Victron Energy Battery Monitor model 600s HELP!!

[trebby91]

Hi.

I purchased a Victron Energy Battery Monitor model 600s I do not understand the instructions on how to set it up as I do not have a degree in quantum electronics, which I am sure you need to understand the manual!

 

From what I have read in the manual, as with most electronic gadgets it does lots of things that nobody really needs. All I want it to do is show is show the current charge remaining in the batteries, that’s all .

I do not need the other four thousand plus functions.

 

My battery bank is made up of six traction batteries giving a total of 535 AH at 12 volt

Can anybody tell me what I have to do to set it up without the jargon?

 

IN OTHER WORDS, WHICH BUTTONS DO I PRESS?

 

I am using a Sterling inverter/battery charger to charge the batteries, sometimes on shore power, sometimes on a generator.

The monitor shows fully charged after about an hour but the inverter/ charger is still charging and does not stop charging for about another hour after the 100% is shown on the meter.

 

When we were still using video records I had to ask the grandson to set it up!!

So please keep it simple for a simple mind!

Thanks, Brian.

 

[by'eck]

It should work out of the box with default settings to display voltage and current in/out of batteries. This assumes you have inserted the shunt the correct way around in the negative battery lead and connected the cable from it to display which just involves plugging in RJ12 connectors each end.

 

The only really important setting in the setup menu is the battery bank capacity, displayed as Cb, in order the batteries state-of-charge percentage (SOC) is displayed correctly with some degree of accuracy. I'm not going to repeat from the manual how to change settings but will say you enter and leave the menu by holding the setup button for three seconds. You need to change the Cb setting from the default 200 to 535.

 

The many other user adjustable parameters could generally left as default without loosing to much accuracy in the SOC readings you seem to be seeking.

 

Once out of the setup menu and in the normal working mode, the middle buttons labelled + and - cycle through battery volts, current in/out (latter with a minus sign), SOC etc. In fact I removed the others so just the three are displayed. Fully charging the batteries regularly will ensure the SOC setting remains synchronised.

 

Since I caught myself out with this setting, it may be worth mentioning there is an adjustable lockout to stop you accidentally loosing your custom settings, by inhibiting any changes. This is displayed as Lock in the setup menu. It has possible values of Yes (lock on) or No (lock off) but is fortunately set to No by default.

[Justme]

All I want it to do is show is show the current charge remaining in the batteries, that’s all .

 

 

 

 

Then you might be in for a disappointment.

 

Your battery bank might have held 535ah when new but it definitely wont hold that now.

 

So any reading it gives will be based on flawed information.

[pelicanafloat]

 

 

Then you might be in for a disappointment.

 

Your battery bank might have held 535ah when new but it definitely wont hold that now.

 

So any reading it gives will be based on flawed information.

 

Now that I call pressing the wrong button!

 

The info is only flawed if taken as read. But allowing for experience, and the occasional resetting, the value will give a reasonabe guide to the state of the batteries. And the OP does include quite a generous indication of external electrical input, and we don't know how old the batteries are ... so all in all, by'eck's post spot on (if I may be so allowed to say)

[bottle]

Yes Byeck is right but so is Justme.

 

Follow By'ecks instructions but be aware that over time as your batteries age the SOC reading will go out of sync with the actual battery capacity, as Justme stated.

[mark99]

With mine, I tend to look at the victron charger/invertor and when that indicates "battery full" I reset the SOC on the battery monitor to 100% by pressing the outer buttons for three seconds.

 

Often the battery indicator is flashing 100% full a long time eg 4 hours once before the victron light indicates "battery full". I think this is just a reflection of variable pattern of battery use, temperature etc and is normal/expected.

Edited September 26, 2013 by mark99

[by'eck]

 

 

Then you might be in for a disappointment.

 

Your battery bank might have held 535ah when new but it definitely wont hold that now.

 

So any reading it gives will be based on flawed information.

 

I quite agree and having two BMV 600's have already tweaked the battery capacity on them after only a year of use. Maybe Victron should introduce another user adjustable field in their setting menu: Cbd - rate of degradation of capacity (% per anum)

 

That would lead to requiring another though: Nru - how much of a numpty are you when re-charging your batteries (integer 1..9)

[trebby91]

Thanks for the advice.

I reset it to the defaults then set the “SOC” to 535AH when the batteries were fully charged.

Is there anything else I need to alter?

Edited September 27, 2013 by trebby91

[nb Innisfree]

We have a Victron 501 alongside a Smartgauge and even with 8-10 hours daily charge they never agree with each other over SoC percentage readings.

 

Shifting sands.

[by'eck]

Thanks for the advice.

I reset it to the defaults then set the “SOC” to 535AH when the batteries were fully charged.

Is there anything else I need to alter?

 

The SOC is a non adjustable percentage reading. Its the field with the display designate Cb (for battery capacity) in the settings you need to adjust. Please ignore this comment if that is what you in fact did.

 

Regarding your actual battery capacity, as mentioned this does slowly reduce even with batteries treated correctly and fully charged regularly. If they are only a year old or less I would use the full spec value of 535 Ah (assuming this is a 20 hour rating) when setting battery capacity. You may wish to temper this with a 5-10% reduction for every extra year since new. Note its entirely normal for battery capacity to reduce with age although at a lower rate with true deep cycle/traction batteries.

 

For the record, the standing battery voltage when they haven't been charged or discharged for at least 30 minutes should show close to 12.2 volts when they are at 50% SOC. It may be worth using that fact to adjust the battery capacity to match.

 

For example if when batteries have been fully charged and are showing a standing 12.7 volts at least and SOC displays as 100%, you then use them normally, but find that when SOC is down to 50 % the standing battery voltage is only 12.1 volts, try reducing the battery capacity setting by 10%. Eventually they should display 12.2 volts after standing whilst also showing SOC at 50%.

 

Once this is achieved the monitor is calibrated for the current battery capacity. There are many other parameters to suit individual usage including one called Peukert exponent, designate PC, with possible values 1..1.5. This compensates for the batteries natural inefficiency in that more amp hours have to be put back in them to achieve fully charged state than that taken out. A value of 1 would indicate a theoretical perfect battery. The default is 1.25 but increasing this to 1.3 may give more honest SOC readings for your particular batteries.

Edited September 28, 2013 by by'eck

[smileypete]

Sounds like the OP could do with a Smartguage...

 

cheers, Pete.

~smpt~