Victron Smart Shunt

Irie308 said:
Got my smart shunts up and running this weekend. However I’m noticing that the Bluetooth range is not so great. Need to be in the cockpit to connect. Is it worth getting the gx screen to mount remotely?
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Did some research on this and found that if you install a Bluetooth dongle from Victron it greatly improves the Bluetooth range. The down side is that its another $50 purchase to Victron to improve the range of their own device.

https://www.amazon.com/Victron-Ener...ocphy=9004302&hvtargid=pla-423167051188&psc=1
 
One final detail question as I'm ready to install the smart shunts. Does it matter where I wire the red power lead from the shunt?

My plan is to attach it directly to the threaded accessory terminal next to the main battery post (pic below is gen battery , but this is the terminal) I don't think it matters as this lead is fused, and the only thing this does is supply (small amount) power to the Smart Shunt.

Any issues or is there a prefered method?


6F467BB0-E3E4-473D-BD0E-65A340A2ADE3.png
 
dtfeld said:
One final detail question as I'm ready to install the smart shunts. Does it matter where I wire the red power lead from the shunt?

My plan is to attach it directly to the threaded accessory terminal next to the main battery post (pic below is gen battery , but this is the terminal) I don't think it matters as this lead is fused, and the only thing this does is supply (small amount) power to the Smart Shunt.

Any issues or is there a prefered method?


View attachment 140883
Click to expand...
You are right - the red shunt power wire needs to be direct to the battery or somewhere that is direct to the battery. I connected to the battery side of the main disconnects inside of the Main Disconnect Panel on my boat. The fuses for the shunts are also inside that panel. The only wires on the batteries are the 4/0.
 
ttmott said:
You are right - the red shunt power wire needs to be direct to the battery or somewhere that is direct to the battery. I connected to the battery side of the main disconnects inside of the Main Disconnect Panel on my boat. The fuses for the shunts are also inside that panel. The only wires on the batteries are the 4/0.
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Thanks Tom.

I think the easiest way to wire this (since they are individually fused) is have the Smart Shunt + run right up inside/next to the main 4/0+ back to the battery and connect on the accessory post. It will always have power unless battery removed. Getting to the main disconnect is a little further away and requires a little more routing. Plus fuses (dammit if Victron doesn't love those little 5mm glass buggers) are accessible.

Hopefully, I've thought thru all the issues and this should be an easy install. Spent a good amount of time making sure I have the correct lugs, crimp dies and implementing my new wire labeling technique (all of which I've lifted/stolen off various bloggers).

Cutting the main battery cables in half isn't something I'm looking forward to.

B2F296A4-64BC-437B-86AB-89E90D485FA4.jpeg
A4E3255B-01DD-456C-B845-1371EB338468.jpeg
 
Got both installed yesterday, everything crimped torqued and loomed. Looking forward to seeing a little data from these this season. One remaining detail is to add a terminal boot to cover up the connections. They didnt arrive in time.

Next step is to get them hooked up to a Cerbo GX and have some remote monitoring capability.
20230306_140458.jpg
 
dtfeld said:
Got both installed yesterday, everything crimped torqued and loomed. Looking forward to seeing a little data from these this season. One remaining detail is to add a terminal boot to cover up the connections. They didnt arrive in time.

Next step is to get them hooked up to a Cerbo GX and have some remote monitoring capability.
View attachment 140994
Click to expand...
The Bluetooth feature is not good for more than a several feet away from the Shunts.
 
Neither is the "external" BT on the Cerbo...
 
@ttmott

Smart Shunts wire up and connected to the Cerbo GX All seems good. However, notice that my ProNautic charger seems to want to charge and keep the batteries at a very high voltage. Its supposed to be set for AGM 1 or 2 (cant recall of top of my head, but I'll need to confirm). Here are the published settings.


upload_2023-3-16_10-4-12.png



In the Charge cycle, both battery banks were charging at 14.9 +/- 0.02V and my generator battery hit 15.02. Once it dropped into maintain mode, its keeping them at 14.0V Seems way too high. I haven't put a DMM on it yet, but I assume the shunts are extremely accurate.

Capture.PNG


In the Charge cycle, both battery banks were charging at 14.9+ and my generator battery hit 15.02. Once it dropped into maintain mode, its keeping them at 14.0V



Do you guys see this in your system, or do I have a mis-configured or bad charger?
 
dtfeld said:
@ttmott

Smart Shunts wire up and connected to the Cerbo GX All seems good. However, notice that my ProNautic charger seems to want to charge and keep the batteries at a very high voltage. Its supposed to be set for AGM 1 or 2 (cant recall of top of my head, but I'll need to confirm). Here are the published settings.


View attachment 141459


In the Charge cycle, both battery banks were charging at 14.9 +/- 0.02V and my generator battery hit 15.02. Once it dropped into maintain mode, its keeping them at 14.0V Seems way too high. I haven't put a DMM on it yet, but I assume the shunts are extremely accurate.

View attachment 141460

In the Charge cycle, both battery banks were charging at 14.9+ and my generator battery hit 15.02. Once it dropped into maintain mode, its keeping them at 14.0V



Do you guys see this in your system, or do I have a mis-configured or bad charger?
Click to expand...
Were you catching it in Equalization mode? If not it is high - I'd compare the Cerbo indicated voltages with a good DVM.
 
ttmott said:
Were you catching it in Equalization mode? If not it is high - I'd compare the Cerbo indicated voltages with a good DVM.
Click to expand...

I don't think this is equalization mode...this looks like the steady state. Its been constant for a day like this, so yeah need to get a DMM on them.

upload_2023-3-16_20-14-7.png


A also think I need to calibrate the starboard shunt to zero out the current. I think it should be reading 0 as opposed to .2A charge. That's easy enough, but I think I have to be there in person to do that via the Victron Connect app.
 
dtfeld said:
I don't think this is equalization mode...this looks like the steady state. Its been constant for a day like this, so yeah need to get a DMM on them.

View attachment 141483

A also think I need to calibrate the starboard shunt to zero out the current. I think it should be reading 0 as opposed to .2A charge. That's easy enough, but I think I have to be there in person to do that via the Victron Connect app.
Click to expand...
There is a procedure to baseline the shunts with respect to the SOC, Pukert Effect, and type of battery bank - that won't change the real time voltage but it needs to be done nevertheless.
 
ttmott said:
There is a procedure to baseline the shunts with respect to the SOC, Pukert Effect, and type of battery bank - that won't change the real time voltage but it needs to be done nevertheless.
Click to expand...

I've done the baseline setup. I think I'm good there. I believe the Victron voltage is correct, so I'll have to dig into it. That's the problem with monitoring, might find more problems! I guess better than cooking expensive batteries.

You can zero out the amperage by removing the wire from the System - and zeroing it out in the app. I'll check that on the Starboard side.

Other thank that, pretty happy with it all. I have 3 Ruuvi tags in the fridges/freezer reporting back. The 2 installed TLM-100 are reporting fuel levels with a 3rd about to go in the fresh water tank. The black water tank is going to get measured with the 4-20 sensor and tank140. 24V inverter getting re-installed in the coming days, just working out some wiring improvements.

Add a couple of bilge pump counters/bilge alarms and I'm a lot further than I was a couple weeks ago.

Huge improvement. My only bitch is the connectors as we've discussed.

upload_2023-3-17_1-12-24.png
 
dtfeld said:
I've done the baseline setup. I think I'm good there. I believe the Victron voltage is correct, so I'll have to dig into it. That's the problem with monitoring, might find more problems! I guess better than cooking expensive batteries.

You can zero out the amperage by removing the wire from the System - and zeroing it out in the app. I'll check that on the Starboard side.

Other thank that, pretty happy with it all. I have 3 Ruuvi tags in the fridges/freezer reporting back. The 2 installed TLM-100 are reporting fuel levels with a 3rd about to go in the fresh water tank. The black water tank is going to get measured with the 4-20 sensor and tank140. 24V inverter getting re-installed in the coming days, just working out some wiring improvements.

Add a could bilge pump counters/bilge alarms and I'm a lot further than I was a couple weeks ago.

Huge improvement. My only bitch is the connectors as we've discussed.

View attachment 141495
Click to expand...
OK - you are way beyond me on the screen setup. I'll need some schooling on that.
 
Guimods —> https://github.com/kwindrem/GuiMods#

Its an open source package that can be run on the GX platform. It adds a lot of very useful display functionality including power meters, multiple tanks, temperatures, relay status. It adds a touch button in the middle of each element allowing you to bring up additional details. It also allows access to the AC input limit as 4 preset radio buttons, so really a complete replacement for the Victron inverter remote.

I run a test platform on a raspberry pi, and I tested this before installing on the Cerbo, but I find it very useful. All of the Venus firmware is open source, but I beleive Victron actually participates in this. There is a whole section on the Victron forum for Modifications and the CEO of Victron participate. I think he is mvader.

405FBB9F-2135-4DA4-8B56-81499D300B8E.png
1AAE078A-10E4-4CA8-B282-B23EFF4EC1EC.png


If you want to install this on your Cerbo, it’s a 2 step process. It is also reversible:) and doesn’t alter the underlying Victron firmware. You install a package manager, and the package manager allows you to add, update and remove various “packages”. Keeps track of revisions and will automatically update if you have that turned on (I do not as it’s remote). You can see there is an update, but unless it add/fixes something for me, I leave it alone.

0476F9C9-F1F9-454E-B7E7-F26B5591F6BF.png


There is a rather long readme file on GitHub that describes all of this along with a bunch of screenshots. If you are going to do this, there are a couple good YouTube videos that help the first time through. Seems intimidating at first, but really pretty easy.
 
dtfeld said:
Guimods —> https://github.com/kwindrem/GuiMods#

Its an open source package that can be run on the GX platform. It adds a lot of very useful display functionality including power meters, multiple tanks, temperatures, relay status. It adds a touch button in the middle of each element allowing you to bring up additional details. It also allows access to the AC input limit as 4 preset radio buttons, so really a complete replacement for the Victron inverter remote.

I run a test platform on a raspberry pi, and I tested this before installing on the Cerbo, but I find it very useful. All of the Venus firmware is open source, but I beleive Victron actually participates in this. There is a whole section on the Victron forum for Modifications and the CEO of Victron participate. I think he is mvader.

View attachment 141498 View attachment 141499

If you want to install this on your Cerbo, it’s a 2 step process. It is also reversible:) and doesn’t alter the underlying Victron firmware. You install a package manager, and the package manager allows you to add, update and remove various “packages”. Keeps track of revisions and will automatically update if you have that turned on (I do not as it’s remote). You can see there is an update, but unless it add/fixes something for me, I leave it alone.

View attachment 141500

There is a rather long readme file on GitHub that describes all of this along with a bunch of screenshots. If you are going to do this, there are a couple good YouTube videos that help the first time through. Seems intimidating at first, but really pretty easy.
Click to expand...
I knew you'd get hooked. Treble hooked with barbs.
 
ttmott said:
I knew you'd get hooked. Treble hooked with barbs.
Click to expand...
:) I need a good project here and there to keep the brain thinking. You also have me working on the AC side although that’s not a simple firmware upgrade.
 
dtfeld said:
So are you adding Guimods? No pressure…
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I'm intrigued and will have to go there. Right now, however, I'm building hay feeders and watering troughs for the horses. My caretaker has two pigs on stilts. Actually, they are both big lap dogs. Not allowed on the boat....
 
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