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jdesignsolutions avatar image
jdesignsolutions asked

Is it possible to have 2 bmv units operating from one shunt i.e display in two locations please?

BMV Battery Monitor
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jdesignsolutions avatar image jdesignsolutions commented ·

To clarify, I have a shunt on house bank with a bmv on fuse board to enable easy monitoring.

This is in an electrical cupboard.

However, it would be useful to have the bmv in a main companionway to enable easy day to day monitoring of state of charge.

Is there any way to split cat5 from shunt to send to two bmv units?


Many thanks

Best regards

J

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ben avatar image
ben answered ·

You can absolutely do this. You need to put two of the BMV shunt circuit boards on a single shunt, so you'll have to get creative and add a little wiring to make that work.

Once you do, however, both BMVs will read off the same shunt. I have this setup full time in my configuration.

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markus avatar image markus ♦♦ commented ·

Nice idea.

Is there a slight difference in calculations, or are the readings exactly the same?

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jdesignsolutions avatar image jdesignsolutions commented ·

Hey Ben, that's great. Thankyou for the input! Any risks/tricks to be aware of when mounting second bmv driver?

Cheers


J

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Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) avatar image
Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) answered ·

I am not sure if it is possible, but I don’t think the displays are sold individually either.

Why not just run two shunts side by side?

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ben avatar image ben ♦ commented ·
There are a lot of downsides of adding a second shunt: it adds a lot of (heavy and awkward) wiring that can become another point of failure, it creates more resistance at all those interconnection points, and it takes up more space.


Otherwise, it is a good idea. :)

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Allan Yates avatar image Allan Yates commented ·

Just to be clear to everyone, when multiple shunts are used, they need to be in series.


Allan.

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Chris avatar image
Chris answered ·

I'd buy an older droid or iOS device and just stream data to where you want it. You could attach to a wall, or move around. This assumes you have a Bluetooth device. This is what I do.

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Phil Gavin avatar image
Phil Gavin answered ·

I have an equal but opposite issue, my battery bank was originally 24V, consequently the copper cables were huge and many.

I don't want to swap them now I've gone 48V.

I want to know if I can run multiple shunts, parallel on the primary, series on the secondary, to 1 BMV.

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