That really limits the usefulness of the data for me. There’s great information provided in the trend view but if the mobile device screen turns off, you change apps, or even rotate the screen the history is dumped from the trend view. I find the trends tab a little disappointing. It’s full of information about how much power the batteries have provided, how much electricity has gone to charging them, and the average power consumption of my house bank. The geek in me loves the history tab in the app. Once connected to the SmartShunt you can see the current status of the shunt as well as lifetime history and trends for the current connection. The app automatically detects compatible equipment in range and makes connecting simple. VictronConnect, available for iOS and Android, is an intuitive and straightforward app for monitoring the status of and configuring any Victron Bluetooth enabled equipment. Without a built-in display, all interaction with the SmartShunt occurs via Victron’s VictronConnect app. The 500amp SmartShunt carries a list price of $148, the 1,000 amp SmartShunt lists at $254 and the 2,000 amp unit lists for $347. The SmartShunt is available in 500, 1000, and 2000 amp versions and support battery banks from 6.5 to 70 volts with capacities from 1 to 9,999 amp hours. Coloumb counting monitors depend on accurate information about the battery bank and periodic full charges to allow the monitor to synchronize their reading with the actual state of charge of the bank. Once I installed the excellent Victron app I quickly realized that would be my primary interface to the battery monitor.Īll Victron battery monitors use Coloumb counting to monitor the state-of-charge (SoC) of the connected batteries. Fortunately, I haven’t been bothered by this weakness because I also installed the Bluetooth module on my 702. My gauge is mounted low and in order to see it I have duck way down and try to get eye-level with it. It’s a one-line LCD with a series of 8 segment digits to display all information. Since installing the BMV-702 I’ve thought its weakest link is the display on the gauge itself. I’ve used a BMV-702 (like what’s pictured above) aboard Have Another Day for about five years now and it’s served me very well. With the VE.Direct port built right in, monitoring multiple battery banks is as simple as inserting the shunt inline in the negative path to the battery, installing the thin battery plus wire, and making the VE.Direct cable connection. I think the SmartShunt can really shine by providing simpler installs on larger, more complex Victron systems. So while I’ve done my SmartShunt testing by connecting directly to its Bluetooth radio in the SmartShunt, and that might be fine for some boats, the Bluetooth may only be used for initial configuration in more advanced installs. Neither my boat nor RV has a Victron GX hub like the Cerbo that can collect data from various Victron power products and display it in various ways - including polished MFD pages, show-most-anywhere NMEA 2000 messages, and the free VRM remote monitoring that Ben E. So far, I have not used a BMV or SmartShunt as part of a Victron monitoring network. And I don’t miss the little gauge display because there are so many other ways to see and use SmartShunt battery data, suitable to boats large and small (and RVs). In my testing, the SmartShunt works just like a BMV without the gauge portion, while also being much simpler to install. Now, the new SmartShunt combines the BMV’s shunt and electronics into a single unit barely larger than the regular shunt with Bluetooth and Victron’s VE.Direct networking built-in. I’ve found Victron’s BMV battery monitors to be simple, reliable, and easy to understand.
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