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I know this is still brand new and may not be in a production release yet but is anyone using a SmartShunt in DC Energy Meter mode to monitor a 3rd party solar controller? Does it show up on the monitor screen (CCGX/Touch 50)? How about the VRM? I would assume there is or will be a Voltage/Current widget for it?
I'm running the V2.80~33 beta of Venus OS on my Cerbo.
Thx
As far as I know, it just properly measures the “DC System” widget on the screen, rather than that number being a calculated number.
Not sure about VRM yet as it's still in beta, but the list in the app shows it can be the following:
Solar Charger
Wind Charger
Shaft Generator
Alternator
Fuel Cell
Water Generator
DC/DC Charger
AC Charger
Generic Source
Generic Load
Electric Drive
Fridge
Water Pump
Bilge Pump
DC System
Inverter
Water Heater
It is currently visible under the menu optio along with the other system stats. VRM and GX pages screen (fingers crossed) are planned for the future. Very happy with my results to date. I have configured one smart shunt on the engine alternator output and the other measuring system load. The system still has some development but already a major improvement.
Hey, I have a follow-up question that hopefully someone can answer. I'm going to upgrade to lithium which will involve installing an extra shunt close to the BMS, so I'm going to move my smartshunt to cover DC loads and configure it as the DC system. Then DVCC can account for all loads when setting the charging current.
I'll also have an Orion Tr Smart non-isolated charging the batteries from the alternator. I know this won't work behind the DC system shunt as the negative cable only carries the difference in current between input (starter battery) and output (leisure battery), and I can't use the isolated version as I'm on a boat where all grounds are common.
So my question is - when you have a shunt configured as DC system, where do extra charge sources show up? Just a mystery current into the battery? I guess a high-side shunt on the orion output would solve this, but I'm not sure anything Victron-compatible exists already.
edit: seems like the best solution currently would be to build a high-side shunt with the INA226: https://community.victronenergy.com/idea/139845/shunt-for-positive-connections.html then run a service that puts it on the dbus: https://community.victronenergy.com/questions/175799/package-for-i2c-devices.html
edit 2: from reading through https://github.com/victronenergy/dbus-systemcalc-py/blob/master/dbus_systemcalc.py it looks like as soon as you have a monitor configured as DC system, the DC tile will only sum those rather than calculating from battery current minus inverters, MPPTs etc. So anything not through that shunt would only appear as battery current, and of course wouldn't be counted for DVCC. Gonna build a high-side shunt just for the Orion and configure both as DC system.
So, I ordered a Smart Shunt and installed it in the negative lead from my BlueSky solar controllers between the controllers and the load side of the main battery shunt. After configuring it as a DC Energy Meter and Solar Charger, it immediately popped up in my VRM as a PV Charger. Exactly what I was after.
Here are some screen caps of what it looks like.
And the Touch 50 display.
Thank you Victron for continual improvement of your products.
So if I put a smart shunt on the negative line of Orion Dc-DC and set it to energy meter, would this get rid of the negative charging value in my DC tile ?
The SmartShunt has now started to show data within the Advanced Screen.
Two widgets are available to show as Watt meter and Amp meter.
It would be great if we could still see the Voltage within the Amp Meter widget.
I also use the second voltage measurement on the SmartShunt to confirm the voltage within the unit the power is going to.
This is a simple way to measure voltage drop within a system that is subject to vibration to give early warning if a connection has become loose within a system.
More widgets need to be added to the DC energy meter to be able to add these.
Hello kamflyer,
I placed also a smartshunt in the minus between my 48vdc generator and the minus of my system. I configured the smartshunt as you did as a dc-energy meter and hooked it up with a VE.direct cable to the cerbo, but on my cerbo and on the vrm nothing shows up.
I also updated the firmware of the cerbo and the smartshunt (v4.12 and v2.92).
Can you help me?
Make sure in the System Setup page the ‘Has DC System’ is enabled. It will not show up without that setting.
Checked, its "on".
Thanks
Mine doesn't show on vrm either?
Are there any news on this matter? I am waiting for someone confirming that this is showing up on VRM as I would like to measure a wind generator within my Victron system on my sailing yacht. But I only would like to buy the additional shunt in case it will also appear as additional power source on VRM.
My 330Ah Smart Lithium system running on Victron OS v 2.82.large 30 on Raspi 4B 4GB Rev. 1.2:
If you set it to Solar Charger it will appear in VRM, see below...not exactly what i want but it will do for now...
