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stefprez asked

SmartShunt DC Meter for Bidirectional Inverter/Charger

Hello! If I were to connect a SmartShunt in DC Meter mode to monitor a bidirectional inverter/charger, which DC meter mode would be the best to select? I want to be able to see both when my inverter is drawing power from my battery as well as how much power is going into my battery when I am plugged into shore power and am charging via the same inverter/charger. Is this possible?

chargerSmartShuntinverter current draw
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bradley-thompson avatar image
bradley-thompson answered ·

If it were me, I would probably go with "inverter" simply because I don't think monitoring current from the AC charger is all that useful. You should still be able to see the current coming in to the battery, but I imagine that unless you have a specific use-case that requires your attention to it, you will be far less concerned about the current when you are connected to shore power.

The sleek VRM diagram won't make a ton of sense when connected to shore power but like I said, you won't be as concerned about it. If you are looking for an ESS type setup, then I think you would have to get a Victron Multi unit in order to have it monitor and document everything properly.

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stefprez avatar image stefprez commented ·
That's a great point. I definitely agree and think setting the mode to "Inverter" is the most sensible. Especially since I would still have a separate SmartShunt in Battery Monitoring mode, as you mentioned, I'll see the incoming current from the charger there as well. I am curious if it will still show power coming from the Inverter, but the little graphical view is less critical overall. Thanks for your input!
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bradley-thompson avatar image bradley-thompson stefprez commented ·
Yes - the current will look like its coming from the inverter when you are charging because, in a way, it is. If it makes you feel any better, I have a shunt-DC Meter connected to my 12v load center which is also where my charger connects. They can't be easily separated at this point (maybe I'll decide to run new wires in the future). When I'm connected and charging, it looks like my power is coming from the "DC System" and it reads negative which is weird but per the Victron design. When I'm not connected, everything looks as you would expect.
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