Journey with Confidence RV GPS App RV Trip Planner RV LIFE Campground Reviews RV Maintenance Take a Speed Test Free 7 Day Trial ×
 

Go Back   Montana Owners Club - Keystone Montana 5th Wheel Forum > GENERAL DISCUSSIONS > General Discussions about our Montanas
Click Here to Login

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
 
Old 09-19-2020, 05:55 AM   #1
DebNJim B
Montana Master
 
DebNJim B's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: Northville, NY
Posts: 807
M.O.C. #21158
Battery monitor wiring

I am looking at installing a battery monitor/usage meter. My control/fuse panel is located near the rear of my rig a good distance from the battery. I was wondering if the shunt needs to be at the battery or if I can install it where the cable comes into the fuse panel making it easier to run the wire to the meter readout.
 
__________________
Jim B
2017 Lariat F-350 FX4, CC, SB, 6.7 PSD 4WD
2018 MONTY 3731FL, at our private winter site in GA

DebNJim B is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-19-2020, 06:01 AM   #2
Butch & Kathy
Montana Fan
 
Butch & Kathy's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: West Melbourne
Posts: 310
M.O.C. #18980
Shunt needs to be at the battery in order to measure the total battery current.
__________________
Butch and Kathy
2016 3160RL Legacy, Sailun S637, Centramatic Balancers, 2-T105s, Amish Refrigeration, ARPrv, SoftStartRV, FlexArmor roof
2016 F350 6.7L SRW
Butch & Kathy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-19-2020, 06:21 AM   #3
padredw
Montana Master
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Ore City Texas
Posts: 1,648
M.O.C. #2224
Send a message via Skype™ to padredw
Quote:
Shunt needs to be at the battery in order to measure the total battery current.
Yes, I will add from personal experience: The Renogy battery monitor came with inadequate length of wire from shunt to display. I had to purchase wiring from a different source to bring the monitor inside my trailer.

The point? The wiring to the display can be extended; the shunt needs to be kept close to the battery. Also, the wiring for the shunt requires heavy, thick wiring; the wiring to the monitor display is small wire--though I can testify that in my case it was made up of 5 very small wires which required delicate splicing.
padredw is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-19-2020, 06:27 AM   #4
DebNJim B
Montana Master
 
DebNJim B's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: Northville, NY
Posts: 807
M.O.C. #21158
Tks for quick replies. That is what I expected but wasn't sure.
Has anyone tried one of the wireless monitors available on Ebay? I'm a bit skeptical of them.
__________________
Jim B
2017 Lariat F-350 FX4, CC, SB, 6.7 PSD 4WD
2018 MONTY 3731FL, at our private winter site in GA

DebNJim B is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-19-2020, 08:09 PM   #5
Daryles
Montana Master
 
Daryles's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2019
Location: Alton
Posts: 2,656
M.O.C. #24086
I have a Victron BMV-712 with Bluetooth. I can monitor my batteries and solar panel from the house 100' away on my phone.
__________________
Daryl and Marianne,
2019 3130re 20th Anniversary Edition
2016 F350 Lariat
Daryles is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-20-2020, 08:19 AM   #6
PNW Fireguy
Montana Master
 
PNW Fireguy's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2015
Location: Arlington
Posts: 1,522
M.O.C. #18081
It does not matter which end of the battery negative you mount the shunt on. What does matter is that you do not have ANY other connections of loads and/or sources between the shunt and the battery terminal it is connected to. You may have to do some digging around to ensure there are no frame bonding wires between the shunt connection and the battery negative terminal.
__________________
SOB
2015 Volvo VNL780 D13, iShift, 32k ET air hitch, Idle Free LiFePO4 APU
16.8KWhr LiFePO4, 2.52 kw solar, 10kva Victron split phase
PNW Fireguy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-20-2020, 02:02 PM   #7
DebNJim B
Montana Master
 
DebNJim B's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: Northville, NY
Posts: 807
M.O.C. #21158
Quote:
Originally Posted by PNW Fireguy View Post
It does not matter which end of the battery negative you mount the shunt on. What does matter is that you do not have ANY other connections of loads and/or sources between the shunt and the battery terminal it is connected to. You may have to do some digging around to ensure there are no frame bonding wires between the shunt connection and the battery negative terminal.
Thanks, that makes complete sense.
I've ordered a monitor that is hard wired in. I will need to just figure out where to mount it. I would have preferred the switch panel area but that is located a good 25 or 30 feet from the battery with the bathroom and kitchen in between making wire routing very difficult with out dropping the coroplast. I'm not going solar or boondocking, I just want to know the condition of our battery if we overnight on the road or something. Also interested in knowing what our usual a/h usage is. I have a new 200 ah battery coming and don't want to shorten it's life by going below 50%. I may take the trouble to disconnect the neg bat cable at both ends and run a continuity check to ground. I suppose that would tell me if there is any connection in between.
__________________
Jim B
2017 Lariat F-350 FX4, CC, SB, 6.7 PSD 4WD
2018 MONTY 3731FL, at our private winter site in GA

DebNJim B is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-01-2020, 07:18 PM   #8
dallasrules
Seasoned Camper
 
Join Date: Aug 2020
Location: Edinburg
Posts: 88
M.O.C. #26856
I also just got the victron 712. I can pull up the display on my phone in about 20 seconds. Plus it comes with a very long wire.
dallasrules is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-02-2020, 05:33 AM   #9
DebNJim B
Montana Master
 
DebNJim B's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: Northville, NY
Posts: 807
M.O.C. #21158
I ended up going with a somewhat less expensive monitor due to the fact that we don't have solar and don't boondock other than an occasional overnight at a rest area. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
This one doesn't have blue tooth. I have not decided where to mount the readout. With the front L/R the control panel is located near the rear just outside the B/R so a long run with no good way to get there w/o dropping the underbelly. I may just put it in the battery compartment for now.
Got the 130lb. battery installed with the help of my portable engine lift. I installed the shunt right at the neg cut off switch to keep it close to the bat.
Attached Thumbnails
Click image for larger version

Name:	20200930_142813.jpg
Views:	82
Size:	144.3 KB
ID:	7420  
__________________
Jim B
2017 Lariat F-350 FX4, CC, SB, 6.7 PSD 4WD
2018 MONTY 3731FL, at our private winter site in GA

DebNJim B is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

» Featured Campgrounds

Reviews provided by

Powered by vBadvanced CMPS v3.2.3
Disclaimer:

This website is not affiliated with or endorsed by Montana RV, Keystone RV Company or any of its affiliates. This is an independent, unofficial site.


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 09:26 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.9
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.