Question on BMV 712 smart

[Dr Bob]

4 hours ago, eid said:

I've emailed my supplier asking if this is a new feature (making it useless) or if my BMV is faulty. I'll post back the result. Let us know how you get on because I really want my buzzer back!

 

I suppose it's impossible to roll back the firmware?

Let me know what they tell you.

No, I cant see a way to roll it back.

[eid]

On 20/04/2019 at 17:00, Dr Bob said:

Let me know what they tell you.

 

My supplier has been in touch with Victron who say it is definitely not related to any firmware update, and so my unit is faulty. They are sending out a replacement.

[eid]

On 01/05/2019 at 18:18, eid said:

 

My supplier has been in touch with Victron who say it is definitely not related to any firmware update, and so my unit is faulty. They are sending out a replacement.

 

I have my replacement but the buzzer only worked for a few seconds then went quiet like the rest of them. I can't hear it from 6 feet away.

 

It seems Victron have a problem which I hope is fixed in future units. Not sure where this leaves us.

[Dr Bob]

23 hours ago, eid said:

 

I have my replacement but the buzzer only worked for a few seconds then went quiet like the rest of them. I can't hear it from 6 feet away.

 

It seems Victron have a problem which I hope is fixed in future units. Not sure where this leaves us.

Yes, it does seem a fundamental fault. Thanks for letting us know. Interesting that the problem has not surfaced earlier. I guess no one is using the alarm function on the meter. I have bought a separate voltage alarm board from ebay but not fitted it yet. I can now do without the alarm function but not a good advert for one of the 'top' battery monitors that you can buy.

[eid]

Good news:

Victron have got back to my supplier (Springwood Haven Marina, who have been very helpful throughout). They have tested the units and it is indeed a fault within the 4.01 firmware. This will be fixed in the next update.

 

 

[Dr Bob]

4 hours ago, eid said:

Good news:

Victron have got back to my supplier (Springwood Haven Marina, who have been very helpful throughout). They have tested the units and it is indeed a fault within the 4.01 firmware. This will be fixed in the next update.

 

 

Well done eid.

I am not going mad then?

Please don't answer that.

I wonder when the next firmware update is?

[MtB]

1 hour ago, Dr Bob said:

I wonder when the next firmware update is?

 

Once written and tested and all faults found, fixed.

 

No-one knows how long this will take, in particular the programmers whose favourite question from management is "how long will it take you to find all the bugs and fix them?"

 

?

[Dr Bob]

On 23/05/2019 at 18:30, eid said:

Good news:

Victron have got back to my supplier (Springwood Haven Marina, who have been very helpful throughout). They have tested the units and it is indeed a fault within the 4.01 firmware. This will be fixed in the next update.

 

 

Well it seems like they forgot about it .....unitll now.

 

This was posted on the Victron site today. Sounds like they have found a bug....it does alarm but I cant hear it at 8kHz!

Firmware to be updated. I will keep an eye out for it but let me know if you see it first.

 

 

 

[eid]

21 hours ago, Dr Bob said:

Well it seems like they forgot about it .....unitll now.

 

This was posted on the Victron site today. Sounds like they have found a bug....it does alarm but I cant hear it at 8kHz!

Firmware to be updated. I will keep an eye out for it but let me know if you see it first.

 

 

I did notice the fix wasn't in the last firmware update: I had given up on ever seeing it. Good to see they're working on it though!

 

Thanks for letting me know. ?

[cuthound]

21 hours ago, Dr Bob said:

Well it seems like they forgot about it .....unitll now.

 

This was posted on the Victron site today. Sounds like they have found a bug....it does alarm but I cant hear it at 8kHz!

Firmware to be updated. I will keep an eye out for it but let me know if you see it first.

 

 

 

 

I recently took on online hearing test and was pleasantly surprised to find I can still hear up to 12kHz despite  being 65 years of age and spending a lot of my career listening to noisy diesel engines, transformers humming etc.

 

All you need is access to the internet and a decent pair of headphones.

 

So you should easily be able to hear 8kHz.

 

[Dr Bob]

19 minutes ago, cuthound said:

 

I recently took on online hearing test and was pleasantly surprised to find I can still hear up to 12kHz despite  being 65 years of age and spending a lot of my career listening to noisy diesel engines, transformers humming etc.

 

All you need is access to the internet and a decent pair of headphones.

 

So you should easily be able to hear 8kHz.

 

I spent many many years doing amateur radio contests which blew my hearing. High frequency hearing is now shot!

I am not convinced these meters will even work at 4kHz though. Not many people seem to be able to hear the alarms at 8khz. My son can though. He complained when he gave me the boat back a few weeks ago after he nicked it for a few weeks in August while we were abroad. I had disconnected the lithiums so he was operating on the LA's but I had not deactivated the low voltage alarm on the BMV -set to go off around 12.2V (it never does with the Li's). He said it was not loud but annoying.

I'm not holding my breath that Victron sort it to the point where the alarm is useful.

 

[eid]

12 minutes ago, Dr Bob said:

I'm not holding my breath that Victron sort it to the point where the alarm is useful.

 

 

It was very useful before they broke it. I could easily hear it at the other end of a 58` boat.

[WotEver]

4 hours ago, cuthound said:

 

I recently took on online hearing test and was pleasantly surprised to find I can still hear up to 12kHz despite  being 65 years of age and spending a lot of my career listening to noisy diesel engines, transformers humming etc.

 

All you need is access to the internet and a decent pair of headphones.

 

So you should easily be able to hear 8kHz.

However, the transducers that they use may not operate very well at 8kHz. It’s not simply down to hearing, it’s also down to the thing wot makes the noize. 

[cuthound]

22 minutes ago, WotEver said:

However, the transducers that they use may not operate very well at 8kHz. It’s not simply down to hearing, it’s also down to the thing wot makes the noize. 

 

True, but if that is the case surely someone would have noticed it during the testing ofvthecsoftware update.

 

Mind you onething that really annoys me in this software driven world is the attitude of releasing software with bugs (yes im talking about you Microsoft) due to lack of testing and then fixing that bug and creating another one with the next update.

 

Said he who once spent 16 consecutive 16 hour day weekends proving the software for a multiple generator installation.

[WotEver]

1 hour ago, cuthound said:

Mind you onething that really annoys me in this software driven world is the attitude of releasing software with bugs (yes im talking about you Microsoft) due to lack of testing and then fixing that bug and creating another one with the next update.

 

Said he who once spent 16 consecutive 16 hour day weekends proving the software for a multiple generator installation.

I really feel for MS though. 

 

I used to do an awful lot of beta testing for a Nasdaq registered company. I was one of only a dozen early testers then after a month or two it was opened up to about 40, then about 100. We’d really turn the application inside out and perform all sorts of weird operations with it. The software was only released when we figured all of the bugs were fixed or at least logged. Then it got released. Within a day there would be 10 or more new bugs discovered. And that’s running the software on a tightly controlled platform. 

 

For MS with the myriad platforms, hardware combinations, and user ability it really amazes me that their software works at all. Apple ‘cheat’ by stating ‘this new release won’t run on your crappy iMac so don’t come running to us if you try’. 

 

 

Edited September 11, 2019 by WotEver
There’s no such company as NS

[Sea Dog]

1 hour ago, WotEver said:

 

 

Edit...

NS LIMITED

Company number 04923531

[WotEver]

[eid]

On 11/09/2019 at 13:54, Dr Bob said:

I'm not holding my breath that Victron sort it to the point where the alarm is useful.

 

 

The update containing the fix is out. I can now hear the alarm at the other end of the boat again. I'm not sure if it's as loud as it used to be ?

Edited October 29, 2019 by eid

[Dr Bob]

6 minutes ago, eid said:

 

The update containing the fix is out. I can now hear the alarm at the other end of the boat again.

That's great. Where do you download it from onto the phone to update the firmware by bluetooth?

[eid]

5 minutes ago, Dr Bob said:

That's great. Where do you download it from onto the phone to update the firmware by bluetooth?

Play store or the Apple-app store. Just update the phone app then restart the app. It should update two firmwares when you try to connect to the monitor (Bluetooth Interface to v2.23 and Battery Monitor to v4.03)

Edited October 29, 2019 by eid

[Dr Bob]

1 hour ago, eid said:

Play store or the Apple-app store. Just update the phone app then restart the app. It should update two firmwares when you try to connect to the monitor (Bluetooth Interface to v2.23 and Battery Monitor to v4.03)

Can you remember the pairing key? Is it 0000 or 000000 or something else?

Does it remove all the settings at the same  time. If so I will need to write them down first!

Edited October 29, 2019 by Dr Bob

[eid]

1 hour ago, Dr Bob said:

Can you remember the pairing key? Is it 0000 or 000000 or something else?

Does it remove all the settings at the same  time. If so I will need to write them down first!

I'm not sure but 000000 feels familiar.

 

Updating the firmware has never overwritten my settings. However, there's a "save settings" function on the app settings page (floppy disk icon) if you need to.

 

Edit: The manual says the default pairing key is indeed 000000 but you may have changed it as suggested.

Edited October 29, 2019 by eid

[Dr Bob]

5 hours ago, eid said:

I'm not sure but 000000 feels familiar.

 

Updating the firmware has never overwritten my settings. However, there's a "save settings" function on the app settings page (floppy disk icon) if you need to.

 

Edit: The manual says the default pairing key is indeed 000000 but you may have changed it as suggested.

Ok, I will try it tomorrow.

Thanks for the input.