Looking for advice on installing smart shunt and upgrading system

[Bfrenchsea]

Hello,
My first question is regarding the proper installation for a Victron Smart Shunt given what I would like to monitor. In short, I want to monitor a new LifeP04 battery bank regardless if loads are DC or AC through my inverter. I‘m still trying to fully understand if the smart shunt will monitor *everything* in and out. We have a week-end, off grid cabin in the central Cascade Mountains in western Washington.

My current system:
1,000w solar array (4 panels on roof) Solar World 255 Watt solar Panels
Outback FlexMax I-amp charge controller
Midnight solar e-panel (MidNite Solar E-panel MNE250STM-L Gray steel with 500 A Shunt, 250a breaker & 1-20 amp AC Din Rail Breaker for MS4024/ MS2812/MS2012) (NOTE: when this was originally installed I had a Magnum Inverter/Charger)
Outback VFXR 2812 Inverter Charger
Mate3S
Trimetric 2020
Honda EU 2200i generator
8 6v Trojan L-16s wired in parallel and series for a 12v system.

We run all our (led) lights, water pump, and starlink/network from a DC breaker box. We use the inverter for charging devices (phones, tablets, computers, etc.) and other random AC needs. When we first built the system 15+ years ago, 12v DC was a perfect, simple system for us. I’m working on slowly upgrading the system and my current project is changing our batteries to Li Time LifeP04 batteries. We will remove the FLA and install the new batteries that just arrived this week. I know I need to reconfigure the charge controller and inverter/charge. At the same time, I’d like to install the Victron smart charge that I bought so that I can accurately monitor the new batteries. With the current setup I can monitor the batteries with the Trimetric (while onsite) and OpticsRE while away. Although, I don’t think it monitors just the DC load when the inverter is not turned on. So my question is, I think, 3-part:

1. Will one smart shunt monitor the *whole* system (in/out, DC/AC)?
2. Do I need two shunts - one for DC and one for AC?
3. Can I replace the current shunt that is in the e-panel with the Victron shunt?
4. How should I wire all of this depending on answers to 1-3?

The next phase of the project will be to install the Cerbo GX and screen. I then want to add more solar panels (different location so that means another charge controller?) and probably upgrade the system to 48v, requiring a decision on a new inverter/charger.

Thanks for any help or guidance on my questions and open to thoughts on my plan for the future. Thanks!

 

[Crowz]

Hello,
My first question is regarding the proper installation for a Victron Smart Shunt given what I would like to monitor. In short, I want to monitor a new LifeP04 battery bank regardless if loads are DC or AC through my inverter. I‘m still trying to fully understand if the smart shunt will monitor *everything* in and out. We have a week-end, off grid cabin in the central Cascade Mountains in western Washington.

My current system:
1,000w solar array (4 panels on roof) Solar World 255 Watt solar Panels
Outback FlexMax I-amp charge controller
Midnight solar e-panel (MidNite Solar E-panel MNE250STM-L Gray steel with 500 A Shunt, 250a breaker & 1-20 amp AC Din Rail Breaker for MS4024/ MS2812/MS2012) (NOTE: when this was originally installed I had a Magnum Inverter/Charger)
Outback VFXR 2812 Inverter Charger
Mate3S
Trimetric 2020
Honda EU 2200i generator
8 6v Trojan L-16s wired in parallel and series for a 12v system.

We run all our (led) lights, water pump, and starlink/network from a DC breaker box. We use the inverter for charging devices (phones, tablets, computers, etc.) and other random AC needs. When we first built the system 15+ years ago, 12v DC was a perfect, simple system for us. I’m working on slowly upgrading the system and my current project is changing our batteries to Li Time LifeP04 batteries. We will remove the FLA and install the new batteries that just arrived this week. I know I need to reconfigure the charge controller and inverter/charge. At the same time, I’d like to install the Victron smart charge that I bought so that I can accurately monitor the new batteries. With the current setup I can monitor the batteries with the Trimetric (while onsite) and OpticsRE while away. Although, I don’t think it monitors just the DC load when the inverter is not turned on. So my question is, I think, 3-part:

1. Will one smart shunt monitor the *whole* system (in/out, DC/AC)?

1. Will one smart shunt monitor the *whole* system (in/out, DC/AC)?
No

2. Do I need two shunts - one for DC and one for AC?

Yes

3. Can I replace the current shunt that is in the e-panel with the Victron shunt?

Yes (see below)

4. How should I wire all of this depending on answers to 1-3?

The next phase of the project will be to install the Cerbo GX and screen. I then want to add more solar panels (different location so that means another charge controller?) and probably upgrade the system to 48v, requiring a decision on a new inverter/charger.

Thanks for any help or guidance on my questions and open to thoughts on my plan for the future. Thanks!

A shunt measures what goes across it. I use the victron smart shunts on my stuff.

Since it acts just like a water meter does on your houses plumbing if your on city water you use to see what flows thru that connection.

So to measure the DC going to and from your battery requires a shunt in that line. It goes on the negative cable.

AC works the same way but you can't use the victron shunt for that. On the AC side you normally use the clamp on type to handle that.

I'm going to guess you will want a victron product too for the AC measuring but I'm not familiar with with their products so I can't recommend a particular product from them to buy. Maybe someone will chime in that knows what victron offers for that.


This is why you need two shunts. One for AC and a separate one for DC.

 

[Bfrenchsea]

Thank you, Crowz! I have a couple follow up questions. And I’m not sure these are the right questions so thanks for your patience! Do I want to measure the input and output of AC and DC loads separately? I was thinking I only really cared about total DC in and total DC out to monitor the overall state of my battery bank. Do most set ups have two shunts?

 

[Crowz]

Well that depends. Since I have solar assistant running on my all in one unit I like to see all of that info since its available and cool to monitor.

With the equipment you have it still would be useful to know both but the DC side is the most important in my opinion since that lets you know your state of charge and how much is being pulled amps wise from the batteries and if the batteries are actually being charged and how well they are being charged.

The AC info just lets you know if your staying within your capacity for the most part I would imagine.

Both is nice but DC is a must to me.

Most systems that don't have internal monitoring just worry about the DC side and one shunt.

 

[Bfrenchsea]

Thanks, Crowz! That’s helpful. Given this, I think my working plan (aka current plan but could change) is to replace the existing shunt in the e-panel with the Victron shunt to monitor the DC side. Later, I can look at adding something else to monitor just the AC.