in this page I will collect all the troubleshooting requests managed.
FIRST I kindly ask you to read the instructions – I receive requests for support 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 first.
There’s now a DISCORD channel where you can ask support to me or to any Saint passing by the channel
- NodeMCU with USB Type C – Unable to enter into the Serial Console of AT-COMMAND
Symptoms: trying to launch the Serial hyperterminal, the dongle resets – no info on the serial terminal, no WiFi Activity, Blue Led not blinking.
Analisys: Preliminary analisys point to differences on HW. NodeMCU with USB type C shown different behavior on ESP8266 boot pins preventing it to boot when an Hiperterminal is connected.
Work around: Hiperterminals like the Arduino-embedded don’t show this problem. if you don’t have Arduino installed, you can download this Terminal tiny program that works well
- your dongle continously reboot #1
during a recent debug we have found a dongle rebooting periodically in BGN wifi Network. The Wifi link was stable.
Symptoms: dongle rebooting
Work around: from MISC page, try disabling the “Wireless SYS Reset” flag
That flag force a self reboot in case of temporary missing Wifi. - your dongle continously reboot #2
recently I’ve seen this issue on a couple of you – the problem is about Network Time Protocolo aka NTP.
at boot time the dongle try to retrieve the Internet time, if it cannot, it interpret this as a networking trouble and reboot trying to fix.
From release 3.3.0 I implemented an NTP fix , for the time being, if you are on this situation : uncheck the “Wireless SYS Reset” from the Settings->MISC - you have bricked the dongle :-0 ==> your dongle does nothing
wrong firmware image – third party sw – or simply a very bad day for upgrading the dongle firmware … now you have a bricked device .
Symptoms: dongle looks dead. Blue LED not flashing , no webpages etc …
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 any longer.
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 Points
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 or high time
Work Around 1: Fix AP mode to Legacy Only ( B/G ) -> remove B/G/N Auto
Work Around 2: Crowdy WiFi channel are not welcome – try to change your AP channel
Work Around 3: if the dongle is very close to the AP (1-2mt) I suggest you lower the dongle WiFi output power in the range of 0-5dBm. You can do from the dongle’s web pages or via AT commands.
The same if you are very far from the AP: try to increase the output dongle power - 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.
(Port Forwarding ANY Internet IP / port 502 -> Internal Dongle IP / port 502 - 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 ( or whichever the dongle PORT is )
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 ….
NOTE: if your network provider does not provide a global IP ( like 5G operator do ), you have no way to reach your network, in this case ONLY MQTT or VPN could help on your setup. - 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,