Boat Monitoring System

[dbsea]

Reporting back on the Victron Globallink 520.

This thing is awesome.

I wired it's power harness to a battery, plugged it in, and it's on. Went to the Victron app, saw it listed (via bluetooth) and connected to it. It connected right away to T-Mobile, using the prepaid LTE-M (which is good for 5 years). Now the cool part, I connected it to my SmartShunt without using a VE.direct cable! It connects to it via bluetooth so I had no other cables to deal with. Looks like this is called "Instant Readout" by Victron. I'm hoping they add my Orion-Tr DCtoDC charger in the future.

https://www.victronenergy.com/media/pg/ ... o-vrm.html

Anyhow, I now can use Victron VRM to monitor my batteries and MPPT. Came out to $200 for 5 years, and then they say you can extend service, but I can't tell how much that'd cost. I'm pretty interested in learning how to use the digital inputs. Also, I got some Ruuvi sensors, looking forward to using those to keep track of temperature remotely.

Here's a video on it from Victron:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BPNQWEBkk4

I love this. Thanks for sharing something else I can spend money on! :lol:

I have been wanting a way to get all my victron data remotely without installing a cerbo GX and bunch of ve.direct cables. I also have a separate system by a brand called govee for monitoring temp/humidity in various areas of the boat. Cool that I can get the ruuvi sensors and have it all in one app, and not need a separate wifi-bridge for the govee that only plugs into AC power.

 

[it4llc]

I should be receiving the Siren system tomorrow to install. I've got an open slot on my 24x7 block which I'm planning to use to power it. On one of the house blocks above there is an open slot on the ground terminals. My question is if there any concern with pulling power from the 24x7 block and grounding to another block? Here's a pic of my fuse blocks: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/fe554exfs8bamch/AAC2MG32MvUf9_-mWs42VbSza?dl=0

 

[Submariner]

We just published a short video about what we use for monitoring Channel Surfing remotely.

Video surveillance with motion activation and battery monitoring. Lets me know if I lost shore power. Also useful when I'm away from shorepower and operating on just solar to see where the batteries are at.

How we use a Blink camera and our WIFI solution to monitor our Ranger Tug
https://youtu.be/ShZoxj7wGoE

 

[Mike and Sarah]

Plus 1 for the Global link 520. I added it to my R31. I have it connected to my MPPT controller and victron BMV-712.
I did run cables which was easy. I didn’t try the Bluetooth . The global link is mounted in my starboard lazarette near the mppt controller. No connection issues the 4g LTE-M signal. This is with just the built in antenna.
I like that I can pin the VRM Portal website to my boat page. I get almost instant display of battery percent, dc voltage and solar. Also historical data too.
Another piece of mind modification.

We also have a T-Mobile hotspot on the boat that we connect Govee temp sensors, smart plugs for low draw heaters and Wyze camera. Both work great even in our covered slip. Quick access on an app

 

[KlaassyC]

And one more vote for the Globallink 520. I have one paired with a few Ruuvi sensors and it’s the most cost effective approach to essential monitoring. Battery (let’s me know shore power is still connected), solar, temperatures and humidity. I just need to figure out how to wire my bilge pump/high water alarm to it. Everything else is Bluetooth so super easy install.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[mikey]

where should the viltron 100-30 smart controller be mounted on a c28? ok to mount where the morning star controller is in the cave or where the remote gauge is near the battery switches or should it be mounted up near the dash to give better access for the cell phone?

 

[gswearin]

Now you all have me looking at the GlobalLink! One peace of mind thing I like is a notification when AC power goes off. Anyone know if/how the GlobalLink 520 can monitor that? I suppose I could see the battery use going up.

Thanks.

 

[croakz]

Now you all have me looking at the GlobalLink! One peace of mind thing I like is a notification when AC power goes off. Anyone know if/how the GlobalLink 520 can monitor that? I suppose I could see the battery use going up.

I notice my shore power is off when my house battery voltage starts going down since it's not being charged anymore.

I wish there was a way to monitor shore power, but it looks like you gotta step up to a Cerbo GX to do that.

 

[Submariner]

Now you all have me looking at the GlobalLink! One peace of mind thing I like is a notification when AC power goes off. Anyone know if/how the GlobalLink 520 can monitor that? I suppose I could see the battery use going up.

I notice my shore power is off when my house battery voltage starts going down since it's not being charged anymore.

I wish there was a way to monitor shore power, but it looks like you gotta step up to a Cerbo GX to do that.

I have a CerboGX. The only way I know that shorepower has been disconnected is that my battery state of charge is less than 100% and falling. Which is easily monitored on my phone.

 

[KlaassyC]

I use the battery voltage to tell if shore power is still connected. A resting battery will be at a lower voltage then one that has a charger connected. No shore power, no charger, lower battery voltage even at 100% state of charge. The only time this doesn’t work is if my solar is also charging, but if that’s the case I’m generally not as worried about shore power. The Globallink allows you to set alarms for most readouts as well. Here’s a picture from my VictronConnect App showing the voltage and current chart, clearly showing the voltage alternating between float and charging.

And here’s one showing the Ruuvi sensors:

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[croakz]

I wish there was a way to monitor shore power, but it looks like you gotta step up to a Cerbo GX to do that.

I have a CerboGX. The only way I know that shorepower has been disconnected is that my battery state of charge is less than 100% and falling. Which is easily monitored on my phone.

Hey @Martin,

I was reading you could add a ET112 to monitor shore power loads, but haven't gotten one since it's supported on the CerboGX and not the Globallink 520. I wanted a way to not just monitor my batteries, but monitor how much AC load was being used.

For example, during the recent cold spells I had a Twin Hornet heater in the engine compartment and a Stor-Dry in the cabin. I wanted to see if they were running and how much power they were taking, all from VRM. My hack was to use my Ruuvi sensors to monitor the temperature in the engine compartment, since the heater kicked in at 40deg and turned off at 60deg.

 

[johnbenj]

I wish there was a way to monitor shore power, but it looks like you gotta step up to a Cerbo GX to do that.

You don't require a Cerbo GX. You can install a Victron Color Control GX like this. It can connect via wireless (BYO adapter) or ethernet and syncs to the Victron VRN portal.

https://www.victronenergy.com/panel-systems-remote-monitoring/color-control

 

[Submariner]

Hey @Martin,

I was reading you could add a ET112 to monitor shore power loads, but haven't gotten one since it's supported on the CerboGX and not the Globallink 520. I wanted a way to not just monitor my batteries, but monitor how much AC load was being used.

That ET112 looks pretty interesting. I'm not sure how useful it would be on my boat. The AC loads from shorepower aren't that great. It's a 30 amp plug at 120volts that powers the whole boat.

If I'm at my slip, I'm paying 10.4 cents per kilowatt. If my 320ah house bank were on "empty", I'd need 3kw to recharge it. (30 cents worth). If I heat up my hot water tank, 750 watts for 90 minutes, that's another ten cents.

For me to know if shorepower is disconnected, I just look at the Victron VRM widget on my phone. If I see less than 100% state of charge and discharging, shorepower has been disconnected. I have a temperature probe connected to the CerboGX, so I get cockpit temperature to know about sub-freezing temperatures. I could always add an extra temperature sensor for inside the cabin to monitor that as well. That would tell me how effective (or ineffective) the cabin heater is working during the winter months.

 

[croakz]

I guess what I'm looking for is a shunt for my shore power AC loads. I'd be great to see how much power my heaters are taking up across a timeline. Maybe something like this discontinued Victron Wireless AC Sensor?

https://www.victronenergy.com/live/ccgx ... _ac_sensor