Balmar Battery Monitor Issues

[J. Thomson]

We took delivery of a 2022 R-27OB in June with lithium house batteries. Balmar is the brand of the factory installed battery monitor. It seemed to work fine to start with but after the last time we were out on the water about a month or so ago on battery power and then plugged back in it seems to have gone berserk. We have restarted it by pulling the fuse. Did a factory restart. Bought the bluetooth gateway connection and downloaded all updates from Balmar. All of the settings on the monitor are correct (i.e., correct type of batteries, correct available amps, etc.) Nothing seems to be straightening things out. The problem is we know we have a full charge on the batteries regardless of what the monitor is telling us. 24/7 fuses are all pulled and EVERYTHING is off. We have no load being put on the batteries (confirmed by the gauge on the breaker panel). Yet the Balmar monitor is showing negative 70-90 amps. We can re-start the monitor and it will tell us we have 100% state of charge with over 13 volts, but also shows negative amps even though everything is off. We let the boat sit for a few days and when we return the monitor is showing 0% state of charge (I am assuming it is because the monitor thinks something has been pulling amps the entire time and according to its "calculations" we are out of power). Yet we can turn on the house switch and the refrigerator runs, microwave runs, all lights can be turned on, etc. So clearly the monitor is not recording things correctly. The boat is sitting on a trailer in storage but we have access to 120v power with an adapter connected to the shore power outlet - so as stated we know we can and have put a full charge on the batteries. The batteries are also connected to the smart shunt correctly. So far the RT factory and Balmar seem stumped. Has anyone run into this or a similar issue and, if so, what was the fix? I am starting to think we may just need to replace the Balmar shunt or consider moving to another brand.

 

[Martin610]

I installed a Balmar last winter. It has worked flawlessly. If your boat is a 2022 it should still be under warranty. I would ask for it to be swapped out for a new one.

-martin610

 

[Red Raven]

Based on your symptoms I would suspect there is a poor or incorrect connection somewhere in the sense lines that go to the shunt. The voltage being measured across the shunt is extremely small. A poor connection could result in wildly incorrect current measurement without affecting the battery voltage measurement.

Remove the sense wires from the shunt, verify they go to the correct terminals on the Balmar monitor, clean them at both ends and reattach. Also check that they are not pinched or damaged somewhere along the line.

Good, luck!

Curt

 

[Martin610]

Always good to check connections as Curt says. The sensor wires utilize a German DIN type connector, normally pretty reliable. You might check the red power wire too.

However, this boat is so new, coupled with the fact it worked at first, I still think the integrated circuit in the shunt has an issue.

Since I have a Balmar too, please keep us in the loop.

-martin610

 

[Gin]

I too have a Balmar — The SG 200. I had some issues about a year in with readings. I finally traced it to an issue in the wiring harness and one of the connections on the German Din connection Martin 610 mentioned. Balmar sent me a new wiring harness (no charge) to see if that was my issue. It was. It’s been rock solid since.

Gini

 

[ID1890]

The Balmar SG200 on my 2021 R25 OB has worked intermittently since new. It displays normally for a time, then no display, then after a period of weeks, display may work again. Currently no display. Is this likely a connection issue as well, or a bad gauge?

 

[Pandion]

The Balmar SG200 on my 2021 R25 OB has worked intermittently since new. It displays normally for a time, then no display, then after a period of weeks, display may work again. Currently no display. Is this likely a connection issue as well, or a bad gauge?

If you didn't install the monitor yourself, it may help to know that Balmar ships the units with the Deutsch-type connector mentioned by the previous posters only partially assembled. This is to make it easier to snake the cable that goes from the shunt to the display. The pins are crimped on the wire but they need to be inserted into the plastic housing.

I had the same issue as you when I first installed my unit. I would first check to make sure that the pins are fully seated into the connector. In my case, the cause was a piece of plastic inside the connector where the male part would insert was not fully seated, causing an intermittent short. Once I pushed that piece into place, the unit has worked normally. Balmar has a video on YouTube that shows how to assemble connector.

 

[ID1890]

Thanks.