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Post by wellyftw on Apr 25, 2019 14:32:24 GMT
Hi all,
Recently bought myself a flash battery monitor from Victron as a treat. Now I've got to fit it.
Battery bank looks something like the following (with a starter battery at the front) - I'll get a proper photo later, but essentially it's like this.
Can anyone give me some pointers on how best to wire this thing up? I've got four leisure batteries and obviously the starter battery. I assume that the monitor only needs to apply to the leisure batteries, as that's really what I'm interested in. If pointers include "get a sparky to fit it", I'm fine with that too.
Cheers!
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Post by Deleted on Apr 25, 2019 14:37:50 GMT
It will lie to you about the percentage left in your batteries 99% of shunt based meters lie, great for volts and amps but not percent.
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Post by wellyftw on Apr 25, 2019 14:40:52 GMT
It will lie to you about the percentage left in your batteries 99% of shunt based meters lie, great for volts and amps but not percent. I shall keep that in mind! As long as it's in the right ball park, I'm fine with that too. Just want something for general day to day monitoring and something I can review historical data with, which it looks like this will do in conjunction with the phone app.
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Post by bodger on Apr 25, 2019 14:54:43 GMT
the best 'battery monitor' is simply a voltmeter used in conjunction with a table showing battery condition against volts.
the battery monitors in my Samsung phone and my Audi both seem to assume that everything is hunky dory until it's too late. The Audi shows 100% until the day before there is insufficient volts to operate the smart key door opening function, about 12.2v. Same but different on the phone.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 25, 2019 15:05:56 GMT
If you are not using solar or if you are using solar and only read the meter when its dark then Smartgauge will give accurate percentage of what's left in the batteries.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 25, 2019 15:18:59 GMT
the best 'battery monitor' is simply a voltmeter used in conjunction with a table showing battery condition against volts. the battery monitors in my Samsung phone and my Audi both seem to assume that everything is hunky dory until it's too late. The Audi shows 100% until the day before there is insufficient volts to operate the smart key door opening function, about 12.2v. Same but different on the phone. The old black and white tellies where great for battery monitoring. The picture started to get smaller when the batteries needed charging (Don't ask me how I know this)
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Post by Jim on Apr 25, 2019 15:32:28 GMT
Hi all,
Recently bought myself a flash battery monitor from Victron as a treat. Now I've got to fit it.
Battery bank looks something like the following (with a starter battery at the front) - I'll get a proper photo later, but essentially it's like this.
Can anyone give me some pointers on how best to wire this thing up? I've got four leisure batteries and obviously the starter battery. I assume that the monitor only needs to apply to the leisure batteries, as that's really what I'm interested in. If pointers include "get a sparky to fit it", I'm fine with that too.
Cheers!
Re the battery wiring, Afaik it's best to have all leads the same length from a common point, a busbar. So all batteries get the same charge and draw. Your setup may achieve this, with the final connections being diagonally opposite, I'm not quite sure. Edit before Mr picky peDant leaps in, +ve and - ve separate of course.
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Post by wellyftw on Apr 25, 2019 15:40:20 GMT
Hi all,
Recently bought myself a flash battery monitor from Victron as a treat. Now I've got to fit it.
Battery bank looks something like the following (with a starter battery at the front) - I'll get a proper photo later, but essentially it's like this.
Can anyone give me some pointers on how best to wire this thing up? I've got four leisure batteries and obviously the starter battery. I assume that the monitor only needs to apply to the leisure batteries, as that's really what I'm interested in. If pointers include "get a sparky to fit it", I'm fine with that too.
Cheers!
Re the battery wiring, Afaik it's best to have all leads the same length from a common point, a busbar. So all batteries get the same charge and draw. Your setup may achieve this, with the final connections being diagonally opposite, I'm not quite sure. Edit before Mr picky peDant leaps in, +ve and - ve separate of course. Thanks Jim! I'm pretty sure it's just leads going from one battery to the other and not a busbar. The sparky who fitted my battery charger suggested it might be worth getting one fitted so maybe I might find a sparky up here who can just refit it all. I'm sure with a bit of reading and studying, I could probably do it myself but I'd rather it was right!
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Post by Jim on Apr 25, 2019 15:47:29 GMT
Re the battery wiring, Afaik it's best to have all leads the same length from a common point, a busbar. So all batteries get the same charge and draw. Your setup may achieve this, with the final connections being diagonally opposite, I'm not quite sure. Edit before Mr picky peDant leaps in, +ve and - ve separate of course. Thanks Jim! I'm pretty sure it's just leads going from one battery to the other and not a busbar. The sparky who fitted my battery charger suggested it might be worth getting one fitted so maybe I might find a sparky up here who can just refit it all. I'm sure with a bit of reading and studying, I could probably do it myself but I'd rather it was right! it's simple really, it means some leads are longer than they need to be, for the sake of tidiness, but the batteries last longer etc, when one isn't favoured by being first in the chain. Your wiring may achieve this, where is Telemachus when you need him?
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Post by wellyftw on Apr 25, 2019 16:29:05 GMT
Thanks Jim! I'm pretty sure it's just leads going from one battery to the other and not a busbar. The sparky who fitted my battery charger suggested it might be worth getting one fitted so maybe I might find a sparky up here who can just refit it all. I'm sure with a bit of reading and studying, I could probably do it myself but I'd rather it was right! it's simple really, it means some leads are longer than they need to be, for the sake of tidiness, but the batteries last longer etc, when one isn't favoured by being first in the chain. Your wiring may achieve this, where is Telemachus when you need him?
Actually, it doesn't look too tricky afterall. Might be something I could take on. What's the worst that could happen? (don't answer that)
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Post by bodger on Apr 25, 2019 16:35:05 GMT
I trust that photo is joke. If not, it looks bloody dodgy to me. I hope there is some protection and insulation (that has been removed for the sake of the photo) to prevent accidental contact with the terminals. Wouldn't pass BSS like that. I hope it wasn't installed by a 'professional' sparky. ............... on second thoughts, maybe that is why he was called Sparky.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 25, 2019 16:35:58 GMT
What a mess....
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Post by Telemachus on Apr 25, 2019 16:37:45 GMT
The shunt goes from the between the group of domestic battery negatives, and everything else. So to reiterate, one side of the shunt has only the domestic batteries negatives connected to it. Nothing else, not even the engine battery negative. The other side has all the things that were connected to the domestic battery negative before you disconnected them.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 25, 2019 16:49:18 GMT
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Post by Jim on Apr 25, 2019 17:18:52 GMT
So constructive criticism: You have 2 busbars, all leads from them to battery terminals should be the same length, it looks like they might be. A tape measure is your friend! Then you need a box or sheet of ply or whatever to cover the tops of your batteries so nowt can fall onto the terminals. Some sort of cover on the +ve busbar would be a good thing. I suspect if others posted pics of their setup we could all find some fault or other, apart from telly matches, but he doesn't count cos he has a butler to do Everything.
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