Magnum MS2812 AGS / Monitor

[Dennis_K]

Originally Posted by theBeav

Yeah. I can see it. But, I cant see where it connects at the other end. It goes up about two inches, and disappears above the inverter. I expect that the easiest thing to do is to mount the shunt just in front of the inverter, and run a short piece of 4 gauge wire back to the inverter negative.

FYI the owners manual states "Info: Install the shunt as close to the battery bank as practical. This helps prevent voltage drop and mistakenly placing a load
between the shunt and the battery."

[hypoxia]

Originally Posted by theBeav

YI expect that the easiest thing to do is to mount the shunt just in front of the inverter, and run a short piece of 4 gauge wire back to the inverter negative.

That's what I plan to do, take the negative cable off of the inverter and connect it to the shunt and then take a short piece of 4/0 wire and connect it from the shunt to the inverter negative. I think that's what Vito explained.

I wonder which side of the shunt to connect the solar to?

[Gdawgs]

Originally Posted by hypoxia

That's what I plan to do, take the negative cable off of the inverter and connect it to the shunt and then take a short piece of 4/0 wire and connect it from the shunt to the inverter negative. I think that's what Vito explained.

I wonder which side of the shunt to connect the solar to?

That's exactly what I did. Installed it last week. Had to use #2/0 two foot cable back to the inverter. Everything is within 2 feet of the inverter. Works great and I really like knowing what's going on with the 8 AGM batteries I have.

[theBeav]

Originally Posted by hypoxia

That's what I plan to do, take the negative cable off of the inverter and connect it to the shunt and then take a short piece of 4/0 wire and connect it from the shunt to the inverter negative. I think that's what Vito explained.

I wonder which side of the shunt to connect the solar to?

Isn't the solar already coming into the inverter/charger at some place? The shunt should only need to go between the inverter/charger and the batteries.

[theBeav]

Originally Posted by Dennis_K

FYI the owners manual states "Info: Install the shunt as close to the battery bank as practical. This helps prevent voltage drop and mistakenly placing a load
between the shunt and the battery."

Thanks Dennis. My problem is being able to get the monitor wires from the shunt / monitor back to the inverter network. I have no way to get wires from the battery box to the inverter. At least not without allot of effort.

[vito.a]

Originally Posted by theBeav

Thanks Dennis. My problem is being able to get the monitor wires from the shunt / monitor back to the inverter network. I have no way to get wires from the battery box to the inverter. At least not without allot of effort.

The shunt and the BMK go on the main battery ground in the basement compartment right near the inverter, not the battery box.
Monaco grounds the house batteries on the basement frame rail next to the inverter.
Just purchase a 10" 4/0 ground cable with 3/8" lugs on both ends. Super easy.
If this sounds difficult, send me your phone number in PM and we can discuss.

[nodine]

Originally Posted by theBeav

Isn't the solar already coming into the inverter/charger at some place? The shunt should only need to go between the inverter/charger and the batteries.

You want the shunt to be in the main ground cable from the house batteries to the motorhome ground system. The main idea is to monitor what is going on with current input or output to the house battery system. That is more than the inverter/charger. It is desirable to know what any load is taking from the batteries or what any charge source is adding to the batteries. This is best accomplished by monitoring the current that flows out of the batteries or into the batteries at the main ground connection.

Bob

[BillJinOR]

The shunt has no reason it can't go in the battery box. It shouldn't be in wet weather exposed but as several photos have shown even mounting it on the top of the batteries is possible. Most battery Bays are "open" to the outside air ,but protected
Since you have a issue with routing the sense wires from the Battery tray , putting it in your inverter bay would work.
The Big 'if' is provided the One and ONLY wire from the negative terminal runs to that area. All loads and Charge sources Must be on the other side of the shunt. That means solar etc. The idea is to Track ALL sources of input and output not just the inverter. If that's what you see .. Go for it at the ground lug.

[hypoxia]

I traced the ground wires in my 2007 Signature.

Two battery banks of 4 batteries; each has a ground wire plus the inverter ground wire. The three ground wires all converge at the front of the forward battery compartment which is right behind the tag axle curbside. From there they have a cable that goes directly to the chassis frame.

The inverter is mounted about 6' forward of the drive axle and its ground runs from there all the way back to the engine compartment and then forward to the grounding point. All told it must be at least a 20' run.

It will be easy to mount the shunt on the frame rail beside the ground wire connection. The sense module will have to go in a weather tight box in the battery compartment since it can't be more than 5' from the shunt.

[hypoxia]

Originally Posted by vito.a

Monaco grounds the house batteries on the basement frame rail next to the inverter.

As I posted, mine runs about 20' to the ground. That doesn't seem reasonable so I'll cut that off beside the inverter and ground it there with about a 2' run like Monaco should have done. That should eliminate some line loss. I can pull the extra 18' out and use it for another project.

We're dry camping this week which is great timing to check out the operation of the new BMK.

[Gdawgs]

Originally Posted by vito.a

The shunt and the BMK go on the main battery ground in the basement compartment right near the inverter, not the battery box.
Monaco grounds the house batteries on the basement frame rail next to the inverter.
Just purchase a 10" 4/0 ground cable with 3/8" lugs on both ends. Super easy.
If this sounds difficult, send me your phone number in PM and we can discuss.

I pulled the ground from the battery side of the shunt and positive from the inverter. As Vito mentioned Monaco grounds very close to the inverter. Super easy install. My batteries are behind the tag and the inverter is in the first storage bay in front of the drive axle. All functions work as they should and provide much needed information.