Victron battery monitor question

[Lake Effect]

My Victron battery monitor shows a voltage of 10.1v. I’ve tested my other batteries and my house bank tests at 13.2v, start battery 12.9 and thruster at 12.4.
This is a new boat to me. Does my monitor need recalibrated?

 

[ksanders]

To the best of my knowledge there is no calibration on a Victron shunt is that's what you have.

You need to figure out where the voltage number is coming from and correct that issue.

 

[Fleming]

Check the small wires coming off the plug on the shunt. The red one is sensing voltage somewhere. You need to check that source and connection. It should only be monitoring the house bank.

 

[SteveK]

check the connection at the shunt for corrosion.

 

[Lake Effect]

My Victron monitor is supposed to be connected to my house battery bank. Seems it should be reading 13.2v instead of 10.1v.

 

[Frosty]

Yes, that's correct. If it's connected to your house bank (as is typical) it should be reading the house bank voltage.

Mostly echoing others above here, but....

Is your house bank actually at 10.1volts? Or is it at 13.2 volts? Whichever voltage is actually correct, will give you the answer to which thing is reading wrong.

If it's the Victron shunt, then there is likely some sort of wiring problem. Maybe you could post a photo or diagram (or both) of those hookups (shunt). Also a screen shot of your monitor readout could be helpful (especially if it's from the app, with more info).

One note is that you can (may) monitor the voltage of a second bank with the Victron shunt (typically the start bank). I have never done that as I've always used the temp sensor (and you can't do both). But IF you are doing that, and IF your second bank is at 10.1 volts, then you could just be looking at that number.

So.... what's really going on is the thing to find out. I've never heard of a Victron shunt going bad, though I'm sure one must have at some point. OTOH, it seems reasonably common to have an error in the wiring hookups.

As mentioned above, I don't believe there is any adjustment in the Victron as concerns voltage. There is an adjustment for Zeroing out the amps (but only ever do that if you are 100% positive there are no actual loads you are seeing).

 

[DDW]

Which Victron monitor? There are quite a number to choose from, connected in a variety of ways.

 

[Lake Effect]

I checked connections and all seem clean. The red wire from the shunt goes to my house battery bank. I temporarily replaced my monitor display with another. Even that monitor gave the same low voltage reading.
Is my shunt bad?

 

[Lake Effect]

Check the small wires coming off the plug on the shunt. The red one is sensing voltage somewhere. You need to check that source and connection. It should only be monitoring the house bank.

Yes. The small red wire is connected to my house battery bank

 

[Lake Effect]

Which Victron monitor? There are quite a number to choose from, connected in a variety of ways.

BMV-712 smart

Which Victron monitor? There are quite a number to choose from, connected in a variety of ways.

 

[Lake Effect]

BMV-712 smart

 

[DDW]

I believe the BMV has two voltage inputs, one usually comes from the shunt input, the other is led to the second battery. Which one is reading low? or are both reading low? One reading low, trace the connection and make sure it is secure and uncorroded at both ends. Both reading low, also check the ground connection to the BMV.

 

[oak_box]

I've had this issue before, and eventually ended up replacing the Victron module.

The voltage sense isn't going through the resistor (that would be for the current measurement).

It seems the Victrons just go wonky sometimes...

 

[SeaGator]

Victron quality has been slipping the last few years. Consider moving up to the Xantrex LinkPRO. Love mine.

xantrex.com/products/accessories/linkpro

 

[dutch-barge]

Seagator
Victron quality has been slipping the last few years

that is not correct, The defects returned are lower than the previous years, it is much easier now to find solutions to issues. The better forum to ask this question would be on the Victron community forum

Victron Community

community.victronenergy.com

 

[Kirk M]

There should be an inline fuse in that small red wire going to the house bank. If you haven’t, you should check the connections in it too.
I’m not sure where it measures the voltage through the shunt, but a loose connection in the ground wire(s) could also cause a low voltage reading.
Since you have the smart version, you should be able to use the app as well, although I don’t expect it will say anything different than your monitor.

 

[JohnWelch]

I had a similar problem with solar controller. Our boat has a “SmartBatterySense” Bluetooth sensor attached the the battery that starts the generator. I made a “VE Smart Networking” network and the Victron solar controller got confuzed. After replacing the controller everything was fine until I hooked the solar controller to the SmartBatterySense and then the solar controller started trying to charge off the SmartBatterySense voltage instead of the voltage it was connected to. I disconnected the solar controller from the SmartBatterySense and all is good.

 

[dutch-barge]

Seagator
Victron quality has been slipping the last few years

that is not correct, The defects returned are lower than the previous years, it is much easier now to find solutions to issues. The better forum to ask this question would be on the Victron community forum

Victron Community

community.victronenergy.com

Forgot to mentionVictron also gives standard 5 year warranty and for a small extra fee you can get 10 years warranty.... Try that with Xantrax

 

[SeaGator]

It's a natural reaction to defend one's high-end purchase. I would expect the manufacturers website to monitor and have happy campers post there. Living aboard and traveling thousands of miles every year, I can tell you I run across quite a few boaters with problematic and failed Victron products, much like many brands. Ever own an expensive Ferrari or other high-end product?