victron BMV 600 question

Dusty · May 2012

I was looking at purchasing the Victron BMV600 monitor and was wondering if anyone was able to adapt it to the shunt that is built into the Midnight Solar XW E-panel? The victron shunt has a unique looking circuit board, and I was hoping that the screw spacing on the circuit board was identical to the shunt built into the E-panel.

Joe_B · May 2012

Re: victron BMV 600 question

The interface to the shunt on the BMV is a 4 wire kelvin. 2 wires for the current shunt that converts current to a proportional voltage and 2 wires to measure battery voltage. the RJ45 is only so they can use a cat 5 cable for interconnect between the shunt and the meter. I dont know about the mechanicals but the BMV can be calibrated for any shunt resistance.

ETA: If it would help, I will measure my Victron shunt for you tomorrow.

Dapdan · May 2012

Re: victron BMV 600 question

Dusty,

I would not recommend even trying to switch the victron small circuit board to another shunt. First of all the shunt supplied with the midnite solar equipment has totally different dimensions and the circuit board would simply not fit onto the kelvin screws that come with the midnite solar supplied shunt. I had the same issue when I installed a midnite solar e-panel for a xw system. What I did was totally removed the supplied shunt and installed the victron shunt at an angle because the holes provided in the e-panel did not line up with both holes on the victron shunt.

I have installed several of these victron shunts and each shunt is calibrated to a particular digital display. It would be not recommended to even switch digital displays, circuit boards and shunt between identical models of the BMV600. This is from actual experience.

Cheers...
Damani

Joe_B · May 2012

Re: victron BMV 600 question

Dapdan wrote: »

Dusty,

I would not recommend even trying to switch the victron small circuit board to another shunt. First of all the shunt supplied with the midnite solar equipment has totally different dimensions and the circuit board would simply not fit onto the kelvin screws that come with the midnite solar supplied shunt. I had the same issue when I installed a midnite solar e-panel for a xw system. What I did was totally removed the supplied shunt and installed the victron shunt at an angle because the holes provided in the e-panel did not line up with both holes on the victron shunt.

I have installed several of these victron shunts and each shunt is calibrated to a particular digital display. It would be not recommended to even switch digital displays, circuit boards and shunt between identical models of the BMV600. This is from actual experience.

Cheers...
Damani

Damani,

This is from the BMV-600 manual:

1.4.2 Use of alternative shunts
The BMV is supplied with a 500 A/50 mV shunt. For most applications,
this should be suitable; however the BMV can be configured to work
with a wide range of different shunts. Shunts of up to 9999 A, and/or
100 mV can be used

Also this:

SA: Maximum rated shunt current. If using a shunt other than the one
supplied with the BMV, set this to the rated current of the shunt.
SV: The shunt output voltage at the maximum rated current. If
using a shunt other than the one supplied with the BMV, set this to
the rated voltage of the shunt.

The BMV 600 CAN accomodate other shunts!

As far as the mechanical dimensions, I agree.

Dusty · May 2012

Re: victron BMV 600 question

Thanks everyone,

The shunt installed in the Midnight Solar E-panel is also a 500 amp shunt, but if the physical dimensions of the shunt are different, perhaps it would be better to install the shunt that comes with the victron in the battery bank and not use the E-panel shunt at all. I'd just prefer to set it up in the E-panel, since it would simplify the installation. Thanks for the information!

Joe_B wrote: »

Damani,

This is from the BMV-600 manual:

1.4.2 Use of alternative shunts
The BMV is supplied with a 500 A/50 mV shunt. For most applications,
this should be suitable; however the BMV can be configured to work
with a wide range of different shunts. Shunts of up to 9999 A, and/or
100 mV can be used

Also this:

SA: Maximum rated shunt current. If using a shunt other than the one
supplied with the BMV, set this to the rated current of the shunt.
SV: The shunt output voltage at the maximum rated current. If
using a shunt other than the one supplied with the BMV, set this to
the rated voltage of the shunt.

The BMV 600 CAN accomodate other shunts!

As far as the mechanical dimensions, I agree.

Dusty · May 2012

Re: victron BMV 600 question

Damani,

Can you explain what you mean by installing the Victron shunt in place of the E-panel shunt "at an angle"? If the holes don't line up, how can you install it at an angle? the connection from the E-panel to the 6048 negative battery connection is a busbar, so that can't be moved. I'm just having trouble conceptualizing how you made it fit. Thank you!

Dapdan wrote: »

Dusty,

I would not recommend even trying to switch the victron small circuit board to another shunt. First of all the shunt supplied with the midnite solar equipment has totally different dimensions and the circuit board would simply not fit onto the kelvin screws that come with the midnite solar supplied shunt. I had the same issue when I installed a midnite solar e-panel for a xw system. What I did was totally removed the supplied shunt and installed the victron shunt at an angle because the holes provided in the e-panel did not line up with both holes on the victron shunt.

I have installed several of these victron shunts and each shunt is calibrated to a particular digital display. It would be not recommended to even switch digital displays, circuit boards and shunt between identical models of the BMV600. This is from actual experience.

Cheers...
Damani

Dusty · May 2012

Re: victron BMV 600 question

Joe,

The owner's manual for the victron called the cable an "RJ12" not an RJ45. Are you saying that an RJ45 will work instead? That's what I've used to mount the SCP at the other end of the house, so I was disappointed when it seemed like I needed a different cable (only because I didn't have an 50' RJ12 cable on hand).

Thank you!

Dusty

Joe_B wrote: »

The interface to the shunt on the BMV is a 4 wire kelvin. 2 wires for the current shunt that converts current to a proportional voltage and 2 wires to measure battery voltage. the RJ45 is only so they can use a cat 5 cable for interconnect between the shunt and the meter. I dont know about the mechanicals but the BMV can be calibrated for any shunt resistance.

ETA: If it would help, I will measure my Victron shunt for you tomorrow.

Joe_B · May 2012

Re: victron BMV 600 question

Dusty wrote: »

Joe,

The owner's manual for the victron called the cable an "RJ12" not an RJ45. Are you saying that an RJ45 will work instead? That's what I've used to mount the SCP at the other end of the house, so I was disappointed when it seemed like I needed a different cable (only because I didn't have an 50' RJ12 cable on hand).

Thank you!

Dusty

My mistake, RJ12 is correct, sorry for the confusion.

Dusty · May 2012

Re: victron BMV 600 question

Joe,

RJ12 wouldn't happen to be telephone cable, would it???

Joe_B wrote: »

My mistake, RJ12 is correct, sorry for the confusion.

Dapdan · May 2012

Re: victron BMV 600 question

Joe,

I stand corrected. I have two victron meter right now in operation at home. I had switched the meters at one stage and the reading I got were off. I accept that the meter can be configured in it settings including setting different values for shunts and zeroing the meter. I then choose to keep each meter with its assigned shunt since they are both labelled with matching serial numbers.

Dusty,

In regards to how I had set it I was looking for a photo of the set up I did with out success. I will try to describe to you how I achieved it. The e-panels usually have a series of holes designed to mount shunts on. You will find that both holes on the victron shunt does not line up with them vertically or horizontally. So what I did I installed it at an angle to vertical with the RJ-11 female socket facing down so the jack would be inserted from beaneath. I can not recall if I was able to use two holes or one hole to achieve this. Once the midnite solar shunt is removed the convenience of the bus bar attached to the shunt is lost. What I did was then use the negative dc bus provided for solar input as my new bus by connecting it to the load side of the bus. Then all of the negative input can be connect as bare wire to the solar negative bus or by ring terminated cable to the load side of the bus. I hope this helps.

Cheers...
Damani

Dapdan · May 2012

Re: victron BMV 600 question

I have to correct myself. I mean to say RJ-12 which is a 6pin telephone style socket and jack. The four pinned one is RJ-11. They both can be found in commercial and residence telephone services.

The one most people are familar with and would refer to it as telephone cable/jack/socket would be RJ-11 which is the four pinned version.

Cheers...
Damani

Dusty · May 2012

Re: victron BMV 600 question

Thanks Damani,

I'd like to keep the bus bar arrangement in the E-panel, so I think I'll install the Victron shunt into the battery box. I intend to replace the interconnecting wires in the battery box with copper bus bar, and I can install the victron shunt as part of that installation. If you ever find that photo of the E-panel shunt installation, I would like to see it.

Thank you for the clarification of RJ 11 vs. RJ 12. Are you saying that RJ11 has enough wires to send all the required data to the unit, or do I have to use RJ 12?

Regards,

Dusty

Dapdan wrote: »

Joe,

I stand corrected. I have two victron meter right now in operation at home. I had switched the meters at one stage and the reading I got were off. I accept that the meter can be configured in it settings including setting different values for shunts and zeroing the meter. I then choose to keep each meter with its assigned shunt since they are both labelled with matching serial numbers.

Dusty,

In regards to how I had set it I was looking for a photo of the set up I did with out success. I will try to describe to you how I achieved it. The e-panels usually have a series of holes designed to mount shunts on. You will find that both holes on the victron shunt does not line up with them vertically or horizontally. So what I did I installed it at an angle to vertical with the RJ-11 female socket facing down so the jack would be inserted from beaneath. I can not recall if I was able to use two holes or one hole to achieve this. Once the midnite solar shunt is removed the convenience of the bus bar attached to the shunt is lost. What I did was then use the negative dc bus provided for solar input as my new bus by connecting it to the load side of the bus. Then all of the negative input can be connect as bare wire to the solar negative bus or by ring terminated cable to the load side of the bus. I hope this helps.

Cheers...
Damani

westbranch · May 2012

Re: victron BMV 600 question

RJ defined http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Registered_jack

victron BMV 600 question

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