SMA 4000TL bluetooth

[ChrisHowes]

I have a newly installed system with an SMA Sunny Boy 4000TL inverter plus, supplied in its box, a Sunny Beam display. I've found the setting up instructions quite confusing, but suspect I'm having no luck with these - the Sunny Beam finds no available transmission (neither does Sunny Explorer software) - because the inverter is not broadcasting.

I've checked and the inverter was set to its factory position of 1. I've tried turning it to 0, then back to 1, then restarting but no change. I then turned it to 2, which is the current position.

However, chasing down info here and on the SMA site, it suggests that the blue light for bluetooth should be lit, but it's not clear whether this is only lit when there is a connection or is lit continuously to indicate a continuous transmission. There is no symbol for bluetooth transmission in the display.

So, the question: should this blue light be on (and should have been with any position, no matter whether anything was picking up the signal)? And if it should, what do I have to do to get the bluetooth signal started? Or, is this a duff inverter that needs to be changed?

The company that fitted the system is obviously used to the SMA inverter, but not to the Sunny Beam. I can fetch them back on Tuesday now, to take a look, but it would be nice to either solve this myself or to have something solid to point at to show what is wrong (or else a lot more time will be wasted I suspect).

Any clues here?

 

[topquark]

Not speaking from experience with this device ... however bluetooth devices usually need to be paired, before they can be paired they normally need to be made discoverable. It sounds like this latter stage is not happening (being made discoverable) ... so when searched for it's not being found.

 

[mmorse60]

Hi, The inverter needs to be set to 2 to discover a Sunny Beam usually,if other SMA bluetooth systems are in range then you would need to use a different number, reset inverter after changing the numbers by turning off then back on. The light only comes on when communication is going on between the devices. Sunny Explorer should have found the inverter even though it was set to 1.
I have had to return a 4000tl in January as the screen/bluetooth failed (inverter still generated power) but all others have been ok.

 

[ChrisHowes]

Thanks for the input topquark. Everything I can find suggests that this should all be a simple matter: search for free NetID (which seems a bit pointless because there's one inverter and one Sunny Beam and no other inverters or houses anywhere near), and having found which IDs are already allocated in range (none), the Sunny Beam syncs and starts working.

Only there are conflicting bits of info: ID 0 on the inverter means there is no bluetooth transmitted, and ID 1 on the inverter states that bluetooth is transmitted but (conflictingly) it will or will not be picked up by a Sunny Beam. The real issue is that I don't think there is anything being transmitted because there is no light or symbol indicating that it is on the inverter. But, not having ever seen one before, I don't know if it is meant to be lit all the time, or not unless it is connected. If the former, there is either something that needs to be done to enable it, or else the unit is duff. If the latter, it might be transmitting but I'm doing something wrong in how it is picked up.

If anyone has a 4000TL can tell me whether the bluetooth symbol and light are present all the time, only every minute at 'update' or whatever, or if there is something that has to be done to trigger 'start', that would be useful.

 

[ChrisHowes]

Regretfully this made no difference: nothing working.

I'd still like to confirm whether the bluetooth indicator light on the 4000TL is lit continuously, intermittently or what; ie. whether there is any indication that transmission (of any ID channel) all the time or only when something is connected. I've never seen it light up - hence wondering whether it is meant to or not until a connection is made, or if it is on all the time broadcasting in case something is picking it up. Or perhaps there is some password or something to set. Doesn't seem to make any difference what ID is set on the inverter - no light, no connection from either the Sunny Beam or a laptop (with bluetooth enabled) with Sunny Explorer.

Thanks for the comment, Mep-solar; if you or someone could tell me what the status of the light should be all the time, that would help.

 

[ChrisHowes]

Many thanks. I've never seen any light, intermittent or not, from the inverter. I think I have to presume that something is not working as it should in the inverter = faulty inverter (bluetooth part, anyway). Unless there is something that I can try to turn it on (I suspect not). Makes no difference which position the selector is in.

 

[ChrisHowes]

I'll now answer my own query and log this in case it helps someone else! As a final attempt, I put the selector to 0 (off = no bluetooth enabled) and restarted the system. Then closed it down and selected A and restarted. Now it began working. The difference from before was turning it off and rebooting the inverter, not simply selecting a new ID. The blue light came on for about two seconds, then flipped out. Nothing in the manual suggests how often this transmits, but watching it produced a ten-minute interval to the next flash. On the other hand, setting up the Sunny Beam was successful and, when the Sunny Beam display timed out (it is set to 5 min), turning it back on to look at the connection strengthon caused the blue light to stay on (so it is therefore initiated by the Sunny Beam).

Hope someone else might find that useful one day!