Cruising Sailors Forum Archive

Victron BMV-600

Got mine installed today. Made up 2 new ground cables from the batteries to the shunt. The UTP cable (shunt to head unit) provided was WAY too long - made up a short one using a scrap piece of Cat5 cable and two 6P connectors. Just guessed on the connection - seems to be working.
Voltage reading is 0.2V different from my chinese voltmeter. Never did trust the chinese one.
Went to put the batteries on charge to calibrate the thing, and I had to think twice. I'm used to just clipping the charger onto the + and - battery terminals - realized the - connection has to go on the side of the shunt away from the battery. I can see how easy it is for folks to get messed up with these monitors and have ground connections on the wrong side of the shunt - perhaps the cause of some of the bad press about them.
Now it's just a matter of tweeking some of the parameters - first one I'll probably play with is the trail amps (amps at full charge). Default is 8 amps, but I think that's too high. I'll check what my charger is putting out on float tomorrow. Peukert? I think default is 1.25. Looking at the rated AH and RC of my batteries, I calculate a Peukert more like 1.15 - but I don't believe the ratings and am not changing the default - yet. Besides, it's small cookies - my house bank runs at the 20 hr rate or less.
Finally told the Admiral what I spent for the unit and she didn't even flich - she'd spent more than that today on plants for the patio and front walk, and they'll all be dead in 6 months. If this monitor is dead in 6 months, you'll be hearing about it!

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