Power BVM 712 from distro block?

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hedly asked Apr 6, '24

Power BVM 712 from distro block?

Hey all, first post here.

Can the BVM-712 Smart be powered from a distribution block or does it have to go right to the battery.

I have a 'house' battery in the back of my pickup.

From the positive pole, it goes to a 'primary' fuse/distribution block. Then off that, I run it to a secondary distribution/fuse block. The secondary block powers smaller stuff like lights and USB chargers.

I noticed that the power wire to the smart shunt has a 1A inline fuse. To clean up the installation, can i just take that wire, get rid of the 1A inline fuse, and plug it into my distribution block with a 1A fuse.

I knot the quick start guide shows it going right to the battery, but it sure would be cleaner if I can connect it to my distro block that's near the battery.

Thanks

hEdly

power

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pwfarnell commented · Apr 06 at 12:04 PM

Moved to questions and answers.

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Answer 1 · 2024-04-06T12:04:07Z

pwfarnell answered · Apr 06 at 12:04 PM

The BMV 712 current measurement and SOC calculation will work perfectly well if it is connected to the distribution block. The reported voltage will not be the exact battery voltage though as there will be some voltage drop between the battery and the distribution block at high loads. This probably will not matter if the wiring is suitable, but you need to be aware of it. One advantage of connecting it to the battery is if you share the voltage to your chargers then the chargers will run at a higher voltage to account for the voltage drop.

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Answer 2 · 2024-04-06T17:46:17Z

hedly answered · Apr 06 at 05:46 PM

Thanks @pwfarnell. The distance between the battery and the secondary distributor is only a few feet and fed with properly sized cables. So the lost should be minimal.

Not sure what you mean by that last sentence, though. I don't believe the DCDC charger has a way to take in the voltage reading from the monitor. I've been monitoring the alternator's output through a ScanGaugeII and it seems to stick around 14V. I have heard folks have to disable the 'smart' feature of their alternators, but so far it seem the draw to the DCDC and/or the battery are enough to keep the alternator running all the time.

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pwfarnell commented · Apr 06 at 06:18 PM

If you do not share your voltage via a Smart Network or Cerbo GX then there is no concern using the distro for the BMV power because the voltage is only used for monitoring, no control.

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