?
Do you also have some other app installed on the phone that uses bluetooth to communicate with some other device, RC control or toy or something? On Android it is possible for an app to “hijack” the bluetooth pairing of a different app, We have seen in the past that apps do this and then provide the wrong pincode to Android, causing the bonding to fail. If you have such an app installed, please remove it and try the bonding again.
