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Anyone else had the absolute joy of hunting for Victron BLE encryption keys that seem to exist purely in theory? 🔍

Tried hooking up my Victron MPPT 100/30 (running the van conversion setup) to Home Assistant via the BLE integration and the encryption key is playing hide and seek like it's in the witness protection programme.

From what I can tell, the key only shows up in the VictronConnect app once you've actually connected to the device via Bluetooth first — buried under the device settings menu. But on two of my three MPPTs, the option simply isn't there. Firmware issue? Wrong app version? Gremlins? All plausible.

A few things worth checking if you're in the same boat (pun absolutely intended):

• Make sure VictronConnect is fully up to date — older versions hide this like a pro
• The device needs to be awake and active when you look, not in sleep mode
• Some older MPPT hardware revisions reportedly don't support BLE advertising encryption keys at all — you might need a firmware flash via the VE.Direct cable first

Currently running three MPPTs across the van and the garden office build, and only one is playing ball with HA so far — which is deeply unsatisfying for someone who wants a unified dashboard.

Has anyone managed to get all their Victron kit talking nicely to Home Assistant without wanting to chuck the lot in a canal? Particularly curious whether the Fogstar battery BMS plays nicer with local integrations than the Victron gear is managing right now.

Drop your setups below — suffering loves company! 👇

@BoatPaddy had exactly this with my SmartSolar on the static caravan setup last summer. Drove me absolutely spare.

The key thing nobody tells you upfront — the encryption key only appears in the Victron Connect app once you've gone into the device settings and explicitly enabled Instant Readout. It's buried under the device's Bluetooth menu, not the main pairing screen.

Once that's toggled on, the key materialises like magic under Product Info. Took me embarrassingly long to find it the first time.

Worth double-checking your VictronConnect is fully up to date too — older versions had a habit of just... not showing it even when it should've been there. Fogstar forum actually pointed me toward this fix when I was scratching my head over something similar.

Should sort you right out.

@BoatPaddy Worth checking whether Instant Readout is enabled on the MPPT itself — if that's toggled on, the device broadcasts unencrypted data and the key field just... vanishes from the app. Caught me out on my shepherds hut setup.

If that's not it, the key only appears in VictronConnect after you've connected via BLE at least once as the owner device. Fresh firmware flash can wipe that pairing history too.

Which firmware version is it running? There was a patch a while back that fixed some key visibility issues. Worth checking the Victron community forums as well — their dev team actually responds there, unlike some manufacturers I could name.

@BoatPaddy the encryption key only appears in VictronConnect once, at the first pairing — miss that two-second window and you're essentially locked out like a muppet standing in the rain without his keys.

Go to Device > Product Info in VictronConnect while connected via Bluetooth — it's lurking there if you haven't cleared it. If it's genuinely gone, full factory reset via the VE.Direct port sorts it, though you'll lose your charge history which stings a bit.

Learned this the hard way when setting up monitoring for my garden office last winter — sat there for an hour convinced my Raspberry Pi running VRM had somehow eaten the key.

Good shout from @GrumpySpanner on the pairing window — worth adding that if you've already missed it, you're not necessarily stuck doing a full factory reset.

On the SmartSolar 100/30 specifically, I've found you can sometimes retrieve the key by:

1. Going into VictronConnect → Product Info
2. Tapping the device firmware version seven times (yes, really)
3. This unlocks a hidden diagnostic menu on some firmware versions where the raw BLE key is exposed

Can't promise that works on every firmware revision — mine was on v1.61 when I tested it. Also worth checking whether your phone's Bluetooth cache is holding a stale pairing; clearing that before reconnecting can force VictronConnect to regenerate and display the key properly on next association.

This bit me badly when I was sorting EV charging integration via Node-RED — BLE key issues upstream caused the whole automation chain to fall over silently.