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Old 01-18-2018, 06:54 PM   #1
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Adding Battery Monitor and 2nd Battery

Winter project.
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Old 02-03-2018, 12:05 AM   #2
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I went through the same thing last fall.

Among other features the victron has a built in programmable alarm that is contained in the display unit. You can program it to set off the alarm for allow voltage or low battery SOC.

It would have been rather difficult for me to fish the wires to my control panel to mount the display next to it. I ended up mounting it on my side of the bed. This way the alarm is next to the bed so I don't have to worry about checking things all the time because it will tell me. you can easily hear the alarm outside the trailer

Because of the phone app I rarely actually look at the display so its location as far as reading it shouldn't be a huge priority if you don't want it to be
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Old 02-03-2018, 09:09 AM   #3
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My measurements lead me to conclude that, with lithium batteries, voltage is a rather poor indication of state of charge. The voltmeter which is part of my control panel displays voltage to 0.1 volts. The (new and improved) graph of voltage vs. consumed amp-hours for RELiON RB100 batteries shows that a 50% drop in state of charge results in a voltage drop of only 0.2 volts, so a 50% drop in SOC would hardly be noticeable without a battery monitor.

I wonder if I will be able to mount the monitor in a good spot. I have seen others mount it beside their control panel, commenting that it was the most difficult part of the install. I'll post an update when I tackle the job in the spring.
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Old 06-02-2018, 06:33 PM   #4
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The finished product

Pic1: Two batteries installed. The space is very crowded under the step so I put circuit breaker and shunt on the back wall to the left. Batteries are loaded to the right and secured in front.
pic2: RJ12 cable is brought out of the front (top left of the step) taken to the door where it is tucked in and run up past the main switch (top left of photo) and into the wall.
pic3: I mounted the monitor beside the Convenience Center).
pic4: The RJ12 cable goes into the wall under the fridge. By removing the microwave we fished the cable up beside the fridge into the void beside the microwave. The Bluetooth dongle is mounted inside the void.
pic5: No more guessing about the state of charge. We can also do an inventory to find out the consumption of every appliance within the motorhome. First finding: With the main battery switch in the off position, the motorhome consumes 0.4 Amp-hours per day.
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Old 07-10-2018, 07:42 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Granny K View Post
Pic1: Two batteries installed. The space is very crowded under the step so I put circuit breaker and shunt on the back wall to the left. Batteries are loaded to the right and secured in front.
pic2: RJ12 cable is brought out of the front (top left of the step) taken to the door where it is tucked in and run up past the main switch (top left of photo) and into the wall.
pic3: I mounted the monitor beside the Convenience Center).
pic4: The RJ12 cable goes into the wall under the fridge. By removing the microwave we fished the cable up beside the fridge into the void beside the microwave. The Bluetooth dongle is mounted inside the void.
pic5: No more guessing about the state of charge. We can also do an inventory to find out the consumption of every appliance within the motorhome. First finding: With the main battery switch in the off position, the motorhome consumes 0.4 Amp-hours per day.
Good Job!

My next project is a Victron BMV-712 Smart battery monitor and upgrading to a Victron SmartSolar MPPT 100/50 solar charge controller.
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