Victron Battery Monitor BMV-600

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Paulus

I am using this to monitor my house bank(4 golf cart batteries  480ah).  Will this monitor be affected when I am charging house and starting battery when I have the switch on both. Would this also be true when I am running the engine and have the battery switch on both?
Appreciate your input.
Paul
Cool Change 1989 #944

Ron Hill

Paul : Where/what batteries is your battery monitor connect to??
Ron, Apache #788

mainesail

Quote from: Paulus on March 27, 2014, 01:46:10 PM
I am using this to monitor my house bank(4 golf cart batteries  480ah).  Will this monitor be affected when I am charging house and starting battery when I have the switch on both. Would this also be true when I am running the engine and have the battery switch on both?
Appreciate your input.
Paul

Not if wired correctly....
-Maine Sail
Casco Bay, ME
Boat - CS-36T

https://marinehowto.com/

Paulus

Mainesail
Could you elaborate on your comment?  Thanks,
Paul
Cool Change 1989 #944

Paulus

Is someone using this monitor?  Would like some practical advice?
Thanks, Paul
Cool Change 1989 #944

mainesail

#5
Paulus,

Send us a wiring COMPLETE wiring diagram for battery/shunt connections and we can then tell you if it is wired correctly.

Beyond that EVERYTHING (every neg wire and ground including the start battery neg) MUST be on the LOAD side of the shunt....

One you have it wired correctly it will work as designed. Then it is up to you to

Manually program it correctly for Ah capacity, charge efficiency, Peukert etc..
Make certain it synch's when it is supposed to (best to manually synch)
Recalibrate at least yearly for the current "Ah capacity" of the bank

If all of the above is not kept up with the monitor will work, as in count ampere hours, but it will not be "accurate" in relation to your bank..... It is imperative to the operation of an Ah counter that it is:

#1 wired correctly
#2 Programmed & used correctly

Take a look at this article:

Wiring a Battery Monitor



Then read this article:

Balmar Smart Gauge


-Maine Sail
Casco Bay, ME
Boat - CS-36T

https://marinehowto.com/

Stu Jackson

Maine Sail's right.  YOu should also check out the "Electrical 101" topic and read the Gotcha thread about using, programming and synching a battery monitor.
Stu Jackson, C34 IA Secretary, #224 1986, "Aquavite"  Cowichan Bay, BC  Maple Bay Marina  SR/FK, M25, Rocna 10 (22#) (NZ model)

"There is no problem so great that it can't be solved."

Paulus

Thanks, will make a copy of my wiring diagram. 
Paul
Cool Change 1989 #944

Paulus

After reading all the articles, including past posts, I have 3 questions.
1. is there a simple monitor that would just give me ah and volts?  According to the manual on line, the only setting I have to make is the ah, the rest are preset?
2. Improvements to my system, add a echo charger so that my starting battery will charge after house batteries?  Which type of echo charger do you recommend?
3. move my alternator  wire from the battery selector switch and run it directly to my house battery?

Paul
Cool Change 1989 #944

Stu Jackson

Quote from: Paulus on March 28, 2014, 02:17:04 PM
After reading all the articles, including past posts, I have 3 questions.
1. is there a simple monitor that would just give me ah and volts?  According to the manual on line, the only setting I have to make is the ah, the rest are preset?
2. Improvements to my system, add a echo charger so that my starting battery will charge after house batteries?  Which type of echo charger do you recommend?
3. move my alternator  wire from the battery selector switch and run it directly to my house battery?

Paul,

1.  The easiest to install monitor that will give you ah and volts and SOC is the Victron.  The Smart Gauge will only give you SOC, which is just as good if you don't want anything other than the features mentioned in Maine Sail's writeup of the SG.  The Victron manual is very good, but you should also read the Gotcha article I wrote and mentioned to fully understand the algorithms in the Victron and use it wisely.

2.  The only "echo charger" made is by Xantrex and is the only reliable piece of equipment we've found that they make.  The "Electrical 101" topic includes a link to a Maine Sail article about how to wire it since the instructions are meager.  Other choices are the Yandina combiner and the Blue Sea ACR, which I believe are overkill.  My basic choices would be either the ec or the combiner.

3.  Yes, good move, but only after you get the echo charger and do them both at the same time (or just use the B position on your 1-2-B switch; as we've written up in the "Electrical 101" topic under wiring diagrams.
Stu Jackson, C34 IA Secretary, #224 1986, "Aquavite"  Cowichan Bay, BC  Maple Bay Marina  SR/FK, M25, Rocna 10 (22#) (NZ model)

"There is no problem so great that it can't be solved."

Paulus

Thanks, will read the article.
Paul
Cool Change 1989 #944

Paulus

Can I leave my shore power battery charger on bank #1 and  starting battery so that when I am on shore power the batteries will charge.  I did read the article on wiring an echo charger.  Nicely written and illustrated.  Will follow the very clear instructions.
Paul
Cool Change 1989 #944

Clay Greene

It depends on how your battery charger is wired and how your batteries are wired to the switch.  There are a number of different possibilities.  Our battery charger wires on our current boat currently (no pun intended) go to the two batteries in the house bank so the reserve battery does not get recharged unless the battery switch is set to "all."  On our previous boat, the battery charger wires were wired to the 1 and 2 posts on the switch so the battery charger charged the batteries regardless of the position of the switch.  The answer to your question really depends on how your system is configured. 

The easiest way to answer your question is to try it.  Put the switch on 1 with the battery charger and use a multimeter to check the volts at both banks of batteries.  If you are seeing 14+ volts (13+ if in float mode), the batteries are being recharged.  If you see voltage in the 12 range, they are not. 
1989, Hull #873, "Serendipity," M25XP, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Stu Jackson

Quote from: Paulus on March 29, 2014, 05:48:28 AM
Can I leave my shore power battery charger on bank #1 and  starting battery so that when I am on shore power the batteries will charge.  I did read the article on wiring an echo charger.  Nicely written and illustrated.  Will follow the very clear instructions.


Paul,

There is no need to continue using a multi-output shorepower charger once you have installed the echo charger (or any other type of charging relay).

Again, if you spend some time at the "Electrical 101" topic, you'll find this, which discusses this very issue.  You need to check your charger's capabilities to determine if one output will work without any jumpers.

Wiring a new charger From Maine Sail:  http://forums.catalina.sailboatowners.com/showthread.php?t=136765
Stu Jackson, C34 IA Secretary, #224 1986, "Aquavite"  Cowichan Bay, BC  Maple Bay Marina  SR/FK, M25, Rocna 10 (22#) (NZ model)

"There is no problem so great that it can't be solved."

Paulus

I have a Pro Mariner charger with 2 studs and wired directly to my house bank and my starting battery.  Can I leave these connected or will this interfere with my echo charger that I am planning to install.  Stu, you suggest that I could remove it from my starting battery after the echo install. 
Thanks, Paul
Cool Change 1989 #944