Victron BMV 602/601 Battery Monitor

[colin stone]

Just wondering if any one has one?

 

I have a query about the historical data readings - H2, H3 and H4 - which on mine read 0 and have never read anything else.

 

All other H readings are correct.

 

I think the 601 has the same historical data functions.

 

Colin Stone

KEI

[mrsmelly]

Just wondering if any one has one?

 

I have a query about the historical data readings - H2, H3 and H4 - which on mine read 0 and have never read anything else.

 

All other H readings are correct.

 

I think the 601 has the same historical data functions.

 

Colin Stone

KEI

Hi Colin

 

Ive got one. its a superb bit of kit and with a bit of use and experience it tells me oodles of things. I must confess I have never had need of or looked into the historical data functions? I didnt even know it had them Good luck with your quest.

 

Tim

[colin stone]

Tim,

 

Could you have a look at the Historical Data values for H2,3 and 4.

Press the Select button to enter and leave from the normal monitoring menu. And then scroll through with + and - .

 

Agree great bit of kit but it doesn't count amps back in that accurately with the default settings for It, Tcd and Vc.

In particular, It is too high at 4% of battery capacity. Eg for me this equates to 36 amps. When my charger or alternators have reduced to this current, the Consumed Energy will still be reading -40 Ah. CE and SoC then magically jump to 0 and 100% respectively. I changed It to 1%, 9 amps, and now it counts the Ah back into the battery with CE reducing to 0.

 

Colin

[KJT]

I also have one and find it very useful.

 

Like mrsmelly above, I wasn't aware of the historical function and certainly haven't had cause to use it.

 

Ken

[pelicanafloat]

My genes got all excited then, thought I'd go check out my monitor only to find it a '501' .... never mind, I'll look upon mine in the same vein as another vintage classic!

[mrsmelly]

Tim,

 

Could you have a look at the Historical Data values for H2,3 and 4.

Press the Select button to enter and leave from the normal monitoring menu. And then scroll through with + and - .

 

Agree great bit of kit but it doesn't count amps back in that accurately with the default settings for It, Tcd and Vc.

In particular, It is too high at 4% of battery capacity. Eg for me this equates to 36 amps. When my charger or alternators have reduced to this current, the Consumed Energy will still be reading -40 Ah. CE and SoC then magically jump to 0 and 100% respectively. I changed It to 1%, 9 amps, and now it counts the Ah back into the battery with CE reducing to 0.

 

Colin

Hi Colin

 

Just done that mate. H1 reads -65.7 ah H2/3/4/5 all read 0...............I have no idea what they mean but theres loads of other stuff happens when I press the buttons. Hope this helps you.

 

Cheers

 

Tim

[nicknorman]

H2 The depth of the last discharge. This is the largest value recorded for Ah consumed since the last synchronisation.

H3 The depth of the average discharge.

H4 The number of charge cycles. A charge cycle is counted every time the sate of charge drops below 65 %, then rises above 90 %

H5 The number of full discharges. A full discharge is counted when the state of charge reaches 0 %.

H6 The cumulative number of Amp hours drawn from the battery.

H7 The minimum battery voltage.

H8 The maximum battery voltage.

[nicknorman]

The Victron BMV is not bad, but the Mastervolt offerings are better. The former has manually set charge efficiency factor (CEF), with no clue in the manual as to how to calculate any different setting from the default of 95%, whereas the latter automatically calculates CEF according to the health of the batteries etc. This will surely make the MV offering inherently more accurate especially over the life of a battery from new, to old and tired.

[by'eck]

The Victron BMV is not bad, but the Mastervolt offerings are better. The former has manually set charge efficiency factor (CEF), with no clue in the manual as to how to calculate any different setting from the default of 95%, whereas the latter automatically calculates CEF according to the health of the batteries etc. This will surely make the MV offering inherently more accurate especially over the life of a battery from new, to old and tired.

 

Fair comment regarding the Mastervolt CEF calculation. I suspect some of the Mastervolt algorithms are used in the Smartguage or vice versa to calculate this. I believe you have both so which do you surmise is the most accurate?

 

BTW the Victron has default CEF of 90% and adjustable between 1 & 99% in a similar way to the other 27 parameters. I'll admit no further advice is given though.

[colin stone]

 

H2 The depth of the last discharge. This is the largest value recorded for Ah consumed since the last synchronisation.

H3 The depth of the average discharge.

H4 The number of charge cycles. A charge cycle is counted every time the sate of charge drops below 65 %, then rises above 90 %

H5 The number of full discharges. Full discharge is state of charge 0%.

 

Thanks. That I explains why I have 0 for H4 and H5 - my lowest discharge has been 85% so no charge cycles and no full discharges. Shame can't edit default value for H4.

 

Do you have a reading for H3 on your unit? And do you think it is linked to H4 and 5?

I would of thought that H3 is just an average of all H2 readings.

H1 and 2 and 6 to 16 all work fine.

 

Been in touch with Victron NL and they were unable to explain anything.

I think a software upgrade is needed to get H2 to work?

 

The manual says - p7 - that CEF is calculated automatically as the battery ages.

 

I also use a SmartGuage/Bank combo.

 

Colin Stone

KEI

[nicknorman]

The SG and MV monitors measure different things - one absolute SoC, the other the SoC relative to the declared (not actual) capacity. The latter is more accurate provided its kept in sync by fully recharging fairly often, and keeping the actual battery capacity up to date. On the other hand the former is much cheaper and easier to install, but not desperately accurate especially during charge. Therefore I think its difficult to says which is "better".

 

I don't have the MV BMV monitor, I have a MV Mastershunt which is a combined shunt and main fuse. The shunt is "intelligent" in that it contains the processing for the battery monitor, and just sends the "answers" down the digital Masterbus to a generic touchscreen display /control panel (Masterview) that I can also use to talk to the MV Combi. Its a bit of a "high end" solution but it works well.

[nicknorman]

The manual says - p7 - that CEF is calculated automatically as the battery ages.

 

I don't have a Victron BMV, I just downloaded the manual from the Victron site, although its for a 600S / 602S which might be a slightly different model from yours, or a different software state. Anyway, it doesn't have the reference you mention to automatic CEF -its a manually set parameter - but obviously your's does.

[by'eck]

 

I don't have a Victron BMV, I just downloaded the manual from the Victron site, although its for a 600S / 602S which might be a slightly different model from yours, or a different software state. Anyway, it doesn't have the reference you mention to automatic CEF -its a manually set parameter - but obviously your's does.

 

Just found the quote in page 7 myself (BMV 600 rev2 manual). Wasn't aware of this despite having one, since the CEF is manually adjustable. In this respect therefore it appears to be no different to the equivalent Masterlink BTM-III I assume you described since this also has an option to manually adjust the initial CEF.

 

One advantage of the latter is that with the main bank 1, CEF is automatically calculated and displayed (in the historical data menu) although it is fixed according to user setting for the other two banks its capable of monitoring.

 

BTW this is the complete historical data table for the BMV 600 & 602

 

H1 The depth of the deepest discharge. This is the largest value recorded for Ah consumed .

H2 The depth of the last discharge. This is the largest value recorded for Ah consumed since the last synchronisation.

H3 The depth of the average discharge.

H4 The number of charge cycles. A charge cycle is counted every time the state of charge drops below 65 %, then rises above 90 %

H5 The number of full discharges. A full discharge is counted when the state of charge reaches 0%.

H6 The cumulative number of Amp hours drawn from the battery.

H7 The minimum battery voltage.

H8 The maximum battery voltage.

H9 The number of days since the last full charge.

H10 The number of times the BMV has automatically synchronised.

H11 The number of low voltage alarms.

H12 The number of high voltage alarms.

H13* The number of low starter battery voltage alarms.

H14* The number of high starter battery voltage alarms.

H15* The minimum starter battery voltage.

H16* The maximum starter battery voltage.

* BMV-602S Only

Edited October 20, 2013 by by'eck

[nicknorman]

I guess it depends on exactly which Victron monitor you have at which software revision. My Mastershunt doesn't allow manual entry of CEF - it's automatically updated at each charge cycle. I'm not sure what use the manual setting of CEF would be, since how do you know what to set without extensive measurements, and even if you did set something, it would be overridden at the next charge cycle by the calculated value.

[colin stone]

 

Just found the quote in page 7 myself (BMV 600 rev2 manual). Wasn't aware of this despite having one, since the CEF is manually adjustable. In this respect therefore it appears to be no different to the equivalent Masterlink BTM-III I assume you described since this also has an option to manually adjust the initial CEF.

 

One advantage of the latter is that with the main bank 1, CEF is automatically calculated and displayed (in the historical data menu) although it is fixed according to user setting for the other two banks its capable of monitoring.

 

BTW this is the complete historical data table for the BMV 600 & 602

 

H1 The depth of the deepest discharge. This is the largest value recorded for Ah consumed .

H2 The depth of the last discharge. This is the largest value recorded for Ah consumed since the last synchronisation.

H3 The depth of the average discharge.

H4 The number of charge cycles. A charge cycle is counted every time the state of charge drops below 65 %, then rises above 90 %

H5 The number of full discharges. A full discharge is counted when the state of charge reaches 0%.

H6 The cumulative number of Amp hours drawn from the battery.

H7 The minimum battery voltage.

H8 The maximum battery voltage.

H9 The number of days since the last full charge.

H10 The number of times the BMV has automatically synchronised.

H11 The number of low voltage alarms.

H12 The number of high voltage alarms.

H13* The number of low starter battery voltage alarms.

H14* The number of high starter battery voltage alarms.

H15* The minimum starter battery voltage.

H16* The maximum starter battery voltage.

* BMV-602S Only

Thanks.

What readings does your unit have for H3 - H5?

 

Colin Stone

KEI

[by'eck]

Thanks.

What readings does your unit have for H3 - H5?

 

Colin Stone

KEI

 

Sorry Colin - have never found a use for the historical data so have never looked and unfortunately not on the boat at the moment. Similarly I have disabled the Ah counter display since I find the info of little use. Voltage, Current flow and SOC are all that I find useful.

 

FWIW H4 & H5 figures will remain zero if you don't discharge below 65% SOC, or to 0% SOC respectively.

 

I regularly check my monitors when on board so am my own historical data recorder

[colin stone]

OK. When you are next onboard, it would be interesting to know if you have an H3 reading that is not 0.

I think the unit is not calculating it?

[nicknorman]

FWIW H4 & H5 figures will remain zero if you don't discharge below 65% SOC, or to 0% SOC respectively.

 

I'm not sure that's what H5 means. On my MV gauge, the value is the equivalent number of full discharge cycles, eg 2 cycles between 100% and 50% would be one full cycle on the H5-equivalent. This gives an idea of battery longevity since battery life quoted by manufacturers is usually full cycles rather than cycles down to say 50%.

 

Mind you, just re-read the Victron description and now less sure of my point! But that is certainly how the MV one works.

Edited October 20, 2013 by nicknorman