Power monitoring

Nwdiver

Nwdiver

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 16, 2020
Messages
264
Fluid Motion Model
C-288 C
Hull Identification Number
FML28C09H222
Vessel Name
Old Bold Diver
My nw edition c-288 did not come with any power monitoring. The luxury edition comes with a balmar model but I am not wedded to that brand. I am looking for recommendations on what brand and model to use.

I would like the following capabilities

State of change of 4 banks (house, engine 1, engine 2, bow thruster)
4 bank battery voltage and current draw
Status of charging sources from engines, solar, shore and other (tbd)

Remote monitoring is a nice to have, but not required

Currently the boat has AGM, but it would be nice for the battery monitor to support a mix of chemistries without having to redo everything.

My solar is a epever duo racer
My inverter is a kisae still successfully hiding from me
My shore power charger is unknown and also hiding from me
 
Maybe start with a Victron SmartShunt battery monitor connected to your house bank.
Only $130 on amazon.
It connects to a smartphone/tablet via bluetooth. The victron app is excellent.

This will get you state of charge, battery voltage, current draw, temperature (optional) for the house bank.

You could add SmartShunts to the other banks, but if you only need voltage, the Victron Smart Battery Sense is cheaper.
 
Nwdiver":3g6itvt8 said:
My nw edition c-288 did not come with any power monitoring. The luxury edition comes with a balmar model but I am not wedded to that brand. I am looking for recommendations on what brand and model to use.

I would like the following capabilities

State of change of 4 banks (house, engine 1, engine 2, bow thruster)
4 bank battery voltage and current draw
Status of charging sources from engines, solar, shore and other (tbd)

Remote monitoring is a nice to have, but not required

Currently the boat has AGM, but it would be nice for the battery monitor to support a mix of chemistries without having to redo everything.

My solar is a epever duo racer
My inverter is a kisae still successfully hiding from me
My shore power charger is unknown and also hiding from me
Click to expand...

I would recommend installing a Victron Smart shunt (bluetooth only) for the house bank. This will give you voltage and current draw. It'll also account for charging from shorepower, solar and engine, into the house bank. Having a physical gauge (the Victon BMV-712). is a nice to have. The Victron SmartShunt is really all you need to get the data on your phone.

For the other 3 battery banks (Engine1, Engine2, Thruster), I'd put a Victron battery Sense on each battery that gives voltage and temp. These three batteries should stay fully charged most of the time so just knowing their voltage should be sufficient to know their health.

Battery monitor for house bank.
https://www.letsgochannelsurfing.com/boat-upgrades/house-battery-monitor

Battery Sense for Engine1, Engine2, Thruster bank.
https://www.letsgochannelsurfing.com/boat-upgrades/victron:-battery-sense
 
Do you have the Victron data on the garmin MFD? If so, do I need the 712
 
Nwdiver":1idurix1 said:
Do you have the Victron data on the garmin MFD? If so, do I need the 712
Click to expand...

Personally, I don’t think it’s necessary to have the battery data on the MFD. But it’s possible. I’ve done it, and I have since undone it.

You install a Victron battery monitor (the BMV712) or a new Smart Shunt from Victron which has a ve.direct port.

Then you put in a Victron CerboGX. Run a ve.direct cable to the CerboGX from the shunt. Have the CerboGX connect via Wi-Fi to the Chartpkotter.

It’s less expensive and easier to just install the smart shunt, look at the data on your phone, and skip the CerboGX.

It’ll look like this on your chartpkotter.
Note: I also had solar data as I connected my Victron solar controller to the CerboGX.
I also had battery charger data as I had a Victron Skylla charger also connected to the CerboGX.

https://www.letsgochannelsurfing.co...6c9c0_3294fd5f4be145219f76f7be0e476c69mv2.jpg

Today, I just access it all on my phone. The Cerbogx reports all my battery and solar into to the cloud, which I access on my phone. But to get to VRM (the cloud) requires that the boat has internet 24x7.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
I think I’m going to skip the 712 and just use a smart shunt on the house bank, I have an iPad I keep on the boat for a variety of updating and monitoring purposes, so I will use it to talk to the shunt. I might put another shunt on one of other banks and use the voltage monitor on the shunts to keep an eye on the remaining two banks. That will get me full coverage with minimal wiring required. Unlike Martin, I’m not really into running wires into really small spaces 🙂

Ed
 
I think the c-288 is as big as I can handle. Trailering from Portland to Everett and back was an adventure. On the plus side, everyone was very accommodating and got out of my way. Not sure if they were being nice or just appalled at the tiny truck hauling a big boat.
Ed
 
HI there. My NW edition Cutwater 288 came with a Balmar battery monitoring system and it works great. It's also remote to my mobile phone/bluetooth.
 
Interesting, mine did not have any power monitoring. My Victron monitor should be installed in a week or two.
 
Nwdiver":3211ipk0 said:
Interesting, mine did not have any power monitoring. My Victron monitor should be installed in a week or two.
Click to expand...

The LE's with LFP would come with power monitoring. Northwest editions with AGM batteries do not come with power monitoring.
 
My power monitoring has been installed and is working nicely.

House batteries are two 110 amp agm in parallel, this now has a Victron smart shunt monitoring it with the voltage monitor of the shunt tied to one of the starting batteries

Thruster battery has another Victron smart shunt with the voltage monitor tied to the remaining starter battery

Both shunts are monitored with the Victron application on an iPad

Have a few questions though:

#1, what the heck type battery does the thruster use, we can’t visually tell and I need to program the smart shunt battery parameters.

#2, can you rename the smart shunt label in the application to something a bit more intuitive (like house bank)

By the way, I flipped on the thruster and it read 140amps

Ed

So Martin, I have auto glide and battery monitoring done, next project is Christmas lights

😀
 
Nwdiver":ht8xeusr said:
So Martin, I have auto glide and battery monitoring done, next project is Christmas lights

😀
Click to expand...

Nice!! You coming up for the Christmas boat parade? 🙂
 
Nwdiver":ur48ibyt said:
#1, what the heck type battery does the thruster use, we can’t visually tell and I need to program the smart shunt battery parameters.

😀
Click to expand...

It's most likely AGM as it should match the same type as your house since they're all charged via an ACR. From the photos I took on your boat, it looks like it's the Universal 110ah AGM batteries that RT usually uses for house and thruster banks.
 
Thanks, guess I need to play with my widgets. Why does that sound somewhat obscene?
 
Bumping this. My 2022 c288 has a balmar and it has stopped working. Like zero display. Before I go ripping it out is there a fuse? Don’t see one on any of the fuse boxes
 
Ok found the shunt and the Bluetooth controller. Fuse is good- 12 vdc there. Any ideas?
 
Remedy2 said:
Ok found the shunt and the Bluetooth controller. Fuse is good- 12 vdc there. Any ideas?
Click to expand...

This is a post I made a few years ago in response to a question about a non-working Balmar monitor; maybe it will be helpful:

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.

Original thread: https://www.tugnuts.com/threads/balmar-battery-monitor-issues.20858/#post-135685
 
Nwdiver said:
My nw edition c-288 did not come with any power monitoring. The luxury edition comes with a balmar model but I am not wedded to that brand. I am looking for recommendations on what brand and model to use.

I would like the following capabilities

State of change of 4 banks (house, engine 1, engine 2, bow thruster)
4 bank battery voltage and current draw
Status of charging sources from engines, solar, shore and other (tbd)

Remote monitoring is a nice to have, but not required

Currently the boat has AGM, but it would be nice for the battery monitor to support a mix of chemistries without having to redo everything.

My solar is a epever duo racer
My inverter is a kisae still successfully hiding from me
My shore power charger is unknown and also hiding from me
Click to expand...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

  • Tugnuts.com is the community hub for Ranger Tug, Cutwater, and Solara owners. Since its inception in 2008, the Tugnuts forum has grown into an active and thriving community of more than 9,000 members. It serves as both a meeting place for the best boating community online, and an invaluable archive of information.

  • User menu
Back
Top