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Old 07-17-2019, 06:02 PM   #1
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Victron 712 and State of Charge

Hi,


I installed a Victron 712 about a month ago (kinda surprised at how awful the "instructions" were since the installation manual was only a couple of simple drawings). I followed the setup instructions carefully.



I have two 92 A hr AGM batteries that are about 8 months old. I did not wire in the chassis battery to the monitor.



The trouble I'm having is that it always shows the batteries at 96 to 100%, even first thing in the morning. The voltage shows 12.10, but the Victron thinks they are still charged according to the display or app.


I have run a manual sync after I had the MH plugged into 30 A power overnight (over 12 hours). Still the same thing.


Any ideas on this?
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Old 07-17-2019, 06:08 PM   #2
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Maybe this will help...

https://www.victronenergy.com/upload...S-SE-PT-IT.pdf
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Old 07-17-2019, 06:10 PM   #3
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Wow! That was lightening fast!


Thanks, I have the operator's manual and I can't find anything in it that addresses this issue.
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Old 07-17-2019, 06:39 PM   #4
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Originally Posted by mbutts View Post
Wow! That was lightening fast!


Thanks, I have the operator's manual and I can't find anything in it that addresses this issue.
Oh, I misread your original post. I thought you only had a simple wiring diagram.
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Old 07-17-2019, 06:52 PM   #5
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When you run something high current, does it show the draw in amps and watts?
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Old 07-17-2019, 08:03 PM   #6
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There was a ost on here about Victron installing the wro size fuse on the shunt supply. They installed a 100ma fuse instead of a 1 amp fuse. This was causing the battery voltage to read low. Check your inline fuse. It does not make sense that your voltage is 12.1 but your SOC is 96%+. Fuse may answer that question.

So let me get this right. You are dry camping, no shore power, and when you get up in the morning SOC is still 96+. How many amp hours does it show you have used?
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Old 07-17-2019, 08:06 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dalford View Post
There was a ost on here about Victron installing the wro size fuse on the shunt supply. They installed a 100ma fuse instead of a 1 amp fuse. This was causing the battery voltage to read low. Check your inline fuse. It does not make sense that your voltage is 12.1 but your SOC is 96%+. Fuse may answer that question.
That only caused a few millivolts of difference.
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Old 07-17-2019, 08:07 PM   #8
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OP...do you have only one negative lead going to the shunt from the battery bank? No other negative leads heading elsewhere from either of the batteries you have in parallel?


Better yet, have a picture of your shunt install showing it and the batteries?
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Old 07-17-2019, 08:28 PM   #9
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The voltage from the Victron and the SOC are unrelated. Of course, they are related when the actual state of charge of the battery is concerned but the Victron is going to have to see current flow out in order to drop the SOC. On my Trimetric, it took a couple of days of charging to get both a full charge and a 100% SOC to read. After all, how does the Victron know what the starting SOC is unless you have fully charged the bank, in fact overcharged the bank.
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Old 07-17-2019, 08:50 PM   #10
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Can you send a pic of your connection? Something is definitely wrong. 12.20 volts is a battery that is at 50% SOC, typically.

You should have one wire connected to the negative terminal of the battery which should come off the negative connector of the BMV. It almost seems you are not registering the current drain.

When in operation if you turn on some lights to you see the current draw with a minus sign in front of it...
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Old 07-17-2019, 09:06 PM   #11
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Can you also do a screen shot of your settings?
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Old 07-18-2019, 03:30 PM   #12
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There should only be ONE negative wire coming off your batteries. Disconnect any others temporarily. Take the One attached negative and attach the other end to the near end of the Victron shunt. Now attach all remaining negative wires to the other end of the shunt. Complete the setup parameter on the Victron display and all should be well.
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Old 07-19-2019, 02:10 PM   #13
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I'm about an hour away from the MH at the moment so I can't post a pic right now.
All the grounds were tied together on a bus bar, then I ran a single 12" cable to the shunt.
Yes, it's showing a draw of 2-4 A. When I have my suitcase solar panel plugged in, it shows inbound flow.
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Old 07-19-2019, 09:10 PM   #14
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I’m with babock and camaraderie on this. It sounds like you might have negative wires attached to the battery terminal or battery side of the shunt instead of the shunt’s other side.

And, yes, the 100mA fuse delta was only several mV.
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Old 07-19-2019, 10:18 PM   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by camaraderie View Post
There should only be ONE negative wire coming off your batteries. Disconnect any others temporarily. Take the One attached negative and attach the other end to the near end of the Victron shunt. Now attach all remaining negative wires to the other end of the shunt. Complete the setup parameter on the Victron display and all should be well.
And it should go directly to the shunt.

This is why I chose to install bus bars. Cable from Neg post to shunt, cable from shunt to Neg bus bar, and any negative connections that would have normally run to the battery are now connected at the bus bar. Makes it easier too for smaller wires as the bolt on the Victron shunt is 3/8". Studs on bus bar are 5/16" with smaller screws for small wire connectors.
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Old 07-20-2019, 06:49 AM   #16
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I'll pop over to the MH lot this weekend & investigate the ground situation.
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Old 07-20-2019, 06:58 AM   #17
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OK, maybe it lies in the limits of language vs pictures. Personally I find all of the "take the one wire" instructions here not only confusing but a few might just not be correct.

1) one end of the shunt goes to the chassis ground. Heavy cable, generally the one that is currently connecting the battery negative to the chassis. Any other leads that go directly to NEGATIVE battery posts go to the chassis connection side of the shunt (or the chassis)

ONE NEW HEAVY CABLE goes from the other end of the shunt to the battery negative post. The concept is simple, in order to get to the battery negative post, everything has to flow through the shunt.

That's it.
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Old 07-21-2019, 01:27 PM   #18
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I have the same issue

I'll be following this. I was going to do a factory reset and clear history and start over. One thing was to make sure the charged voltage is .2 or .3 below your chargers normal output (usually 13.6 so set the value to 13.2 - 13.4). Sorry I can't think of the right terminology / variable, but it might give you a starting point.
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Old 07-21-2019, 05:46 PM   #19
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OK, I was wrong. You use the float charge value of your converter/charger. With my WTCO, it is 12.9
So I set "Charged Voltage" (option 02 in the setup menu) to 12.7
That also happens to be what most people use as battery 100% charged value.
I'll keep an eye on mine, hope this helps you. I'm also wondering if the unit can sense the parasitic loads while in storage. Battery will drain down, but the amp draw is very low.
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Old 07-21-2019, 05:56 PM   #20
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Originally Posted by NCBBA11043 View Post
OK, I was wrong. You use the float charge value of your converter/charger. With my WTCO, it is 12.9
So I set "Charged Voltage" (option 02 in the setup menu) to 12.7
That also happens to be what most people use as battery 100% charged value.
I'll keep an eye on mine, hope this helps you. I'm also wondering if the unit can sense the parasitic loads while in storage. Battery will drain down, but the amp draw is very low.
12.9V is much too low for a float voltage. I really doubt its that low. If it is, you need a different converter.


The monitor will sense any current draw. The only thing it can't measure is self discharge of the battery itself which can be 5% a month for a FLA battery.
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