in this page I will collect all the troubleshooting requests managed.
FIRST I kindly ask you to read the instructions – I receive support requests from people that did not read the first 10 lines of the installation procedure.
I’m trying to make this dongle as “for dummies” as possible but really your Human-Intelligence is needed as well
- you have bricked the dongle :-0
wrong firmware image – third party sw – or simply a very bad day to try to upgrade the dongle fw could bring to a bricked device .
Symtoms: dongle looks dead
Try to unbrick it following the hard FW flashing procedure here - you have lost the dongle 😉
maybe after wrong credential setup, you are not able to reach the webpages anylonger.
In this case I suggest to Restore the dongle to Factory default ( it will start again as AP ) or if you have a SW release >= 2.1.3 ( released on 25 may 24 ) use the procedure to hard switch-back to AP mode by pressing 3 times the reset button following EXACTLY the procudure described on INSTALL section 1-SETUP
After each press you need to let the dongle restart till the LED flashes very quickly. At this point you re-press the reset button. Repeat this 3 times to switch to AP mode, OR 6 times to Restore to Factory . If you are connected with USB and have the hyperterminal open, you can see the Reset counter progressing - Interoperability Issues with some Access Point
It has been verified that with some AP ( Asus e.g. ) the dongle is struggling to have a stable WiFi connection.
SYMPTOMS:
– Very slow Web Pages
– Pinging Dongle’s IP or “smartbms” results in many missing PING
Work Around 1: Fix AP as Legacy Only ( B/G ) -> remove B/G/N Auto
Work Around 2: Crowdy WiFi channel are not welcome – try to change your AP channel - Q How I can access MODBUS Server from Internet?
A On your Internet Router you need to open the port 502 versus the dongle IP - Q How I can access to the Smart BMS accessory’s web pages when I’m not at home?
A You need to create a Port Forwarding or Virtual Server rule on your router.
the rule must be like:
Any expernal IP at port 6789 ( you can customize BUT NOT 80 )
route it to dongle IP at port 6789 ( this is the default port if you have not changed it )
To discover the dongle IP , from release 2.0.7 “ping smartbms” will return the dongle IP – or you can access to USB Serial Interface and retrieve the IP
NOTE: if your Router doesn’t have a static IP you need on top to activate a dynamic DNS service ( eg noip.com ) -> In this case is easier to activate the MQTT service …. - Q I connect the accessory via USB but the COM/TTY port is not enumerated
A there are multiple possible reasons for that
1- the USB cable you are using is corrupted or it is an USB power only cable – NOT data – test with another USB cable
2- maybe you don’t have the driver for your system installed – you can find the drivers here
In the following tutorial, you find an how to install CH340 drivers on multiple operating systems if you need. The driver should automatically install on most operating systems. You may need to install drivers the first time you connect the accessory to your computer’s USB port or when there are operating system updates.
- Q why I see “bms_data_error”
A there are multiple possible reasons for that
1- check the Smart BMS Wi-Fi accessory is connected to the BMS
2- maybe BMS is in sleep mode – in this case it does not reply to any query
- Q I cannot use PCMaster to connect to BMS with a remote connection
A be sure you have open the port 6790 ( UDP ) . On your router this is called the “Port Forwarding” or “Virtual Server” feature, tipically on WAN or Firewall Router setting page,