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Bluetooth base station

Troubleshoot the connection between a V400m payment terminal and a Bluetooth base station.

The V400m is a mobile payment terminal that you can connect to your Ethernet network through a Bluetooth base station. In this setup, you connect an Ethernet cable to the base station, and then connect the V400m to the base station through Bluetooth. The terminal will then use the Ethernet connection regardless of whether it is docked in the base station, or undocked.

Refer to the V400m user manual to learn how to:

On this page, we discuss how to prevent and solve issues that may occur with the Bluetooth connection between the terminal and the base station.

Location of the Bluetooth base station

To prevent blocking or disrupting the Bluetooth signal:

  • Don't place the Bluetooth base station inside a drawer in the service counter.
  • Bluetooth works on the same 2.4 GHz frequency band as Wi-Fi. So place the Bluetooth base station at least 20 inches away from a Wi-Fi access point, phone, or radio.

Is the Bluetooth base station powered up?

Before you can connect or use the base station, it must have finished starting up. To make sure, check the white top LED on the base station:

  • When the white top LED is blinking slowly, the base station is busy starting up.
  • When the white top LED is on constantly, the base station has started up and is ready for the next step.

The blue middle LED indicates the Bluetooth connection status, and the bottom LED is intended for maintenance personnel.

Is the Ethernet cable connected to the correct port?

An issue that can occur with setting up the base station is that the Ethernet RJ-45 cable is connected to the Serial port of the base station. That is the wrong port: the Ethernet cable must be connected to the Ethernet port.

On the base station, the Ethernet port is marked with this icon:

The next images show the Ethernet cable connected to the correct port.

Is the Bluetooth base station discoverable?

To enable the base station to be discovered by the terminal, press the button on the front of the base station.
The blue middle LED will start to blink slowly. Now the terminal can discover the Bluetooth base station.

During discovery and pairing, make sure the serial number shown on the terminal matches the serial number of the base station (printed on the back of the base station, SN xxx-xxx-xxx)

No devices found/available

When the terminal doesn't scan for Bluetooth-enabled devices and immediately shows No devices available, or scans and shows No devices found:

  1. On the base station, check whether the discovery mode (blinking blue LED) is active.
  2. On the terminal, open the Admin menu.
  3. Select Network > Wi-Fi and make sure Wi-Fi is turned off.
  4. Go back to Network, select Bluetooth, turn off Bluetooth, and then turn on Bluetooth again.

If the error persists, restart the terminal.

If the error persists after restarting the terminal, restart the base station.

Connection error

A Connection error indicates that the terminal has successfully paired with the base station (so Bluetooth works) but was unable to establish a network connection.

Proceed as follows:

  1. Enable DHCP on the terminal: Open the Admin menu, go to Network > Bluetooth > IP settings, and select the DHCP checkbox (this box should now have a check mark √).
  2. On the base station, make sure the Ethernet cable is connected to the Ethernet port.
  3. Restart the base station.

Terminal doesn't have a Bluetooth IP address

When pairing the terminal with the base station, DHCP must be enabled on the terminal, otherwise the terminal can't receive a Bluetooth IP address and can't connect. DHCP is supposed to be turned on by default, but in some cases DHCP is turned off.

If after pairing, the Device info shows the terminal doesn't have a Bluetooth IP address:

  1. Enable DHCP on the terminal:

    1. Open the Admin menu.
    2. Go to Network > Bluetooth > IP settings.
    3. Select the DHCP checkbox (this box should now have a check mark √).

  2. Perform a PSP connection test: in the Admin menu, select Network > Diagnostics > PSP connection.
    All test items should have a green check mark :white_check_mark: and the overall result should be "Success".

By default, both the Bluetooth base station and the terminal have DHCP enabled and receive a dynamic IP address from your DHCP server. However, it is possible that your network setup requires a static IP address for the terminal and/or the base station. In that case, the most common scenario is to use a static IP address for the terminal and a dynamic IP address for the base station. Refer to Configure a static IP address for instructions.

Restart the base station

If you need to restart the base station:

  1. Disconnect the power cable and the Ethernet cable from the base station.
  2. Wait 10 seconds.
  3. Reconnect the power cable and wait until the top white LED stops blinking and turns on.
  4. Reconnect the Ethernet cable to the base station, using the correct port.

See also