Has anyone installed a battery charge meter?

E4B4E318-14D4-4CDF-9DDB-B1692E2F8364.jpeg

Some boats come with meters for the house, engines and genny. Convenient way to see at a glance what is going on with the batteries.
 
SKybolt said:
The crimper is the highlighted "Hydraulic Crimper" link, But I believe so, possibly down to 1/0, I have only used it for my generator and electric lines when I made my new electric panel, worked perfectly. The sizes are listed as: 9x dies: 4, 6, 8, 10, 16, 25, 35, 50, 70mm2. I keep it on the boat so I'll check in a bit, going to the boat in a few.
Click to expand...

@ttmott that one will definitely crimp 4/0 on the "50" size. 4/0 is roughly .460 and the size 50 is .462 across the hex crimp flat. The size 70 is .488 across the hex flat. It does 10ga and 12ga real well also. It seems to be very well built and easy to use. The dies are all steel, can't see them breaking, not bad for the price. I did my whole electric panel with it and zero issues.
 
SKybolt said:
@ttmott that one will definitely crimp 4/0 on the "50" size. 4/0 is roughly .460 and the size 50 is .462 across the hex crimp flat. The size 70 is .488 across the hex flat. It does 10ga and 12ga real well also. It seems to be very well built and easy to use. The dies are all steel, can't see them breaking, not bad for the price. I did my whole electric panel with it and zero issues.
Click to expand...
Thanks Orlando; good price also.
 
I bought a similar hydraulic crimper off ebay when I installed the inverter. Made the 4/0 cables with ease. I want to say $50 delivered. I've used it on several other projects.
 
I looked at the Veratron a while back. Looks like a nice unit, but the current and bank size are a little limited for my application. I was hoping they would come out with some larger shunts.

The Victron are nice as well, but I haven't figured out how to monitor multiple battery banks with 1 display.
 
dtfeld said:
I looked at the Veratron a while back. Looks like a nice unit, but the current and bank size are a little limited for my application. I was hoping they would come out with some larger shunts.

The Victron are nice as well, but I haven't figured out how to monitor multiple battery banks with 1 display.
Click to expand...

Yep, same issue for me as well. But it is perfect for gas engines, which is what Veratron seems to be catering too with their other products as well. I worked with them on the OceanLink7 and they were so obstinate in making any changes on anything I gave up on them. But thats not to say they don't have some nice products for the right application.
 
dtfeld said:
I looked at the Veratron a while back. Looks like a nice unit, but the current and bank size are a little limited for my application. I was hoping they would come out with some larger shunts.

The Victron are nice as well, but I haven't figured out how to monitor multiple battery banks with 1 display.
Click to expand...
There are two ways to monitor multiple battery banks with the Victron products one inexpensive and one that will drag you down the way cool road and an endless mod period with "that would be great to have".... I'm the poster child of the second path as some of you know...
The inexpensive is to install multiple BMV-712 monitors and shunts; they are not really that expensive. The ultimate issue with this would be the Bluetooth features and being able to see multiple identical devices on your smart device / app. Or not have the Bluetooth feature and get the BMV-700 units.
Then there is the Victron Smartshunts with their Venus GX integration module and touch screen access. The problem with this setup is more than one battery bank cannot be displayed on the touch screen at the same time; different pages are required. I understand Victron is working on a solution which hopefully is a S/W update only.
Tom
 
ttmott said:
There are two ways to monitor multiple battery banks with the Victron products one inexpensive and one that will drag you down the way cool road and an endless mod period with "that would be great to have".... I'm the poster child of the second path as some of you know...
The inexpensive is to install multiple BMV-712 monitors and shunts; they are not really that expensive. The ultimate issue with this would be the Bluetooth features and being able to see multiple identical devices on your smart device / app. Or not have the Bluetooth feature and get the BMV-700 units.
Then there is the Victron Smartshunts with their Venus GX integration module and touch screen access. The problem with this setup is more than one battery bank cannot be displayed on the touch screen at the same time; different pages are required. I understand Victron is working on a solution which hopefully is a S/W update only.
Tom
Click to expand...
Then one could combine the grounds of all the battery banks to one large shunt and monitor the banks as one unit....
 
I've considered the that would be great to have program. The Magnum inverter is mostly functional, but pulling all the power through one leg puts a big load on one side.

The Quattro would be a better fit and a good intro to victron...
 
ttmott said:
... Then there is the Victron Smartshunts with their Venus GX integration module and touch screen access. ...
Click to expand...

Tom, it's un-clear on there site as to the support of N2K data. It doesn't look like there is any support for N2K, is that correct? Barring that, the GX system looks to be pretty nice in what they support.
 
SKybolt said:
Tom, it's un-clear on there site as to the support of N2K data. It doesn't look like there is any support for N2K, is that correct? Barring that, the GX system looks to be pretty nice in what they support.
Click to expand...
Victron uses several data systems in their products; VE-Bus, VE-Direct, and VE-CAN.
The VE-CAN is directly interfaceable to NMEA 2000; they use the same PGN's and format.
The VE-Bus is not directly interfaceable
The VE-Direct is not directly interfaceable
The Victron Battery monitors are VE-Direct data interface to other Victron products like their GX integration devices (Venus GX and Cerbo GX) so consequently, a GX device would be needed to input / output all of the Victron data systems as well as a host of other great features and interface with NMEA 2000.
Victron used to make a VE-Bus NMEA 2000 interface but that is discontinued; it seems there are still some in the marketplace.
https://www.victronenergy.com/accessories/ve-bus-to-nmea2000-interface
https://www.victronenergy.com/live/ve.can:nmea-2000:start
 
ttmott said:
Victron uses several data systems in their products; VE-Bus, VE-Direct, and VE-CAN.
The VE-CAN is directly interfaceable to NMEA 2000; they use the same PGN's and format.
The VE-Bus is not directly interfaceable
The VE-Direct is not directly interfaceable
The Victron Battery monitors are VE-Direct data interface to other Victron products like their GX integration devices (Venus GX and Cerbo GX) so consequently, a GX device would be needed to input / output all of the Victron data systems as well as a host of other great features and interface with NMEA 2000.
Victron used to make a VE-Bus NMEA 2000 interface but that is discontinued; it seems there are still some in the marketplace.
https://www.victronenergy.com/accessories/ve-bus-to-nmea2000-interface
https://www.victronenergy.com/live/ve.can:nmea-2000:start
Click to expand...

Yep, I really missed all that. Not quite sure I should thank you though, I am sure my wallet is not going to like this next project ...

But really, thanks for posting the links. I originally wanted to get a Victron about six years ago when I replaced the old Pro-Mariner battery cooker with the newer Pro-Nautic. Might have to upgrade again, they have some really nice products.
 
Victron is a great product. I have 2 50W solar panels, MPPT and their BMV-712 with a Raspberry Pi running their Venus OS. I'm on a mooring, but can remotely monitor and log my batteries and solar power. And I can remotely turn off my fridge - which I just noticed was still left on from this weekend and draining my batteries! Now it's off :)

victron_vrm.PNG
 
ttmott said:
Yes but can the App handle multiple Smartshunts like is being asked?
Click to expand...
Yes, I added one for the starboard bank to go with the one for the port bank with a bmv712. You can name each shunt and the list will show up when the app is opened. Click on the one you want to see information for. I'll put up some screen shots when I'm at the boat.
 
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