$200 Victron Solar Battery Monitor? Try this $30 Chinese one instead! Great for Off-grid Solar 

Does off-grid solar confuse you? Check out my DIY friendly website for solar system packages and product recommendations, and so much more! www.mobile-solarpower.com Join our DIY solar community! #1 largest solar forum on the internet for beginners and professionals alike: www.diysolarforum.com Check out my best-selling, beginner-friendly 12V off-grid solar book (affiliate link): amzn.to/2Aj4dX4 If DIY is not for you, but you love solar and need an offgrid system, check out Tesla Solar. Low prices and great warranty, and they can take your entire house offgrid with their new Powerwalls: ts.la/william57509 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ My solar equipment recommendations (Constantly updated! Check here first): 12V/48V Lithium Batteries: www.mobile-solarpower.com/solar-batteries.html Solar System Component Directory: www.mobile-solarpower.com/solarcomponents.html Plug-N-Play Systems: www.mobile-solarpower.com/full-size-systems.html Complete 48V System Kits: www.mobile-solarpower.com/complete-48v-solar-kits.html DIY Friendly Air Conditioner/ Heat Pumps: www.mobile-solarpower.com/solar-friendly-air-conditioners.html Complete 48V System Blueprint: www.mobile-solarpower.com/48v-complete-system-blueprint.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ My Favorite Online Stores for DIY Solar and Coupon Codes: -Current Connected: SOK, Victron and High Quality Components. Best prices and warranty around: currentconnected.com/?ref=wp -Signature Solar: Cheap Server Rack Batteries and Large Solar Panels: www.signaturesolar.com/?ref=h-cvbzfahsek -Ecoflow Delta Official Site: My favorite plug-n-play solar generator: us.ecoflow.com/?aff=7 -AmpereTime: Cheapest 12V batteries around: amperetime.com/products/ampere-time-12v-100ah-lithium-lifepo4-battery?ref=h-cvbzfahsek -Rich Solar: Mega site and cheaper prices than renogy! Check them out: richsolar.com/?ref=h-cvbzfahsek -Shop Solar Kits: Huge site with every solar kit you can imagine! Check it out: shopsolarkits.com/?ref=will-p -Battery Hookup: Cheap cell deals bit.ly/2mIxSqt 10% off code: diysolar -Watts 24/7: Best deals on all-in-one solar power systems, with customer support and distribution here in the USA: watts247.com/?wpam_id=3 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Contact Information: I am NOT available for personal solar system consult! If you wish to contact me, this is my direct email: williamprowsediysolar@gmail.com Join the forum at diysolarforum.com/ if you wish to hang out with myself and others and talk about solar FTC Disclosure Statement and Disclaimers: Every video includes some form of paid promotion or sponsorship. Some links on this youtube channel may be affiliate links. We may get paid if you buy something or take an action after clicking one of these. My videos are for educational purposes only. Information is subject to change/update at any time. Electricity is DANGEROUS and can kill. Be smart and use common sense :) DIY Solar Power with Will Prowse is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, An affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com

Update: bought this when you posted. Still working well months later.

I think what make you so interesting, is your enthusiasm. I can watch you all day, over baritone people where I loose interest quickly. Keep it up kid.

Got one for my boat and it works as described. By the way you are the only person that talks about setting threshold for these that did a review. It's why you are so good at breaking down products.

I really appreciate you and your videos Will. By watching your videos, I have gone from knowing very little about electricity to completely wiring, crimping, fusing and building my own 12V system! Thanks Will. You do a great job. Keep it going!

Just finished installing the $40 battery monitor. Works great. I'm glad to know that after years of working on electronic stuff, I'm not the only one who jumps when I see sparks. Never get use to that. Thanks for all your great videos Will. My set up is a mirror image of yours. Lots of advice on here about solar but yours seems to be the only one I really understand. All is well, no smoke. Life is good. W4GTT

Have several of these bought from Amazon a few years ago. They're fantastic. Reliable little components

Been using this one for 3 years, works perfectly. Also, Renogy is using the exact, identical shunt with its own battery monitor.

I just added one to our camper. The instructions have been rewritten as they were way easier to read. It's been working great and does everything I need.

Bought this as well as the Chinese Bluetooth ANT-BMS that you reviewed in another video. I've since done a 48v LiFePO4 100ah battery build using Grade A cells. The setup is being used in my golf cart and having this battery monitor mounted to my dash makes it very convenient. The linear discharge rate of LiFePO4 also means I have an accurate reading of my remaining battery capacity so I don't run out. There are also a few other perks of being able to programme the capacity. I set my capacity at 80AH on the monitor so I don't actually run the batteries below 20AH or 20% SOC. Programmed the same into the ANT-BMS and its been working like a charm.

They have rewritten the instructions. They are quite easy to understand and follow now. At least on the 350A version that I purchased from Amazon a few days ago. They have also added the ability to turn the backlight off and on, by pressing the V and % buttons simultaneously and holding for a second or two. This may not be a new feature, it might exist on all of them but just wasn’t documented.

I have the victron and as a programmer its super awesome, I pull stats from it into influxdb then use grafana.

I bought one when I saw this review, a year on and it hasn't skipped a beat 😎✌

I have had this victron monitor for three years, I also have the chinese one fitted in the cab so i can see it while driving and switch off alternator charging when not needed. The victron is a far more advanced piece of hardware with a relay and dataloging. The chinese monitor works but the victron is more accurate, as there it drift between the two units over time.For the money it's great value, but as with so many things... you gets what you pay for!

I bought one and it works great on a SLA battery, I like knowing how much is left over. I like that it shows both current coming in and out. Also it does a heartbeat when the battery is charging. This is very nice. Edit****************** I have this a couple months and it is ok, the problem is it goes offline every 6-8 weeks and it needs to be reset.

bought one straight away,great find cheers. Also had my eye on the victron for while but just couldnt bring myself to do it..

I just purchased the 350 amp so i can run my 2000 watt inverter thru it ,,, works perfect ,,, Thank you ! B.J.T traveling south coast NSW AUSTRALIA ,,,,,

Your enthusiasm is infectious!

I think you can set the capacity by just having a fully charged system and then hold the percentage sign. You also need to set you battery capacity so it knows how many amp hours it is

Because that was what was available 11 years ago when I bought it. Still works fine.

Thanks Will...... You made the price go up again............ You should start a subscription based mail list, where you tell people what you are going to make videos on BEFORE you do them, so they can buy at the cheaper price!! :)

I purchased a similar unit on EBAY last year for about $30. It works well except that the current reading has a temperature dependent error of +/- a couple of percent. That error compounds with time so the accuracy is variable with climate! Also, since the shunt amplifier is not a true differential input, an isolated 12V power is required if the unit is remote from the shunt. It would be a worthwhile experiment for you to note the 'zero offset' versus temperature. That is the indicated current when all loads are turned off. -Mike-

Hahaha I love your genuine joy reading the instructions. Thank you for walking through this! 5 years later and this holds up and is very helpful.

The victron monitor does more than what you mentioned, an my experience tells me China doesn’t create most of what they sell, there good at making duplicate copies,

I use the 50A version in combination with a 240W/15A solar panel on a 150AH battery. Just perfect.

Hi Will! I installed this on my sailboat today, and it's working great! Thanks for the recommendation!

Shunt can be flipped within the plastic case to make accessing the small positive power input easier. I've got one and it works great!

congratulations for the 50k subscribers benchmark. you are doing great!

Nice alternative. I bought the $200 Victron and do not regret it.

Great review- THE SPARKS FLYING WAS PRICELESS 🍻

In NZ the Victron BMV700 (500amp shunt) costs $NZD285 and the cheap 100Amp version is $NZD29.90

Well, It's interesting to see what happens about 1 year later.. The price has gone from $30 to $41 (Don't worry I won't blame you !!). There are now more options on the market, both less expensive and more. It might be worth doing a video on meter options again since there are so many 'little blue circuit board' options today. I kind of like the option of not putting a shunt built on a circuit board in line with main power.

Thats great i have it set up on my scooter. Ive been stranded twice, its comfortable knowing how much power my lifepo4 batteries have left.

You Are Gold Will! However You Lost Me At The Box Opening! I Have A Lot To Learn!

Thanks to this video i bought the same but the 350 Amp version for $ 32.11 + free shipping

Another Awesome video Will! I have been eyeing the victron 712 for a long time, but can't bring myself to spend 200$ on a gauge. there aren't alot of options for this area of actually seeing whats real in your batteries usage. Definitely gonna look at this option. Keep up the great work videos have been knocking it out of the park recently

I use dozens of these. They ALL work great and easy for folks to understand. As of January 2021 the price is around $45

great find will! bought it right away...i'll call it "poor-man's victron"

I have been using these on all my electric equipment conversions for the last 5 years and they are very reliable even in situations where they are fully exposed to the weather.

I don't see how this will stay calibrated for very long with no settings for charge efficiency, peukert constant, temperature or even battery type. The Victrons auto recalibrates every time the battery reached a full charge.

Totally agree with the Victron cost, nice product but it’s hard to justify. I purchased a different Chinese monitor from your review, lovely colourful screen, multiple info shown at once, two way current, no logging, questionable shunt cover and instructions that make you roll over laughing 😂..as yourself I love it @ £17 UK pounds, I smile again as I type this.

Great video but please don't confuse precision with accuracy (@4:15), especially with cheap goods. Something can read out to 9 digits and only be accurate to 3.

I have one on my system, and I like it. Seems to be a great value for all it does.

When it comes to electronics I like quality. Victron is quality. Every component that is a part of a mobile power system is subject to failure. Most failures are just a nuisance. Some are a fire hazard. If a company can't spend the money for market correct instructions I have to wonder what kind of junk is in the box behind the owners manual.

Only you could get so giggly and excited over a $30 battery monitor. Please, never sell out to companies offering you free stuff for positive reviews. Your honesty is why so many of us trust you. Integrity is everything. As Tony Montana said, he only has 2 things, his word and his balls. And he won't break them for anyone. (Hope I got that right)

Will, this just what I need and at a great price, thanks for the heads up.

They work great ! i have 3 of them now and the oldest one has been running for nearly 500 days . good stuff no problems .

Thank you! I got one of these coming in the mail! One question: You set lowest voltage to 24.9v on the capacity monitor (based on your auto transfer switch's low voltage value), but when when you fully discharged the battery, voltage dropped to 24.2v (which is also what was shown on your auto transfer switch at that 100% discharge time). Shouldn't you have used 24.2v for the capacity monitor's low voltage setting rather than 24.9v?

Had one of these in my full time camper for 8 years.

What would the zero point be if it were used in an RV with a few 12v led acid batteries? This is a great find.

I bought one for my RV but couldn't figure out how to set the low voltage. Now Ill go do it. Thanks Will

Very cool. Could you give us a schematic of your solar system including all fuses and your new monitor. From stem to stern would be most excellent. I know you had a vid on the basic setup of a system but I would be very interested in your system. Thx much

Thaaaanks. I just refused an offer for a solar kit because they told me that in order to use the warranty of the victron battery which is in cycles I would have to buy this 200 bucks waste of money. Bought a battery from another supplier with bluetooth instead. Saved me 600 bucks. They really profit from their market domination here in Europe

Laugh my a$$ off with the spark, gets me every time, makes me feel better that you jump too...

The quick look at the bracket makes me think you had it backwards. Like many meters, they are mounted through a hole on a thin plate. The bracket tightens down against the plate holding the meter in place. Don't over tighten it.

Wow that is ridiculous. The China option wins today. Not perfect, they could spend more time on writing instructions but to save $170 bucks it is worth it. How long did it take you to figure it out?

Thank you I just bought it and I’m excited to install the monitor with the system I just purchased

You're a funny guy - thanks for all your videos.

Your videos give me a lift, I love your enthusiasm and knowledge please keep making your content. It's priceless

I noticed that when you configured this unit you didn't set the AH capacity of your battery bank, this is a feature of the comparable Victron unit which I'm really familiar with. Instead you seemed to set a low voltage point where the batteries were considered to be discharged. I've seen other reviews of this unit where the configuration seems to match the Victron unit where you simply set the AH capacity of your batteries and tell it when they're fully charged. Again the Victron unit does this automatically but then again its almost 10x the price. I note this review is well over a year old, maybe this one you reviewed is an older model with less features. One point I don't see any documentation regarding is weather this cheaper version calculates the Phuket principle, there doesn't seem to be any advanced settings to determine the type of batteries in the bank so I expect this cheap unit is better suited to LiFePo4 rather than traditional FLA. I know that the Victron unit does calculate Phuket and even with this it still goes out of synchronisation over time. I've installed lots of the victron units on liveaboard boats where people cycle their battery storage on a daily basis. The Victron unit will automatically re-syncronise occasionally by calculating the battery voltage and required charge current to determine if the batteries are fully charged. Hopefully this one will too. I really respect your views on kit and will certainly buy one of these to try out now you've given it such a positive review. It's clearly not as good as the Victron unit but WAY WAY cheaper so certainly seems to be very very good value for money. Actually the build quality of the shunt seems better than the Victron one. The plastic mounting on the Victron shunt is really poor and very brittle, even if you're careful in tightening the terminals they still crack over time, usually where the shunt mounts to your bulkhead. Sadly the shunt still has the same failing as the Victron one where the negative P stud is usually too short to accommodate all the P side negative terminals, obviously people should have a negative bus bar but rarely do.

I have one since last year - works great and so nice to have a better idea of the loads on the battery

Pretty cool for that price point and for few bucks more you can get a 350 A shunt if you need it. Still, I'm keeping my Victron, it may be over priced(it really is) but it does all the stuff I want/need and with BT .......but the toy one you reviewed would work just fine for some of my other projects for sure! Thanks for the heads up!

Have been using 2 of those for about 2 years, works for me...

I wonder about the reset when drained part. Could you zero it when the batteries were full then decide when you want to recharge. I ask as it is easier to charge my batteries and then let them rest. Waiting for the batteries to fully discharge takes a bit more timing. In your video I did not see you set the meter for how many amp hours your batteries were. How would it know when your batteries were full ? Put another way, if it doesn't know how many amps came out of the battery, ( resettiing it when drained would zero it out), how would it know how many amps it would take to recharge? Maybe it uses a capacitance test to determine 100% ?

Hi Will, wow thanks for this vid. I'm with you on the prices, these company's are insane. 200.00 plus just to show the v, w, %. I will purchase my 30.00 next month. I need two, one for each battery. I have a two house 12v wet battery plus another for all my other systems.

Ok, I just placed my order! Just wondering if 350 AMPS will be enough for my 3000 watt Pure sine inverter and 4/6 volt Lifeline batteries

the beauty of the vistron shunt is logging how your off grid system is performing with how much power is really being used/collected per day. it's worth while for those who are not as savvy on keeping their system working properly. I have one, and don't use it, though i'm an electrician. I still think they are excellent to help the general user.

Shunts are so 19th century, they are straight out of Frankenstein's lab! I prefer the Hall Effect current sensors that you simply feed a wire through---non-invasive and bidirectional

I ordered one yesterday but with the higher amp shunt. It should arrive tomorrow so I will let you know soon.

Cool find and great price point as always but the complexity of the BMS/Shunt monitor and charger start to make the electroducus SBMS a fair bit simpler for similar money and depending on which one you buy gives the options for much more solar.?

I have one in my Bigfoot truck camper with two Battleborn and it works great.

what happened to your review 6 months later, what do you think of it

Received 5 of these that I ordered, but they do work, for 20 bucks a piece! I saw one guy mount hi, directly to the negative battery post, he took out the bolt for his battery!

thanks for finding alternatives to inexpensive BMS !!!!!

Camway monitor includes extra wire needed. Mine in use 3 years. Works great.

I've tried a few cheep ones now. under 1A load, they lose all accuracy. The victron monitor has been great amd the relay control options are nice too.

I have a different battery monitor I got from Amazon for about $20, which uses a hall-effect sensor to measure current. I found it to be rather inaccurate, and that is presumably because the hall-effect sensor is not that accurate. It's the same principle as with a clamp-ammeter, which easily measures 100 amps, but has trouble measuring anything less than 0.1Amps, because the ambient noise becomes significant interference. The battery monitor measures all current going in and out of the battery, and any errors add-up over time. I found that the smallest current it can measure is 0.1A, in increments of 0.1A, so when current is low (~0.1A) its error might be +/- 100% which will add-up to huge errors over a 24 hour period. In my case, I saw my battery go dead a few times - once the battery monitor showed 20% remaining, and other times, it went down below zero. Also, when charging, it reached 100% long before it was actually fully charged and I saw it charge at 18 amps for another 1 hour before it reached a full state of charge. This suggests it "lost track" of about 10% to 20% of the entire capacity in each charge and discharge cycle. This could be due to inaccuracy of current measurement, or failure to account for round-trip charge/discharge inefficiencies. In short, it's performance is pathetic. So, I'm shopping for a new battery monitor. Like you, I considered the Victron, but was turned off by the high cost compared with what it actually does. After seeing your video, I am pretty sure that your battery monitor will perform a lot better, because it has more decimal places in measuring current, but most importantly, it uses a SHUNT, which I expect to be more accurate than a hall-effect sensor. The only thing that these cheap monitors lack, is some kind of histogram showing the history of charge and discharge, and high/low values. Each day, I want to know how much charge my solar produced, and how much capacity was used in any given day. I wish there was a cheaper solution that could report this critical information. I'm still undecided.

Hey dude what is the update on these!? 😊

Will! Thanks so much for posting this. I literally set up $18 battery monitor you mentioned a couple days ago and was disappointed to find out that it doesn't measure amperage going in. I'll definitely give this $30 option a try!

I wouldn't put my trust in a $30 Chinese item when I'm looking at my $4000 batteries.

I was thinking along the same lines and have NO intention of paying $200 for a battery monitor. I did purchase a Victron Energy charge controller and that was nearly a thousand bucks! Thumbs up, definitely.

thanks man subbed, do more boat stuff :)

I have to say. I am learning like never before. Thank you for tutoring us.

Nice & cheap battery monitor

I had exactly the same thought, I 'wanted' a battery monitor because I wanted it for my boat's house battery but didn't feel like spending too much for the reasons you mentioned. I have ordered the same one a few days ago so was good to see you installing it...as the number one gripe was the chinglesh user instructions and you helped clear that up. tyhx

Is this for just lithium or can. I use it with flooded led acid?

The cheap plastic around the bolts is a deal breaker for me. Ever see melted plastic from loose connections? It's not pretty. Will, we appreciate all that you do. Your enthusiasm is infectious.

Why didn't you post this last week when I bought the Victron!?! Hahaha

Thanks for videos. I bought Tr16350 for DIY 280ah w/Daley 150 separate bms, putting in Craftsman toolbox, exciting project, gonna make it perfect thanks to vids. Connect this to Neg terminal (C-) but the P- will have to have 2 cables 1 for BMS -P other for Tr16-C, to read Solar charge stats, but have M15 with Epever 40aMPPT.

Downvotes are from Victron.

The actual solution to setting capacity is to fill it to max and then set the monitor to 100%

great work, thank you -you are doing an amazing job for many of us who have little knowledge./ Please do not use THE LORD JESUS CHRIT'S NAME as a swearword

I think it's caca. Get the $200 Victron. 😁 Nice video!

I bought the same to install on my boat. Haven't messed around with it too much but it seems like a solid product.

Are you an electrical engineer or you just a savant? :) Seriously where did you learn this?

Will, I just installed it on two 6v FLA Golf-cart batteries for my rv. Looks great, hope it stays accurate. Here’s a thumbs up!👍🏻

Will, You mentioned that you don’t like connecting loads (except for the monitor) to the load terminal on the charge controller. I did and prefer doing so instead of using an inverter given the best inverters have a 90% efficiency rate, most are 85%. That is a lot of lost power on my 400w system. I have a #10 gauge cable from the load terminal to a fuse box which then branches off in other fused circuits that run homemade 12v fans and lights throughout my house, the state of battery charge typically drops to 60% overnight. Using an inverter would almost surely deplete the three 100w AGL batteries to minimal discharge. After watching all of your videos, I’m about to embark on installing the 24v system you designed and plan on adding more appliances without and inverter.

Being using one for over 12 months now and can’t fault it, great investment for the price.

Installed two on a sailboat one monitors the boat house batteries (12vdc) & the other the 48vdc propulsion batteries Will let you know how it goes

I've had one for 2 years and also had my victron smart shunt for 1 year both are great