12 replies to this topic

[heinphoto]

Yes, that is correct. With either the BMV-712 or SmartShunt you can either measure a second battery (typically the starter battery or midpoint of two batteries in series) or the battery temperature. If you want to measure battery temperature, you have to purchase the optional sensor cable. I initially monitored the midpoint of our dual 6V batteries, but switched to the temperature sensor so the mppt could do better temperature compensated charging.

[pvstoy]

The monitor will only show you the current voltage of a second battery. It will not give you a state of charge information. Just wanted to point that out if a prospective buyer is mislead.

[Rhian]

I’ve spent the day trying to figure out why I can’t get ‘midpoint’ to work - it sets off an alarm and says the difference is 99.9%. I checked the connections and fuses of the red B1 and B2 wires. They look good. I finally came across something on the Victron community support site - 2 12V batteries wired in parallel cannot be monitored separately. They shunt sees them as only 1 battery. I’ve now changed the setting to ‘none’ but have not yet removed the B2 wire. Hope this helps others with the AUX option on the BMV 712.