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jrnorman avatar image
jrnorman asked

How to read 'accuracy' in battery monitor specifications

I am relearning how to think about 'range' for my boat recently converted to electric drive. I have noted that State of Charge is close to useless the way I am using it ATM. I have been told that this is because I am leaving the battery connected when the boat is idle and the small current draw of the circuits is not measured accurately (shown by the battery monitor as 16W with a 48V system => 0.333A). The battery bank has a capacity of 200Ah.

The specification sheet at https://www.victronenergy.com/upload/documents/Datasheet-BMV-700-series-EN.pdf says the current measurement accuracy of the 500A shunt is +/- 0.4% and the State of Charge accuracy is +/- 0.1%. But I have seen at least one post her suggesting that +/- 0.4% is relative to the shunt capacity, i.e. +/- 2A. That doesn't seem right because even if I'm discharging the bank at 5kW or 100A over 2 hours (0.5C), that's still only +/- 2% of the measured current and hardly what I would call 'a highly accurate monitor'

In my naive mind. 0.333A for a day is 8Ah. The question is has my battery discharged somewhere between 8.032 and 7.968 Ah or has it discharged somewhere up to 14 Ah a day which seems to match my recharge data? In other words, is there data for current measurement accuracy at different rates of current consumption? Failing that, what is the current consumption rate (e.g. 0.2C) at which 0.4% is determined?

BMV Battery Monitor
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2 Answers
klim8skeptic avatar image
klim8skeptic answered ·

@jrnorman I have been told that this is because I am leaving the battery connected when the boat is idle and the small current draw of the circuits is not measured accurately (shown by the battery monitor as 16W with a 48V system => 0.333A).

In the battery settings of your Smart Shunt (?) you have the option to set the "current threshold" down to 0.1A. Ie the shunt will measure currents down to 0.1A and properly calculate the Soc.

Now this requires that all current goes through the shunt for it to be measured, And that no loads or controls be directly connected to the battery negative.

Also once connected and live, there is the option to ensure that when there is no current being drawn, you can perform a "Zero current calibration" to offset any minor current reading error to zero.

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@jrnorman Of course, this also assumes that you have also correctly programmed the settings to suit your battery type.

Post pic of your Smart Shunts battery settings.

Also the longer between full charge and sync, the less accurate the Soc will be.

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jrnorman answered ·

Thank you for replying so quickly. I have just checked and I have the current threshold set at 0.1A already. I will try the 'zero current calibration' and see what current is measured after I switch back on.

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