Hey @Kevin Windrem, or anyone who may have experienced this...
For my van, I had an Orion Smart 12v *Non-Isolated* DC Charger (charging van lithium batteries off my alternator). I just swapped it with the same but *Isolated* version, and added a SmartShunt as "DC Energy Meter" on the output negative line. Its installed per Victron: input negative going to common chassis ground, output negative going to the Shunt's "System Minus" side, and the "Battery Minus" side going back to my busbar and eventually the common chassis ground (shared with the starter battery).
Works great, VC app showing accurate readings as a dc meter. This method has been mentioned on here, I can say it definitely works!
Anyways, GuiMods acts a lil funky when I set meter type to "Alternator." All the screenshots are taken in quick succession under relatively equal conditions.
For starters, on the Victron stock view, it correctly removes the Shunts power from the overall DC power when the Orion is charging. Previously, it would show a negative "DC System" (assuming the Orion was putting out more than my DC System was consuming).
Here it is as an Alternator with the Orion not charging (van engine off):
And here we see the issue, when the "Alternator" shunt has power through it:
I can't quite explain it... Alternator is showing its proper output, battery is reading its current correctly, but the DC System (renamed "DC Loads" as the system is now only a consumer) jumps to a crazy high negative. Almost like the Alternator is still considered part of the DC System, and the rest of the DC system is also considered a negative (producer) instead of a consumer... So we get a weird "-516 W" when the DC Loads should still read around "227 W" or whatever.
Sanity check, as a "Fuel Cell" or "Wind Generator" it displays as I would expect:
** As an "AC Charger" (that has a GuiMods tile) it just never appeared, but the DC Loads still displayed properly, removing the Orion/Shunt output from its reading. Same with all the other DC Meter types that do not have a GuiMods tile.
The final sanity check was reading the Venus ModBus on my HomeAssistant setup, which reads out the V/A output correctly, both as "Alternator" and "Wind Generator."
So Kevin / community, would you think this is a GuiMods issue, or have I misunderstood the intended use of the "Alternator" DC Meter Type setting?
Thanks in advance, I know this was a long one!