Victron shunt battery monitor setup & programming!

Have you purchased a Victron shunt battery monitor or plan on using one and are not sure how to set it up? This video will help you with the physical wiring and proper programming of it. It is tailored towards a lithium battery bank, so if you need help getting it setup for a different chemistry let us know in the comments and we will help you out!

[@RobEddy-oq1uz]

Well done Justin. This would have to be the best explanation on lithium battery settings that I have viewed.

[@rvsolarconcepts]

Thank you sir!

[@mick2d2]

Brilliant! Thank you very much for sharing. Solved the problem I was having. I'd connected the negative pole of the charger directly to the battery instead of to the system negative, and thiswas mesing up the reading. Now it's working perfectly! Subscribed!

[@rvsolarconcepts]

Glad you got it figured out! Thanks for your support!

[@johnx9318]

Thanks buddy. Very useful - I'm off to my shed to reprogram my shunt!

[@MrFrogman54]

I’m trying to learn all I can! Very helpful!

[@michelem.6104]

Excellent! My only nit is that you setup the "Discharge Floor" to 10%...which makes sense to me...but the Victron display (near the end of the video) shows it back up to 50%. We are putting one in next week and your video is a great help. Thanks again!

[@rvsolarconcepts]

Yeah that's just my begginer editing/video making skills showing 😆 glad it helped though!

[@herkko61]

Extremely good information!!! Thank you.

[@rvsolarconcepts]

You're welcome!

[@richeastmain4031]

Great info, thanks.

[@jcrabbphoto2294]

Good simple explanation. Thanks.

[@rvsolarconcepts]

Thanks for the support!

[@tomwinning]

Very helpful thanks mate! 🇦🇺

[@Mr1999tora]

Fantastico, ottima spiegazione, grazie ancora delle informazioni-

[@lesgraham2578]

Appreciate the advice, thanks so much. I’ve just installed the smart shunt. First step to switching to lithium. Some of us are still running 2 6v. Are the factory settings good for the 6v?

[@steveschaefer5835]

If I have two 100Ah batteries wired in series for 24 V. Would I set my victron smart shunt to 100ah or 200Ah. Thank you this was very helpful

[@user-dz4dh8vm7k]

Great video mate. I have one question. I’m installing one in a ford ranger tub. You say nothing else can go on the negative terminal other than the wire from shunt. So does that mean I even take the earth wire off of my battery? Therefore I should earth the shunt? Correct?

[@Tex260Z]

At last! great video with proper explanations, many thanks. However I do have one question, the Tail current in the BMV-712 is expressed as a percentage (2%), but the Tail current in my Victron MMPT 75/15 regulator is expressed as an Amp setting (currently 2.0 amps. How do you calculate the setting for the MPPT regulator please? I would like to see the same sort of video on the Victron MPPT regulator including everything in the "Expert Mode" like Rebulk offset mode etc.

[@rvsolarconcepts]

Let us get something put together for ya!

[@affabletrader6610]

are you going to discuss whether you need internet connection for firmware update and what if you don't have internet connection at site.

[@rvsolarconcepts]

Good question! To the best of my knowledge, the updates are downloaded and held in the app while you have service on your device. After that, the update can be performed anytime from that device whether you currently have service or not. So as long as the device with the victron app installed gets service periodically you should be able to update the devices without having service at the time of the update.

[@holylick5522]

So the chassis ground goes on the system minus side? Thank you for the video.

[@rvsolarconcepts]

Correct, everything goes to the system minus side except the wire from the negative battery post.

[@holylick5522]

Thanks again. I really appreciate the quick response.

[@rvsolarconcepts]

You're welcome!

[@DonaldStuart-wq2wi]

I have a Victron 100/30 with two 100 ah lithium batteries will the Victron shunt 500 monitor the two batteries. Do I need to use the auxiliary side for second battery…thanks for your help

[@rvsolarconcepts]

Yes it will monitor the entire bank as long as you wire it correctly, as shown in the video! There is no need for the aux input.

[@DonaldStuart-wq2wi]

Thank you

[@KJC63]

Do you recommend putting the thin red wire on the positive battery post or the positive bus bar?

[@rvsolarconcepts]

The only thing we keep in mind when doing our installs is we do not put that red power wire on anything that could be shut off with a disconnect. You want the shunt to have constant power at all times so it doesn't lose its calibration.

[@KJC63]

@@rvsolarconcepts thank you

[@rvsolarconcepts]

Either spot will provide the range power so whatever is most convenient or looks best.

[@dheller777]

I will have two 300 ah Lipo4 batteries wired in parallel. They will have the positive and negative wires from my solar controller going to them to charge them. You said I cannot have any connections to my negative terminal. That said where and how would I run my cables from my solar controller to my batteries? I always run these connections directly to the positive and negative post of my batteries.

[@holylick5522]

Use a buss bar on the system minus side of the shunt?

[@ClarkyMalarky]

Just treat the outgoing wire of the shunt cable just like a battery post.

[@cottoncb]

What about 24v?

[@rvsolarconcepts]

Only differences with a 24v system will be the charging voltages which should be recommended by the battery manufacturer.

[@howardklopak628]

I am looking for a shunt to use to measure battery capacity… but I think this setup looses all the data once the battery discharges. I was hoping the aux battery input would keep it awake, but it doesn’t seem to. Issue is SmartShunt resets and looses connection when the battery voltage drops too low. This makes it useless for me. In my opinion the power for the shunt electronics should come from the auxiliary battery… that would be much better. This SmartShunt has no value to me without the ability to keep alive. What am I missing?

[@rvsolarconcepts]

It definitely is not the tool to use if you are looking for long term tracking. We have been frustrated with the same problems that you are describing but I don't believe Victron has any intentions of revamping the shunt to store the data unfortunately...

[@howardklopak628]

Yea, you are probably right. With the low cost of microprocessors you would think a Wifi version could exist with a web browser interface and on board storage… hey Toshiba had WiFi access built into to an SD flash card and that was many years ago. I guess I expect too much. It also disconnects every time you switch to another app and has to reconnect when you bring it back to the foreground on IOS. Unless I’m missing something, it’s a toy. I’m sending it back.

[@GermanDaGreat]

Why dont I see my charge energy I have 900W coming in but the shunts shows 0 percent no charge

[@GermanDaGreat]

I don't see power coming into the Shunt I am getting a PV reading of 26.5 so my batteries are charging but the shunt doesn't show anything no charge.

[@rvsolarconcepts]

What device is showing you 900 watts coming in?

[@GermanDaGreat]

@@rvsolarconcepts My Victron 150/35 says 900w is coming in but on the shunt, I don't see the battery going up it's like it doesn't register, I did exactly what you said didn't connect the pv to the battery I did it to a bar only thing I connected to the batter negative is the shunt and the shunt is connected to the bar for the Pv. the positive is connected to the battery it is not on a bar, direct connection.

[@GermanDaGreat]

@@rvsolarconcepts I do see the dischared energy just not the charged energy. but I never synchronized it. the end part of the video.

[@rvsolarconcepts]

Make sure you have the connections on the shunt in the correct orientation. The one going to your bus bar needs to be on the "system minus" side of the shunt and the one from your negative battery terminal needs to go on battery minus. Also make sure your batteries aren't fully charged already otherwise the solar power will be present but the batteries will have disconnected themselves from the charging circuit showing 0 amperage going in.

[@stevenchase2066]

Still waiting for someone to do this with 3 12v batteries to make 36v see how it works

[@rvsolarconcepts]

What exactly are you wanting to see? The principal is the exact same, the only thing that changes is the voltage and amperage that you'll see going through it...

[@stevenchase2066]

@@rvsolarconcepts just never seen anyone show what the settings would be in the app for anything other then 12v

[@rvsolarconcepts]

@@stevenchase2066 Gotcha! Maybe we will revise the video and splice in settings for 24, 36, and 48. Thanks for the suggestion!