Hey man I just wanted to say thanks so much for this video. It’s actually quite difficult to find any comprehensive videos on this monitor and showing the actual setup. It really helped me out.
So glad I found you. You have explained it so well. Now I can see the cable routing is very simple. I have viewed almost every video available on this subject and I just did not understand the install. Until you. Thank you sir, and well done!
So many things to bring together between batteries, solar, battery management, etc. This vid is a well explained tutorial of this one component which makes up the whole. Thank you sir!
Thank you , I have watched a few installs and reviews about this and most skip over messing around with what the app looks like and what the settings look like. I appreciate you showing that part.
@@TheWrinklyNomads Hello I am about to install one of these on a van conversion I am building and I have a chain of batteries similar to yours but I have the load negatives at one end of the chain and the charging negatives (solar and a b2b charger) at the other end of my chain. Is this incorrect? It makes installing the shunt quite difficult. Should I move all my negatives including charging ones to one end of the battery chain and all the positives (including charging ones) to the other?
Perfect thank you! I have 200ah across my two batteries in my Rollerteam 746. I have just started boiling my kettle etc using my invertenand your video helps me understand my true usage and capacity! Thank you!
Hi there These monitors are superior bits of equipment as you have said I fitted one in my old van Debating doing the same again as my Autotrail control panel is very basic and only gives an unreliable voltage readout It may be a bit of a hassle getting the lead routed to where I need it but at least you get an accurate picture of your battery At present I only know am getting low when the tv gives a low power warning You pay for what you get with gear like this One day I fancy building an array at home I would be using Victron for that too Great video 👍👍
Very informative vid Steve. This is the part of my campervan build I dread the most but at least I have something to fall back on . Thanks and keep healthy! Marc- Belgium
1:05 HA! Stop motion unboxing. Nice editing touch. I've got a Renogy brand monitor/shunt that just started flaking out on me after only 6 months. Thinking of upgrading to this one. Thanks for the info and install.
Hi JT Yeah, bit of a different unboxing eh..! I’m still using that shunt now and it all works fine, no problems. I also have a built in battery BMS that works alongside the victron. I think you won’t go wrong with Victron gear. ATB, Steve
Hi again I got some information at a show showing how to set this up with Agm battery with solar charged voltage you have at 14.1 not the 13.2 you have buddy but if you don’t use solar then it goes to 13.2v hope this helped mate my battery they said 0.3v below my absorption charge which I have at 14.6 so on the bmv setting I lowered this to 14.3 v charged voltage 👍
Interesting... I got all my voltage settings from the battery manufacturer, but I'm not too sure if really considered whether its solar charged or not...? I will be having a little play around with your setting and see. Thanks.
@@TheWrinklyNomads yea buddy that’s what they said those setting are on grid .. but off grid solar will fluctuate so put it as I said mate . On all my controllers like mppt and b2b I have 14.6 and 13.5 flout so on the bmv I’ve placed it a few under 14.6 which left me at 14.3 it’s working brilliantly
Thank you very much for your very clear explanations. Am i correct in saying it can deduce all of this solely from the negative side of the battery bank? That is to say one doesnt have to have any wires going to any of the positive side (other than the small feed for power)? Im trying to imagine how it does this, presumably the very slight diffetence in voltage on each side of bar? Anyway thanks, you have a great set-up
Nice Video. Thanks. And great installation. One Question: Does it make a difference to which batterie the red + cable is attached to? I have the same set-up with two parallel batteries. Thanks.
Why don't the negatives go back to the battery? I've run DC/DC negative to the battery and also my solar negative to the other end of my battery bank. I run them in separately and not via a busbar. Or can I take my negative from the fuse board as point of load?
I run all negative, except the actual main battery negative to a communal busbar. If you use a shunt you must only have battery + and - connected to it in order to get correct readings. The battery negative cable and only the battery negative cable should run to the shunt first. Plus it keeps the wiring tidy. You can take from the fuse board, that's what I do. cheers Steve
When setting up, this is probably a daft question, but here goes. Do you take both the solar and charger negative straight to the bus bar? And if as in my case with lithium batteries how does it know the state of charge of said batteries when first hooked up., is it best to fully charge before installation of the monitor. You Vlogs are really helpful. 👍
Hi Colin, Yes, I take every back to a common bussbar. I don't really know how it works exactly, but the instructions say that with the BMV nothing else should go to the negative otherwise it will give a false reading. Doesn't really matter about the initial charge of the battery, the BMV will know that. ATB, Steve
Thank your your informative video. I assume the heavy negative cable from our big battery switch... that is now connected to the neg. terminal on our last battery of our battery bank should be removed from the battery and instead also go to the buss bar? Thank you!
@@TheWrinklyNomads yes... shunt. I’m pretty sure I just leave the ‘Main Negative Battery Switch’ where it is and not connect it to the shunt... as it really does not create a ‘load’.
It is an auxiliary connection for monitoring voltage only on another (e.g engine start) battery. It doesn’t need to be installed if this voltage monitoring feature isn’t desired.
Hi Great video. Can you advise what size cable you are using from the negative side of the battery terminal to the BMV shunt terminal? Whay did you choose thatsize of cable because yo have an inverter? Thanks
Thanks for the video! I know that you can use the temp sensor of the BMV712 smart to disconnect the MPPT when temp goes below certain value.. Is it also possible to use the temp sensor to disconnect the Victron Smart Orion dc2dc charger?
Hi Kadir, Good question. Unfortunately I don't know the answer to that one.... Victron gear is very much interlinked so I would of thought so, but never tried it? May be worth contacting their tech help on this one. ATB, Steve
I have followed your instruction and thank you very much as it was clear and concise. But I do have an issue that no one seems to be able to point me in the right direction The battery monitor shows a negative value and I am stumped on how to fix it! In the Victron trouble shooting guide it says. " If the charge and discharge currents are reversed, the negative power cables on the monitor must be swapped" How the heck does one swap the negative power cables on the monitor, when the "Gray UTP" cable has jacks on both ends. Am I missing something. Any help is appreciated Mike T.
Hi Mike The monitor will show negative with any load on the system. It show the amps and watts being used. If the solar input is 5amps and you are using 20amps, the monitor will show minus 15amps. (-15) That is how mine works.... hope this helps. Steve
Hi With this BMV shunt the only negative connection is from battery to shunt. Then all other negatives, including the inverter, goes to a busbar after the shunt. Otherwise you’ll get inaccurate readings at the monitor. Hope this helps. ATB, Steve
Hi Steve This is Charlie Thank you for great videos, I wanted to ask how to install dual battery monitors on my boat. I already have one installed at the saloon I would like add other one at Helm station on the fly bridge
Hi, I am thinking about ordering a Victron bmv-712 smart battery monitor but not sure what the battery setting should be, I have fitted a 120 sola panel and fitted a 75/10 MPPT, my battery is a 130AH energy expedition plus AGM I would like to understand the battery setting before I order one. Many thanks look forward to your reply. Regards James.
Hi Steve, thanks for walking us through your install. You're right - what comes with the unit doesn't give much detail on installing the circuit, so I'm trying to find that pdf you referred to on the Victron Energy website. No luck so far. Could you reply with a link or some direction on that? Thanks so much!
Hi, I gave the link in the description..! It's not on the Victron website, in fact it took me a while to find it originally too.. Goto: amsolar.com/rv-solar/support They show all battery types and setting there as well. ps;; sorry for the late reply. ATB, Steve
Hi Jon, I gave the link in the description..! It's not on the Victron website, in fact it took me a while to find it originally too.. Goto: amsolar.com/rv-solar/support They show all battery types and setting there as well. ps;; sorry for the late reply. ATB, Steve
Hi there. Thanks for the video and the effort to put it together. Really valuable. Quick question - Do you know if this bmv712 will shut power off from the liesure battery if it reaching a certain threshold? Ie 50% for an AGM? Thanks !
Hi mate great video, I’m confused a little though, do you need a bus bar? Or can you just connect all the negatives directly off the battery to the other end of the shunt? Cheers
Hi David, Thank you. Theres probably not enough room to connect all the earths back to the shunt connection. or at least in my case there wasn't. if you just had a few earths you might be able to do it I suppose. I found having that on mine using a negative busbar a much easier and neater solution. ATB, Steve
Hi, The busbar is used in a household setup. Its called a Henely Box and I just used one of the connectors. I got it here; amzn.to/3lUutxN Hope this helps Steve
Hey buddy that power cable you connected to the battery Can you attach this to a positive bus bar instead of going to the battery terminal or is it best to go direct to the battery
Hi Steve, great video, thanks for making and posting. May I enquire where/if you have grounded your battery(ies), if the only thing coming from the negative terminal of the battery is the cable to the shunt? This one has me stumped.
Hi, On the main earth terminal (busbar) are: the BMV earth large black is inverter earth all the other smaller cable are various earth running back to this common earth busbar. Hope that helps. ATB, Steve
Hi Kristian, They are 240 Amp cables. I bought them off Ebay, ready made from a seller here: rover.ebay.com/rover/1/710-53481-19255-0/1?ff3=4&pub=5575042610&toolid=10001&campid=5338626854&customid=&mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fitm%2F240-Amp-Car-Battery-Power-Earth-Cable-Choose-Colour-Length-Terminal-Hole-Sizes%2F322805522770%3FssPageName%3DSTRK%253AMEBIDX%253AIT%26var%3D511933462609%26_trksid%3Dp2057872.m2749.l2649 Hope this helps, ATB Steve
Hi Tony, There's obviously some good reason, of which I dont know..! So I just installed exactly as per Victron instructions... All is working perfect, so must be right.. ATB, Steve
Hi buddy I thought I would call back to see how you are getting on with these settings all this time after .. with you using 13.2v as charged voltage known for on grid charge set up. With solar use I’m sure you know by now you raise the charge voltage to 0.3v below absorbtion you have in the mppt So for lead 14.6v let’s say so in the bmv you would chose from 14.2v to 14.3v charged voltage so how does your set up perform having the charged voltage at 13.2v buddy ? Are you getting to 100% soc and syncing on the bmv Cloud was giving me false jumps with the 4% tail current too I changed mine to 0.70% tail current which is 1.5amp However I’m still fine tuning with soc I use solar and grid to charge plus a b2b so it’s difficult lol Be great to eat your findings tho 2 years on from the set up Thanks buddy
Interesting stuff Sean, I've not changed the settings and they seem to work ok so far... I used the battery manufacturer and Victron settings on my set-up and they seem to be performing as they should, however, I've only done short trips so far but we're off to Europe for 6 months in March, so a fair bit of driving. Should be a good time to see how thing go...👍
Hi, great video. I really appreciate your video as I’m now thinking of getting one of these battery monitors. I’ve just connected my 12v electrics into my van build using 2x agm batteries. Can the power cable from the shunt be connected to the positive busbar or does it have to be connected directly to the positive on the leisure battery? Asking as all my positive cables go to the positive busbar.
Hi buddy great video.. I hope you don’t mind answering a question please. I’m still learning about all this having set up a 300 watt solar to Victron mppt and a Dc 2 Dc all to breakers by the positives then a cable from the leisure battery to the bar which goes to each breaker to power mppt & Dc charger and fuse board My starter battery is to ground so the Dc to Dc is non insulated positive to leisure battery positive to starter battery and negative to the side of the ground on the starter battery then all the negative wires from solar & mppt and leisure battery I fitted a bus bar to run all negatives to that with one negative going to the leisure battery is this ok how I’ve done it ? Thanks
Hi, The shunt should be the first and only thing from the leisure battery negative. This is to ensure a correct reading on the BMV. Essentially the only cables that are attached to the battery should be positive to the positive busbar and the negative to the shunt, then onto the negative busbar. Hope this helps, Steve
Sorry, thought you were referring to the actual video that this comments section relates too..?? If you are not using a BMV shunt then any configuration will work, but to make a better and neater job always use busbars. I also have a B2B instal video here which may help.
@@TheWrinklyNomads I’ve watched all your videos buddy thanks . Yea I just asked because I’ve been told not to ground my leisure battery but to actually run a negative cable from the leisure to the starter battery It’s my first motorhome not a camper van and I noticed no ground wire on the leisure just negative wires . That’s when I went deeper on line and found the starter battery is grounded and so is mine .. but the leisure battery you don’t ground
Hi, yes with this VictronConnect shunt the only negative from the battery should go to the shunt first. Then after the shunt everything can be connected. It will monitor all the loads then and give you values on the display. ATB, Steve
We have a solar panel system including this bmv monitor.. at the moment we are connected to shore power but the app states we are drawing -17 watts from the batteries?.. why would this be happening?..
Hi Sue, In a motorhome the 12v system normally powers lights, fan, control panel monitoring etc etc and the shore power does the sockets and specific 230v appliances. The BMV monitor requires a little power all the time as well. So showing some draw is quite normal. ATB, Steve
Hi Mate nice tidy install are you an electrician by any chance? Ive just bought one of these Victron Smart Shunts will be here tomorrow. The problem is the negative and positive from my PSU/Charger/Load has the eyelets to connect onto my current leisure batteries M8 terminals? Will I need to cut this off and fit an eyelet?
The cable from the battery negative runs to the shunt. It must be the first thing in line from the battery, nothing else. So the other cables will need to be reconnected upline from the shunt. Hope this helps.. ATB, Steve
Hi Dee, The first wire to the shunt must be the only one from the battery negative. After the shunt you can hook up all the others. That way the shunt will be able to calculate every load change that goes through it accurately. If another negative was on the battery the shunt wouldn’t detect it and you wouldn’t get any reading at all... ATB, Steve
Thank you. But, looking at your set up and the directions this may not be correct for 2 batteries type of install. And it looks like you have multiple batteries.
Hi Kirk, Yes, I actually have 3x AGM batteries that the BMV monitors. I think it's wired and setup correctly as I followed all the installation instructions, but what have you seen that I may have missed that indicates the BMV could be wrong? thanks Steve
Hey buddy followed this set up now but on my app I’m getting no temp showing it just says temp - edit sorry I had mine on temp instead of starter battery I followed the app you linked but for acid battery at full charge states 14.1v isn’t that too high ? I thought 13.2v be best surly
Probably best to check with the battery manufacturers. They will be able to provide all the optimal settings for your particular battery. That's what I did with mine. ATB, Steve
does your motorhome battery have a chassis ground buddy My starter battery negative cable goes to the chassis But my leisure battery negative cable and a solar negative and so on all go the leisure battery negative but they don’t from there go to chassis Reason I ask is I’ve done what you have in the video with the shunt and fitted a bus bar with all negatives going to the bus bar but that’s it I don’t have a cable coming from the chassis to this bus to ground it all just like the starter battery is grounded this is what is confusing does both lb and sb need a ground source to chassis and not a floating one Thanks
I have a separate 10mm earth cable that runs from the chassis to the negative busbar, as well as the vehicle battery negative also going to the chassis. The BMV seems to work ok with this setup. ATB, Steve
@@TheWrinklyNomads thanks buddy much appreciated is your starter battery under the passenger front floor by any chance my negative cable goes to body just at the side of the starter battery not the chassis
Hi Alan I have 3 110Ah AGM batteries. Recommended that you do not discharged to lower than 50% so essentially I have 165Ah of usable power. You can set the shunt up to show you how much is left by setting the battery size and discharge level, the display then show what you actually have available to use at any given point. Very good bit of kit. ATB, Steve
Just a quick question: Are they sealed batteries, your leisure batteries? I'm only asking, as with all the charging going on in that confined space and all the electrics in there with the batteries, any Hydrogen gas that gets released by the charging batteries (without any air vents present) could become explosive when it gets to over 4% in concentration in the air. Also, there is the dangerous, (poisonous as well as flammable) gas that gets released, Hydrogen Sulfide, with overcharged batteries, that has an eggy smell.
Rottie - there all fully sealed for the duration of their life. You don’t need to top them up, ever. They are AGM extreme and can be upside down and nothing will spill out! Bit pricey, but worth it. ATB, Steve
@@TheWrinklyNomads I'm glad to hear it Steve. I hope others who are thinking about setting this sort of thing up or are new to campervans/motorhomes read what we've written, as the safety side of things is essential. Another great video, by the way. Cheers!
Hi Neil, Sure it high price compared to the other basic ones you can get. But I have all Victron gear and it integrates seamlessly with everything else. Also, the one thing I don't scrimp on is the quality of electrics! But I do agree, Victron is an expensive brand...... ATB, Steve
