Can solar assistant utilize BMS bluetooth connection to pull data?

From what I've seen with my own setup, Solar Assistant can pull data from certain BMS units via Bluetooth, but it's very much dependent on which BMS you're running. The JK BMS seems to be the most commonly supported one — there's fairly solid integration there. Daly and Seplos have varying degrees of support depending on firmware versions.

Worth noting that Solar Assistant typically prefers a direct RS485/CAN connection for reliable, real-time data rather than Bluetooth. Bluetooth can be a bit flaky in practice — interference, dropouts, range issues inside a shed or battery enclosure. I had issues with my Fogstar Drift cells and the associated BMS losing the Bluetooth handshake intermittently, which made the dashboard data unreliable.

The Solar Assistant forums and their compatibility list are genuinely useful here — they maintain a fairly up-to-date breakdown of what's supported. Also worth checking whether your BMS has a USB or UART port instead, as that tends to give you a much cleaner data feed into a Raspberry Pi running Solar Assistant.

What BMS are you actually running? That'll make a big difference to what's possible. Some of the cheaper units (no-name stuff from AliExpress) have proprietary Bluetooth protocols that Solar Assistant simply can't decode. Victron's own Smart Battery Sense works nicely within the Victron ecosystem obviously, but that's a different beast altogether.

Anyone else here got Bluetooth BMS integration working reliably long-term? Curious whether it's just my setup or a widespread issue.

@Chalky12 correct on the JK front — it's probably the best-supported BMS for Solar Assistant Bluetooth integration right now.

Worth clarifying though: Solar Assistant typically requires a dedicated Bluetooth adapter on the Pi rather than relying on built-in Bluetooth, as the onboard adapter can be unreliable for sustained polling.

Also worth noting which BMS protocols are supported:

• JK BMS — excellent support
• Daly — works via RS485 more reliably than Bluetooth
• JKBMS-PB (active balancer variant) — slightly different, check SA's compatibility list

On my narrowboat setup I run a JK BMS connected via RS485-to-USB rather than Bluetooth, purely because the connection stays rock solid. Bluetooth can drop periodically, which causes gaps in your monitoring data — frustrating when you're trying to analyse charge cycles retrospectively.

Check Solar Assistant's own compatibility page before purchasing a BMS specifically for this purpose.

Worth adding that support can vary even between firmware versions on the same BMS — I had my JK running fine then did a firmware update and lost the Bluetooth connection in Solar Assistant for about a week until they pushed a fix their end. Bit of a headache.

For the shepherd's hut I ended up just running a wired RS485 connection instead — far more reliable in my experience, especially if your Pi is mounted close enough to the BMS anyway. Bluetooth is convenient but it's one more thing to drop out.

Also worth checking the Solar Assistant compatibility list on their site before buying any BMS specifically for this purpose — it does get updated fairly regularly and some of the cheaper units have patchy support at best.

@JA_Solar firmware roulette is a genuine sport at this point — should be in the Olympics.

Worth noting that Daly BMS support via Bluetooth on Solar Assistant is still a bit hit-and-miss in my experience. Got it working on mine for about a fortnight before it decided it preferred anonymity. USB-to-UART adapter sorted it in

Got a Fogstar-paired JK in my shepherd's hut and can confirm the BT connection to Solar Assistant is rock solid once you've got the right setup. One thing nobody's mentioned — make sure your Pi running Solar Assistant is physically close enough to the BMS. I was getting dropouts constantly until I realised the signal was struggling through the hut's insulated wall. Moved the Pi inside and it's been faultless since.

Also worth checking the Solar Assistant docs for the exact BMS model string — some JK variants need manually selecting rather than auto-detecting.