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Man, I wish I found these forums a long time ago. So much good info here. Thank you all for the responses. Seems Like I have a little more research to do before I finally start putting everything together, but I think I have concluded that BMS is better than no BMS. @Dzl @JoeHam I will look...

I want a quick and convenient way to cut off all devices that draw power from the battery, before I put the generator in long term storage. The charge controller pulls a small amount of power from the battery to run the bluetooth so just turning off charging would not keep it from draining a...

Answering my own question to help out anyone else that is confused by this. I emailed overkill and he basically told me it doesnt matter which post you connect to (positive or negative) as long as it is essentially 1 wire per bus bar.

I really appreciate everyone's responses. Thank you. A little more background on the question I asked: I am building a mobile generator for my truck. I want the ability to hit a button and shut down everything that consumes any power (charge controller will use a small amount to run the...

Thanks, @snoobler. Can you help me understand what my charger will be doing with these settings? Does this mean my charge controller will bulk charge to 13.4v, then go into absorption for 4 hours, before going into float? Then my understanding is once my battery discharges to 13.2v (0.1v below...

@snoobler Very interested in the active balancer you posted. Do you know what voltage difference will cause the balancer to start balancing? I have tried some of the cheaper $10 boards from eBay but they dont actually do anything until a 100-200 millivolt difference is detected, which seems...

My original idea was to use a delay relay. The switch connects the charge controller to the battery, and also triggers the delay relay. Then the delay relay, after maybe 10-15 seconds, connects the PV to the charge controller. I figure this would give the charge controller adequate time to...

The full manual on their website shows the 4th wire connected to the fourth cell negative (instead of 3rd cell positive), which is adding some additional confusion for me. Can someone more technical than me explain why they would do it this way?

Thanks! Maybe I'll give them a call if I decide to go this route. Always surprised by how little documentation is available for these BMS and balance boards. To clarify my question a bit; my understanding is that these balancers remain in a low power standby mode until a certain threshold is...

Neat! Thanks again @snoobler!

Thanks again @snoobler. I appreciate your help. @Dzl good question. Keep in mind I am a total newb here but for me, it boiled down to: 1) I wanted greater control. Mainly, I wanted to only use the battery between 10% and 90% of full charge for maximum longevity. I was unable to find a BMS...

Thanks @Master Dalor . That is an interesting idea and will certainly keep it in my mental toolbox for future projects. I am sure others looking to do this with a non Victron charge controller would benefit from this information too.

I have a Victron SmartSolar MPPT 100/20 Charge Controller. Can I place a switch between the charge controller's positive output and the positive terminal of the battery? The solar panels would always be connected to the charge controller and I would use the switch to enable or disable charging...

I know Will recommends a charge profile on the sticky thread but I dont really understand the effect those parameters have on the behavior of the charger. I have read the manual, and I have tried several google and youtube searches but am still pretty confused. Basically, I am building a 12v...

I don't have a problem with doing that but can I use a standard automotive relay for that? I have two 100w panels that are connected in series so they'll be pushing over 60 volts (just a guess) in full sunlight.

I am not familiar with ve.direct. I will look into that.