Victron Monitor Install

[Jarvis4FanCO]

Hey, all.

Hopefully a simple question. I am installing a Victron monitor and wanting to confirm the shunt placement. I see the load side (I believe) that goes to the chassis ground and looks as if it has another wire heading off into the unit from there. I assume this will be the load side connection on the shunt and I'll put the battery side to where those load cables were connecting to the wires above.

Question, though. On the first battery in my 12v parallel connection, I see the inverter cables on both the pos and neg terminals. Why are these connections on the mid-point battery? If I don't move them to the load side, won't they be missed in the monitoring. I haven't found a good set of instructions that shows this type of wiring so hesitant to do anything that can hurt the system.

Thanks in advance!!

[sueernie]

Two Batteries in parallel have a primary and secondary battery. The secondary negative terminal connects directly to the negative terminal of the primary battery. And the negative terminal of the primary battery connects to the Battery side of the shunt.

ALL negative cables, no matter where they go, connect to the other side of the shunt. YES ALL. This is contrary to the rule that cabling to the inverter should connect directly to the primary battery. However all power MUST transverse the shunt, otherwise the measurement will not indicate the entire power going through the system.

Conversely the positive cable of the secondary battery should connect to the positive terminal of the primary battery. Then all positive cables should connect to the positive terminal of the primary battery.

However that is not always practical, unless you incorporate a positive bus configuration.

A good practice is to make sure that the cable connected to the circuit breaker then to the inverter( if so equipped) is connected directly to the positive terminal of the primary battery.



I hope my ramblings make sense. You can go to Victron’s web page and get a pretty clear picture of the installation process.

Good luck and let me know how it all worked out.

Here is a diagram of the process.

[Jarvis4FanCO]

Thanks, SueErnie.

It does make sense in principal but not what I'm seeing - I don't think. The picture below is my setup. I've labeled the posts for batteries 1 and 2. I'm not sure which would be considered primary but what I'm seeing is:

• Inverter Cables are connected to Pos and Neg posts of Batt 1
• Pos Terminal 1 also runs to a 100A fuse inside the compartment
• Pos Terminal 2 *appears* to run back to the chassis side (engine charging?)
• Neg Terminal 2 runs to chassis ground
• Another wire at chassis ground appears to run back into coach side

Based on your reply, should I be moving the NEG inverter cable to the Neg Terminal 2 in the pic? If so, then my thought is the Victron shunt would attach to the Neg Terminal 2 and then move the inverter and chassis cables from Terminal 2 to the load side of the shunt?



Just not wanting to have a DIY nightmare. Already have had a couple of those and can check those off my bucket list.

[sueernie]

Originally Posted by Jarvis4FanCO

Thanks, SueErnie.

It does make sense in principal but not what I'm seeing - I don't think. The picture below is my setup. I've labeled the posts for batteries 1 and 2. I'm not sure which would be considered primary but what I'm seeing is:

• Inverter Cables are connected to Pos and Neg posts of Batt 1
• Pos Terminal 1 also runs to a 100A fuse inside the compartment
• Pos Terminal 2 *appears* to run back to the chassis side (engine charging?)
• Neg Terminal 2 runs to chassis ground
• Another wire at chassis ground appears to run back into coach side

Based on your reply, should I be moving the NEG inverter cable to the Neg Terminal 2 in the pic? If so, then my thought is the Victron shunt would attach to the Neg Terminal 2 and then move the inverter and chassis cables from Terminal 2 to the load side of the shunt?



Just not wanting to have a DIY nightmare. Already have had a couple of those and can check those off my bucket list.

Looking at the photo you posted we will call battery 1. The primary battery and 2 as the secondary battery.

I understand your confusion. Thor did not connect the cables in a primary/secondary configuration. They “made it fit”.

For your battery monitor to work correctly, a cable must run between the negative terminals of battery 1 and 2, which I see it does. The ONLY other cable the should run from the negative terminal of battery 1, is to the battery side of the battery monitor.
No other cables should be connected to any negative terminals of either battery. Then All negative wires (Black) must connect to the load side of the battery monitor. This is to insure that all power transverse the shunt.

Now the positive cables can be connected to any positive terminal of either battery 1 or 2. However, To make a clean configuration I have two bus bars installed in my battery compartment. One for all negative to connect to, and one for all positive cables to connect.


1. Cable from positive terminal of battery 1 to the positive terminal of battery two.

2. Cable from positive terminal of battery 1 to a bus bar mounted in the battery compartment. All positive wires are connected to that bus bar

I know this sound confusing, hell I get lost in it myself, but I have install about 8 of these monitors and they do what they are there for . One other note “Victron’s” instruction manual sucks.. lol.

Good luck my friend. Let me know with pix.

[Jarvis4FanCO]

Super helpful and confirms what I was thinking! So I ended up hooking everything up to what I had listed as the primary battery. Forget the hot mess I am showing but took a picture so I could show what I'm doing before trying to run wires elsewhere and making sure everything was working.

Basically, everything hooks up to the first battery and my inverter and house load cable hooks up to the load side of the shunt and I have a quick cable run from the negative terminal battery 1 to the neg side of the shunt. I still have where THOR hooked up the inverter positive side to battery 1 and the rest of the positive to battery 2. I don't think this is an issue, but let me know if any concern. I can see where a bus-type system would eliminate the need for multiple hookups on the load side of my shunt if I understand what the bus helps with.

My Victron is now sending data via bluetooth and very cool seeing the impact of turning things on/off, especially the inverter.

Next question is that with Lead Acid batts, the monitor says I would be dead in about a day and a half (max) with inverter on - sound about right?

Thanks for the help!! I sure hope someone finds this thread useful in the future!!

[sueernie]

Originally Posted by Jarvis4FanCO

Super helpful and confirms what I was thinking! So I ended up hooking everything up to what I had listed as the primary battery. Forget the hot mess I am showing but took a picture so I could show what I'm doing before trying to run wires elsewhere and making sure everything was working.



Basically, everything hooks up to the first battery and my inverter and house load cable hooks up to the load side of the shunt and I have a quick cable run from the negative terminal battery 1 to the neg side of the shunt. I still have where THOR hooked up the inverter positive side to battery 1 and the rest of the positive to battery 2. I don't think this is an issue, but let me know if any concern. I can see where a bus-type system would eliminate the need for multiple hookups on the load side of my shunt if I understand what the bus helps with.



My Victron is now sending data via bluetooth and very cool seeing the impact of turning things on/off, especially the inverter.



Next question is that with Lead Acid batts, the monitor says I would be dead in about a day and a half (max) with inverter on - sound about right?



Thanks for the help!! I sure hope someone finds this thread useful in the future!!

Now the hard part. That shunt is NOT water proof. It will have to be put inside a sealed container. I ordered a plastic box from Amazon that seals the shunt, drilled holes for incoming battery cable and outgoing cable ground cable, and the monitor cable and power cable. I also connected a switch mounted in the box to turn off the monitor, IT WILL drain your batteries, if left on for an extended amount of time. Get the 9 inch box, more room for everything.

Amazon also have sealed toggle switches for the shut off.

[Jarvis4FanCO]

Thanks, SueErnie. I ordered a box from Amazon and will get this all wrapped up this weekend, hopefully. It is very cool, and assuring, to be able to see what's going on with the batteries (and larger electrical picture) at any given time. Some peace of mind for sure so thanks for taking a look at the pics!

[sueernie]

Originally Posted by Jarvis4FanCO

Thanks, SueErnie. I ordered a box from Amazon and will get this all wrapped up this weekend, hopefully. It is very cool, and assuring, to be able to see what's going on with the batteries (and larger electrical picture) at any given time. Some peace of mind for sure so thanks for taking a look at the pics!

I’m happy I could help. Enjoy the ride....

[Jarvis4FanCO]

To close this out, Ii ended up getting a waterproof Sockit box and then cutting out `a groove for the cables but we should be pretty water resistant now!

Thanks for the help!