SMA piggyback with laptop trouble!

[STEL]

Hi,

Recently installed a system with 2 SMA inverters. I've connected the piggyback to one of the inverters and switched the rotary switch to the '1' setting. I have sunny explorer on my laptop but when I search for the piggyback it says no devices found. I've also tried it with the rotary switch as position '2' but still nothing.

Any ideas?

Thanks.

 

[SolarCity]

Try searching for the inverter with another Bluetooth device to make sure the piggback is operating properly. If it is then you know the problem is with the Bluetooth on the laptop.

 

[Worcester]

With two inverters you'll need to set both in the range 2 - F (0 = off, 1 = 1 master)

When you say 2 inverters, they will both need bluetooth.

Also check the power of your bluetooth dongle, built in bluetooth usually isn't powerful enough, go to Maplins and get a 'full sized' 100m range dongle for your laptop.

If you've changed the settings remember to completely power down and isolate the inverter then power it up again.

 

[STEL]

Thanks for your help. I had an out of date toshiba bluetooth stack conflicting with my new bluetooth dongle. Tried it on a different laptop and it works fine.

Got my Bluetooth dongle from ebay for £2, pretty much got what I paid for. Must have been a mistake on the advert 100cm range, not 100m..

Can anyone recommend a more powerful dongle, which means I don't have to be in the loft to receive signal?

 

[malcolmsanford]

I'd take a stab and say that the one Worcester advised in post #3 could do you

 

[BruceB]

What you are looking for is a CLASS 1 Bluetooth dongle. These are the long (100m) range ones.
Note that the CLASS is not the same as the VERSION of Bluetooth.
Regards
Bruce

 

[STEL]

What do you think to this:

Tiny Class 1 Bluetooth USB Dongle Laptop Mobile Phone | eBay

cheap, says its class 1 - 100m range though. Maplin's version is £20. Although it looks just like the one i bought, mine wasn't a class 1.

 

[BruceB]

Looks good if the hardware matches the words