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paulo asked

How to connect the alternator to the shunt bus bar for Victron BMV 712

I have a sailing boat with BMV 712 connected to a service battery bank and a crank battery for the engine. The main battery bank which BMV is full monitoring is the service one with 460AH. I have a Perko switch where the two positives of the banks are connected. Where I turn my engine on and uses battery 2 bank on the switch I was supposed to see the alternator charge to this bank (I Have an Yanmar 29hp engine), which is not happening. I did not connect any alternator cable to the battery 2 bank where the BMV shunt is connected, where I think the problem resides in.

Can you help me and let me know what alternator cable I should have wired to the bus bar that connects to the shunt?

alternator
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Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) avatar image Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) ♦♦ commented ·

Please post a system wiring diagram, it greatly helps in situations like this.

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paulo avatar image paulo commented ·

Guy actually let me rephrase it. Should I connect alternator negative wire -- which is connected to engine body -- to the BMV shunt, so it can measure alternator amps?


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1 Answer
Trina avatar image
Trina answered ·

Do you only have the alternator as a charge source for your bank, no solar or wind then?

A wiring diagram would really help as well as reminding thread perusers that boat alternators are not grounded like a land engine but have a discrete negative that needs to be attached to a ground source to complete the circuit. That might be important.

I'd really make sure your BMV is well fused as I wrecked one in a similar setup.

As I recall when it was working I had mine wired to the far side of the shunt on the ground per spec and the positive direct to the switch to select the bank. The positives were separate but the heavy ground was common to both the banks. It also allowed me to wire in a diesel generator as well. The starter was of course direct to the starter battery but everything positive was separated.

So that might be where you want to start by separating the positives at your bank selector switch?

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