(Casita) Inexpensive Battery Monitor Less than $60.00 +Labor

[billnieman]

Hot News People: Victron will be shipping a new product, The Victron SmartShunt. Its basically all the functionality of their BMV-712 without the display. So no cutting holes in your RV! You see all the data through a Bluetooth connection to your smartphone. This is how I see the status of my Victron solar panel controller, so I think it's actually more convenient than going to the display. $130. They don't ship until August though...

[Yobeevr]

God bless all of you folks,

This will be the last time I post on this forum. Seems the people whom love Victron and others have much to say. God bless your comments. Perhaps if those of you had something to share you have in advance of this post. you would have. It seems when one transparently says they have found a solution to a particular need for a specific unit, everyone wants to chime in..... I would like anyone whom does not like this message go back a read the first post in the is thread.... If you would like to make a real thread of your own please have the means to do so without hijacking anothers.... No no longer a member here as this is not a place to share

[Raspy]

I really don't understand this. It seems Alan got lots of praise for his writeup, and other models were discussed too, as well as how they might work. Was there a problem I missed?

[bobdobqb]

Originally Posted by Raspy

I really don't understand this. It seems Alan got lots of praise for his writeup, and other models were discussed too, as well as how they might work. Was there a problem I missed?

I'm with you on this Raspy. I really appreciated Alan's write up and and it's an option I'm exploring for a future date. I think most folks like to also share alternatives in a thread. Sometimes threads do get hijacked but that also happens IRL

Sorry to lose someone who has good options to share.

[CarlD]

I have a Victron on my camper and need a battery monitor for my camp. I am planning on purchasing one of the monitors Alan posted about. It is made by AiLi which manufactures battery monitors for Renogy. Amazon has a 100amp model for $30.

https://www.amazon.com/AiLi-Battery-.../dp/B07CTKYFTG

[alan H]

I’m also confused as I loved his write up and planning on doing something very similar
Maybe he got a nasty Pm... it happens ...don’t ask me how I know
Sorry to see him leaving

[Civilguy]

Originally Posted by alan H

I’m also confused as I loved his write up and planning on doing something very similar

I am under the impression that some people figure when they start a thread, the replies will be limited to a narrow band.

I've seen people scolded for "improperly" responding to someone's thread because the original poster wanted it to be their thread about their experience; more of a speech than a conversation if you will.

Most forum members seem to realize that "drift happens"; threads often swerve off into chatter about things that are not even related to the original post. Example:

Original Post - I modified my trailer by installing an old trolling motor to improve the trailer's aerodynamics and boost my top highway speeds!

==>

Post #17 - We are sure looking forward to seeing you at the rally next month because you make the best baked beans!

I'm guilty of drift myself. On the other hand, once I set that little paper boat of the first post into motion, I don't let myself get too upset when it quickly gets steered into the storm drain and disappears from sight, never to return.

Sometimes the drift reveals things completely new and unexpected that I come to value. Sometimes the results just end up smelling like old fish.

In this case it appears that the original poster is concerned that too much of the follow-up was focused on a different brand product. He logged in this morning; maybe he'll let us know.

Meanwhile, you post your thread and you take your chances.

[FireDoug]

Great instructions Yobeevr.
I installed this as well on my '93 Bigfoot 17.
You will discover that when the meter detects a charge or discharge condition the meter's backlight will shine quite brightly.
This would be quite annoying at night if you have a fan running off of house current.
The undocumented solution to turn off the backlight is as follows: Hold down the "v" and "%" key simultaneously for about three seconds.
Voila, the backlight is disabled.
Cheers!

[Natalie21]

My previous battery monitor decided to give up so I took a chance and bought the BMV-712 battery monitor even though it was a bit more expensive. I'm so glad I did! This unit works great, just as described. One of the features I like is the built-in Bluetooth that allows me to monitor my battery health at any time and directly from my iPhone. Besides that, the free Vitron Connect app is handy as it allows me to see what specifically is going on with my battery system.

[Perryb67]

Originally Posted by Perryb67

We own a Victron BMV-712 battery monitor. At $210 it is vastly overpriced. I wanted it for 24 hour history and despite my conversation with Victron it does not show 24 hour history. It does bluetooth, so we can watch the charge from my phone as were driving down the highway.

We do get some history with our Victron Smartsolar 100/20 that was purchased for $160 and can also read the 100/20 as were driving down the road.

If I had it to do over again (don't we all wish we had 20/20 vision) I would have purchased the Victron Smartsolar 100/20 and our simple/cheap 12v, plug-in battery monitor.

FYI, we have a 170 watt solar panel permanently mounted on the roof and a 100 watt portable, for those rare times the 170 watt isn't enough.

If you're not purchasing a new solar controller this is the monitor I would purchase.

Enjoy,

Perry

A lot has happened since this was written nearly two years ago. First of all I want history, something the Aili battery monitor doesn't do.

A year ago we started noticing our two year old AGM batteries were failing. I looked at the Victron 712's history and saw the batteries were getting 20.3 volts, not the maximum 14.4 volts my WFCO and GoPower were supposed to provide. Upon further research it took only one day to realize our WFCO charger had decided to provide 20.3 volts to our AGM. The WFCO had failed and destroyed our batteries in the process!

[IMG][/IMG]

I've had the 712 for two years and it's history showed the WFCO failed. A year ago, two weeks after the AGM failure (we limped along with what the dying AGMs could give us), I installed a pair of 260 ah Soneil SiO2 batteries. At the same time I removed the two reverse polarity fuses so the WFCO could no longer charge our batteries at 20.3 volts, and removed the dumb GoPower solar controller and installed a Victron 100/30 smart solar controller.

It's been a year since I removed the reverse polarity fuses. All our 12v appliances run off solar, since the 12v WFCO converter has been disabled. We've yet to even come close to running out of battery. The most we've used before a full charge back is 82 ah's of our potential 260 ah's.

However, last June we installed 300 more watts to the roof for camping underneath dense shade that can occur in Minnesota. Since the additional 300 watts we have not needed to deploy our 100 watt portable. The 465 watts wired in parallel put out about 60-90 watts in dense shade.

Since I mounted the 712 readout in the upper cabinets we can easily be 100 feet away and Victron's bluetooth app works perfectly. The Victron Smart Shunt has the bluetooth in the shunt and many cannot read their Smart Shunt when traveling down the road, so if that's a consideration I'd go again with the Victron BMV 712.

The Aili battery monitor is merely a real time meter with no history. I would not have been able to quickly realize the reason for our failure if we'd only had that cheap Aili monitor. The Victron 712 also ties our two Victron solar controllers together to work as a unit and gives us battery temperature compensation as well.

Forget a cheap battery monitor. Get a monitor that keeps history so you can minimize your downtime and help analyze your problem.

Food for thought,

Perry

[Natalie21]

Originally Posted by Natalie21

My previous battery monitor decided to give up so I took a chance and bought the BMV-712 battery monitor even though it was a bit more expensive. I'm so glad I did! This unit works great, just as described. One of the features I like is the built-in Bluetooth that allows me to monitor my battery health at any time and directly from my iPhone. Besides that, the free Vitron Connect app is handy as it allows me to see what specifically is going on with my battery system.

The Battery Monitor also comes with a substantial battery shunt that communicates with the monitor display. With this, it’s clearer to see how much current is going in and out of my batteries. The accurate read-out is worth noting and proves Victron’s reliability.