I’m planning to get the Victron Smart Battery Shunt in order to monitor my Epoch lithium battery. Do I need to also purchase the VE.Direct Smart Dongle in order for it to connect to the cell phone app? Or will it connect without it?
I’m also getting the 150/35 MPPT smart controller. I’m assuming that will connect to the app on my phone or do I need the VE.Bus Dongle to do that?
All the descriptions of these products eludes that they connect to the phone app and don’t clearly say if I need to purchase these dongles to do so. Maybe they do connect without the dongles but the dongles provide additional features/benefits…? If that’s the case, what are these additional benefits? Any help is appreciated.
The Epoch battery already has Bluetooth and its own built-in shunt, so you don’t need the Victron Smart Battery Shunt that’s mainly intended for Victron batteries or systems without built-in monitoring.
Instead, I’d suggest getting a GX device like a Cerbo GX. You can connect the Epoch battery and your 150/35 MPPT to the GX device, and then monitor everything through the Victron app or VRM portal.
That setup gives you full system integration and monitoring without needing the VE.Direct or VE.Bus dongles. The dongles are mostly for adding Bluetooth to older, non-smart Victron gear.
@owenb79 has given a good reply re the Epoch batteries. To answer your specific question, the SmartShunt and SmartSolar have inbuilt Bluetooth so do not need the VE Direct dongle.
Some additional details for you… I do not do much boondocking, maybe 2-3 times a year max. My AGM batteries went bad on my last trip so I decided to replace with lithium, which is why this all came up. I really don’t want to break the bank and go all out on the upgrade so I got the less expensive Eco Series Epoch which does not have Bluetooth and the reason I need the shunt. Surprisingly, the Eco series batteries get more cycles and have better discharge/charge numbers than the Essential series. It doesn’t have heating but I’m in CA so I really don’t need it.
So, with that said, I think I can monitor the critical stuff with the Smartshunt and SmartSolar controller for now and I’ve left myself open to the Cerbo GX which I will have to learn more about.
If you want a budget setup, you can put Venus OS on a RPi and use Ve-direct to USB cable to connect to the PI. If you dont need relays and automation, just battery status and solar production.
Sorry, I had not heard of the Eco series. They have a 100ah and 300ah in that series. The max discharge of the BMS is very high make sure you have a battery fuse to protect the cable. The 300ah can do over 700A, which is very high for a 250A BMS.
Well, now you got me worried that i bought the wrong battery! ha ha
I did get the 314W. I’m going from two 6V 210Ah AGM’s to the Epoch Eco 12V 314Ah. Are you saying it’s the wrong choice? There is a fuse on the battery cable but is there something else I need to make this work?
If you can’t tell, I’m learning as I go here. I’m doing a ton of research but I’m worried I’m going to miss something so I appreciate your replies.
No, it’s a good battery. Overcurrent protection could be extremely high if they are allowing 750A for 5 secs. It could be 1000A will have to ask. You might need a T-class fuse to break that current. I know the premium ones have built-in. Epoc have very good support.
If you intend to use it below the rated max current draw of 250A and have a fast fuse in case you short-circuit, the 500A will be fine. I don’t think people design to the max short-circuit current of their battery. A 100AH lead-acid battery can do 1000-2000A in short circuit.