Victron Smart Battery Shunt
- Thread starter jssailem
- Start date
Joh,
Yes we have experience with these. It is really not any different, software wise, than the BMV-700, 702, 712 line other than it lacks a relay port and you need to use your phone/tablet as a screen for it. A Victron Color Control GX (CCGX) display can also be used to display the data. We mostly sell these to owners who already have a Color Control GX or don't mind using their phone/tablet for the screen. We actually have quite a few in stock..
The Balmar Smartgauge is only for lead acid and only for SoC but the thing is damn accurate.
I can have any of about a dozen monitors on my own boat and I use the newer Balmar SG200. We use Victron in the shop and in our lab for some things and they are good but SoC tracking can be a PITA with them. The link below goes into a ton of detail on Coulomb counters and SoC tracking. I also use the SG200 on our off-grid camp and it replaced a Victron BMV....
Making Your Battery Monitor More Accurate
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There have been numerous software updates since it launched.. There will be more in the future because Balmar is 100% committed to making the SG200 the most accurate monitor in the industry.
I've had the chance now to test numerous batteries that have been connected to the SG200 for both SoH and SoC and SoC is typically under 2% accuracy and SoH is typically within 5%.
Some early issues were software related, like the SoC walking down on batteries that were resting, or updating glitches where the shunt (chemistry tweaks) did not get applied during the update process. There was also a tweak needed for super high discharge loads that would then result in the monitor showing 0% SoC, and some tolerance tweaks were made. Many of those were tracked back to poor connections, which helped the team make a few tweaks to tolerate those loads and the resulting voltage drop better.
The vast majority of issues we get, by far, have been installation related, mostly shunt, volt sense location, poor bank wiring, poor terminations etc..
Thank you. Hoping that I will get to the boat by February so I can install the Balmer SG200 hardware I just purchased from Compass. Thank you. Arrived promptly and in good shape..
Stay warm, healthy and as this is your snow season have some fun.
John
Stay warm, healthy and as this is your snow season have some fun.
John