VictronConnect 1.7 – Android 6 compatibility and more

Good morning all,

Next step in making life easier: VictronConnect version v1.7 has been released. It includes three major improvements:

1. Save the 30 day history of a solar charger as a CSV file
2. Convert the data log that the Color Control GX saves on SD cards and USB sticks to an Excel file
3. Fixed several Android 6 related Bluetooth connection issues

Saving 30-day BlueSolar MPPT history as a CSV file

Most of our solar chargers keep a 30 day history log. Visible in VictronConnect like this:

Now there is a new feature: save this data as a CSV file, and review it later. This is how the file will look in Excel or another similar tool:

Use VictronConnect to convert Color Control data logs to Excel

In installations that have no internet connection, the Color Control GX can store the datalogs on an SD card or USB stick. VictronConnect can now be used to convert the file on that stick to an *.xlsx file. The procedure is quite simple:

1. On the Color Control GX, navigate to Settings -> VRM Portal, and click the Eject function
2. Take the SD card or USB stick out, and insert it into your computer
3. Open the new feature in VictronConnect
4. Select the file and then click the Start conversion button
5. Done: open the file in Excel to see the result.

Screenshot of the new feature (click to see the full screenshot):

This feature only works on Windows and Mac OS X. It does not work on iOS and Android devices.

The other way of analysing the data logs is by uploading the files to the VRM Portal and this is still available as well. The major advantage of the new way is that it is now possible to immediately analyse the data. No need to first travel back to a location which has an Internet connection.

Fixed several Android 6 related Bluetooth connection issues

To be honest, Android with all its versions and hundreds or thousands of different phones has proven itself to be quite a challenge. It is not at all straightforward to make VictronConnect work with all possible combinations, especially for anything related to Bluetooth Smart.

We are managing quite well though, with only one handful of support cases, out of thousands of dongles sold. And now with these improvements in place we are down to only two real issues.

What has changed?

The first time you connect this new version of VictronConnect to a dongle, it will want to update the firmware in the VE.Direct Bluetooth dongle to a newer version (2.07). Once that update is in place, connections work better on most phones that had issues. We tested it on the following phones, all running Android 6:

• Sony Xperia Z5
• Motorola Moto G 2014
• HTC One M9
• Samsung Galaxy S5

All of these work 100% now, with exception of the Samsung. It might still be necessary to click the device in the VictronConnect scan-list several times before it is able to connect or possibly disabling and then re-enabling Bluetooth.

Note that the improvements only work after installing the new firmware in the dongle. Don’t use a phone that has a problem connecting for that. Use a phone from a friend or family member instead. iPhone 4S and all its successors work fine for example.

The above are the highlights, read on for the full changelog, as well as the short changelogs for the previous two versions, as I hadn’t previously published them.

Complete v1.7 changelog

General:

• New functionality: Convert CCGX log files to *.xlsx Excel sheet (only Windows & Mac OS X)
• New functionality: Export 30-day BlueSolar MPPT history as CSV
• New functionality: “Create service report” option generates a diagnostics report for sending it to Victron Energy service in case of any issues.
• Improve dialogs, now all the dialogs are better centred on the screen
• Android: Shorten connecting time during updating
• Fix an issue that makes it necessary to scan several times before Peak Power Pack is shown in the devices list when using VE.Direct USB interface (issue introduced in VictronConnect v1.6)
• Fix issue that makes one of the Accept/Cancel buttons to sometimes not appear in iOS dialogs
• Remove some unused icons; now the install size is sightly smaller on iOS

BlueSolar MPPT:

• Send local time to the MPPT when accessing to the streetlight settings and when switching on streetlight function. This makes the streetlight timer work more accurately prior to the synchronisation with the solar activity
• Streetlight: Don’t hide sunrise options when “Switch on till sunrise” is selected
• Load settings: Add boundaries for high and low voltage levels
• Battery settings: Make it possible to set equalisation voltage to 0V, which disables equalisation.

Peak Power Pack:

• Fix size of the icon shown in the live data page

Change log v1.6

General:

• List unrecognised Victron products in the device list page. Useful when running an outdated VictronConnect version with new products: you can at least see those products now, instead of them being hidden.

BlueSolar MPPT:

• Fix “Use default charge settings” item behaviour when switching the rotary switch while battery settings page is displayed. (Only affects to MPPT with rotary switch and fw v1.17)
• Include BlueSolar MPPT firmware v1.17 as a mandatory update. (MPPT v1.17 blogpost)

Change log v1.5

• Fixed PIN code change function

Conclusion

That’s all; you are welcome to post any comments or questions in the Disqus system below. Wishing you a good day.

Matthijs Vader