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Battery Monitor: Aili vs. Victron Smartshunt/BMV

sunshine_eggo

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Thanks @FilterGuy for the Aili manual:


Based on my read, it doesn't address temperature or current variations.

For LFP, they both suffice.

For FLA/AGM/GEL, the Victron is VASTLY superior for these two reasons:
  1. Peukert effect - higher than C20 drains means lower capacity.
  2. Temperature effects - lower temps means lead-acid loses capacity - about 70% @ freezing vs. 100% @ 77°F.
The Victron hardware produces a much more accurate SoC reading for lead acid as current varies from the C20 value and as temperature varies from 77°F.

Am I missing something?
 
I agree with what you said.

I will add that if you have a VIctron temp sensor hooked to their shunt, it will share that temp with other products so current can be removed from a battery at a given temp. Their SCC networks with the temp sensor and can be programmed to stop sending current at a given temp.

A BMS does the same thing, but by shutting the SCC off, the BMS can be a back up.

I have the BMS-712 on a 12 volt FLA battery bank I’m upgrading to 24 v lithium, and I have the Ali on a much smaller crate build
 
Am I missing something?
No.... you have it right.

I fully agree that the Victron line of battery monitors has functionality the Aili does not.... but they are also much more expensive. For a lot of applications, the Aili is just fine.... for other applications the Victron might be a better choice.

I left lead-acid so long ago that I forget that there are still a fair number of people on the forum using them...... so when I make statements about how good a piece of kit is.... I don't always comment about applicability to Lead Acid. I need to watch myself about that.
 
I agree with what you said.

I will add that if you have a VIctron temp sensor hooked to their shunt, it will share that temp with other products so current can be removed from a battery at a given temp. Their SCC networks with the temp sensor and can be programmed to stop sending current at a given temp.

I didn't want to rub in the obvious awesomeness that Aili can't possibly support. ?

No.... you have it right.

I fully agree that the Victron line of battery monitors has functionality the Aili does not.... but they are also much more expensive. For a lot of applications, the Aili is just fine.... for other applications the Victron might be a better choice.

I left lead-acid so long ago that I forget that there are still a fair number of people on the forum using them...... so when I make statements about how good a piece of kit is.... I don't always comment about applicability to Lead Acid. I need to watch myself about that.

Yeah. If I was just looking for a good battery monitor on LFP, and I didn't need Victron ecosystem functionality, I would just go for the Aili.
 
Thanks @FilterGuy for the Aili manual:
BTW: You reminded me to do something I have been meaning to do for a while: I added a description of how the monitor works on the description page of the resource. This is what the resource page now says:

The manual sheet included with the Aili Battery Monitor Click on the orange 1638475310819.png button in the upper right of this screen to get the manual

Brief Description of how the Aili battery monitor works.
The Aili Battery monitor does its magic by measuring the Battery voltage and the Voltage across the Shunt.
1638475197855.png


The shunt is a known resistance so by measuring the voltage across the shunt, it can calculate the current. This gives it the ability to display the Amps and by integrating the amps in/out over time, it can determine amp-hours in/out.
It can also multiply the current by the battery voltage to get Watts and by integrating the Watts over time it is able to determine Watt-hours in/out.
Since you are able to program the Amp-hour of the battery and it can measure the Amp-hours in/out it is able to determine the state of charge of the battery.
 
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