Victron BMV-600 battery monitor

[Bruce J]

Hi all:

I just installed a new Victron battery monitor today and there is no power to the display. It was an easy install as I just replaced the old Blue Seas volt/amp meter. The Blue Sea unit worked fine but the Victron will not power up. Any ideas?:cry:

 

[damauney]

Red Wire

Did you run the small red wire from the battery positive post to the shunt?

Goodwinds
DaveM

 

[Bruce J]

Ran the red wire from positive battery terminal to shunt and checked the fuse.

 

[Siamese]

All I can think of is to make sure you got a good connection at the shunt with the red wire that goes to the + battery terminal. Did you use Maine Sail's online instructions. This should be a link to the page in his instructions that show how to secure the red lead to the shunt:
http://www.pbase.com/mainecruising/battery_monitor&page=2

Shunt is oriented in the right direction?

I just installed one a few weeks ago, and there weren't any special tricks to it...pretty straightforward.

 

[Dantodd]

Are you shunting the negative or positive side? Many volt/ammeters shunt positive, the Victron shunts negative.

 

[Bruce J]

I did the install as per Main's instructions and this is not the first monitor I have installed. It was just a simple matter of removing the old shunt and wiring the new one. I can't find any reason for it not to work. The one I removed has worked perfectly for three years, but did not give enough info, hence the replacement.

 

[Bruce J]

The shunt is on the negative side.

 

[damauney]

RG45 Wire

Since the RJ45 ethernet cable is the only cable that attaches to the meter you may want to take this cable to a computer network connection and see if it works. As I remember that the wire paring is straight through and that might be a way to check it.

Goodwinds
DaveM

 

[Maine Sail]

I did the install as per Main's instructions and this is not the first monitor I have installed. It was just a simple matter of removing the old shunt and wiring the new one. I can't find any reason for it not to work. The one I removed has worked perfectly for three years, but did not give enough info, hence the replacement.

Bruce,

Test continuity across the entire red wire with the fuse in-place. I have had a bad Victron lead wire before. You can also substitute a different wire just to test it. If it does not power up it is either the UTP cable or the monitor. Victron is good with customer support in Maine.

Victron Maine - 207-354-0493

 

[Bruce J]

Maine:
I will test the continuity of the red wire when I go back to the boat next weekend.
Will Victron Maine support sales made in Canada?

 

[Maine Sail]

Maine:
I will test the continuity of the red wire when I go back to the boat next weekend.
Will Victron Maine support sales made in Canada?

No idea but worth a try, they are usually pretty good.

 

[Stu Jackson]

There was a looong thread here recently about just this problem. The skipper installed it correctly. The answer was the fuse & fuse holder.

Listen to Maine Sail.

Please.

 

[Bruce J]

Update
Went to the boat today and checked the red power wire. The batteries were 12.65 volts. At the end of the red wire the reading was 11.66 volts. Replaced the wire and fuse holder and had 12.65 volts on new wire. The display did still not have power. I called the supplier and I am returning the whole system and they are sending a new unit.
I contacted Victron directly and I quote their reply, "I would advise your to have the monitor tested at the dealer to establish if it's the monitor or installation failure." Hopefully the new one works as I really don't like buying a product that is defective out of the box.

 

[Bruce J]

Received the new monitor and took it to the boat today. Plugged in the new display and it did not work. Unplugged the old gray cable between the shunt and the display and plugged the new cable to the old display. The display worked. Then had to remove the old wire and run the new one. The process added a couple of extra hours to the install so hopefully it will be worth it. All is good now

 

[Ron20324]

Was the old cord maybe only 4-conductor, the new one six?

 

[Bruce J]

It was the cable that came with the unit so I assume it was the proper one.

 

[Maine Sail]

It was the cable that came with the unit so I assume it was the proper one.

Sounds like you got a bad UTP cable...

 

[Bruce J]

Finally had time this weekend to set up the monitor. Went through the set up menu and it says that it is drawing 850 amps. Pretty good for a 400 ah battery bank. Because of this all of the info provided is meaningless. Any ideas as to what is wrong? This simple installation had proved to be one of the most frustrating things I have ever done on a boat. Wish I had my old Link 20 back.

 

[Maine Sail]

Finally had time this weekend to set up the monitor. Went through the set up menu and it says that it is drawing 850 amps. Pretty good for a 400 ah battery bank. Because of this all of the info provided is meaningless. Any ideas as to what is wrong? This simple installation had proved to be one of the most frustrating things I have ever done on a boat. Wish I had my old Link 20 back.

Bruce,

Can you describe what you did to program it? What screen were you seeing 850A on? There are many settings and screes on this monitor...

 

[Bruce J]

The only thing I changed was the size of the bank. The default is 200 and I changed it to 400. I did a manual setting for SOC and it quickly went to zero because of the large draw. Everything was turned off so there should have only been a draw of .2 amps. I always had this on the old Blue Seas amp meter. After this didn't work I reset to the factory settings and is still showed - 850 fluctuating. The screen is one of the ones that you scroll through that shows the voltage. I can't give the letter on the left side as I don't remember and the manual is on the boat. The voltage shows as correct and was 13.06 after charging.