What the advantages of victron_ble_connect component ?

[That-Dude]

Hi

I have a smartshunt using the regular bluetooth connection at the top of you repo, I saw at the bottom of the page I can enable the victron_ble_connect component, what's the advantage of this? Is it worth my swapping.

Thanks Dan

[Fabian-Schmidt]

Hi, The victron_ble_connect component is the old and initially only way to read data from victron devices. They released the new which is much better. victron_ble_connect is using Bluetooth connections and is only available for smart shunt. victron_ble is using Bluetooth announcement protocol and available for most victron devices.

TLDR keep using victron_ble.

[That-Dude]

OK I've set it up using the instructions but I'm getting an authentication error. Any ideas what I'm doing wrong?

Output from scanner:

victron_scanner:044]: FOUND SMART SHUNT 500A/50mV 'SmartShunt HQ2249XYPMP' at C7:D4:D2:E3:D2:31

secrets.yaml

victron_smart_shunt_ble_client_id: "SmartShunt HQ2249XYPMP"
ble_passkey: "000000"

The ESP device yaml is exactly copied from your page.

Output from esp device:

INFO Trying to connect to victron-ble.local in the background
INFO Successfully connected to victron-ble.local
[10:24:43][I][app:102]: ESPHome version 2023.10.0 compiled on Oct 19 2023, 09:27:33
[10:24:45][I][esp32_ble_client:064]: [0] [C7:D4:D2:E3:D2:31] 0x01 Attempting BLE connection
[10:24:45][I][victron_ble_connect:063]: [C7:D4:D2:E3:D2:31] Connected successfully
[10:24:48][I][esp32_ble_client:196]: [0] [C7:D4:D2:E3:D2:31] Connected
[10:24:48][I][esp32_ble_client:265]: [0] [C7:D4:D2:E3:D2:31] auth complete. remote BD_ADDR: c7d4d2e3d231
[10:24:48][E][esp32_ble_client:268]: [0] [C7:D4:D2:E3:D2:31] auth fail reason = 0x51
[10:24:48][W][victron_ble_connect:132]: [C7:D4:D2:E3:D2:31] Error reading char at handle 46, status=137
[10:24:48][W][victron_ble_connect:070]: [C7:D4:D2:E3:D2:31] Disconnected

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