Interpreting the battery monitor

The new Victron 600 was easy to install and the readouts seem intuitive. I have two 105 ah Group 27s AGMs, Batt 1 for house and Batt 2 for starting.

The Victron shows a constant drain of 0.14 when the battery selector switch is on, with no apparent loads. Unusual? Causes?

The monitor doesn't read individual batteries, only the entire bank, so there is no way to tell the SOC of Batt 1 alone. Since that's the battery I'm running for lights, etc., that's something I'd like to know. And I'd also like to be able to confirm that Batt 2, the starting battery, is full up.

Comments?

And I'd also like to be able to confirm that Batt 2, the starting battery, is full up.Comments?

Click to expand...

Christian - Push the "normally open" pushbutton labeled "Start". If you feel a continuous vibration after releasing the pushbutton your start battery is charged. :nerd: That may not have been the answer you were looking for, but that is all that the Victron BVM-600 can do for a second battery. It will not work on a second battery. The BMV-602 will read voltage on a second battery.

The ground for the start battery MUST NOT go through the shunt. If it does you will screw up your readings.

Is your battery charger on? Turn it off; did the discharge go down? If so, you wired the shunt backwards. Then turn on a light. Does the discharge current increase? If yes, that's good. If not your wiring is screwed up.

Does the discharge go down if you open the battery switch? If so, there is something that is connected... engine gauge lights? Tank monitor? Stereo? If not you may have a bad monitor, but I wouldn't jump top that conclusion.

I'm available this week if you need help - send tickets.

I'll check, but I think I pass the tests.

I wonder if my stereo AAC wire could drain 0.14. Of course I can disconnect it and see what happens, but that will mean thinking and bending over simultaneously.

It's not the stereo AAC wire.

The mystery draw of 0.17 amps when the battery selector switch is turned on relates to the new cockpit voltmeter --even when the ignition is off (no cockpit instrument lamps illuminated).



The cockpit voltmeter circuit includes the lower nav station panel "service" lamp in the photo. That lamp has never worked. Bulb could be burned out. Actually, I don't know what the lower lamp is supposed to tell me.

The upper "service" lamp is wired to a positive bus and goes on with the battery selector switch.

The lower (inop) lamp red wire goes to the cockpit voltmeter.

If I disconnect it from the cockpit voltmeter, the mystery 0.17 discharge disappears.

What's going on here?

Tom, I hope business class airline tickets are all right. They should arrive right after you solve this problem, promise.

Now do you see why I don't want a voltmeter in the cockpit?

That light doesn't show on my wiring diagram for the E-32. My guess is that someone wired something to a convenient source of 12 volts. Look at the back of the voltmeter in the cockpit and try to follow the wires. Also try to find out what doesn't work now that the wire is disconnected.

Business class is OK. In fact, at least once when someone else was buying I flew steerage class. I think it was our formerly rich uncle who was buying. I hated pipe seats. Back then the planes flapped their wings.