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Celestialsailor · 28-11-2016, 21:29

My battery volt meter has gone out and I have obtained a Xantrex Link 10 battery monitor. In the instructions it shows the 500 amp shunt wired to the negative (black) wire, near the battery. It does not state how close to the battery it needs to be. Directly opposite to my triple house batteries on the port side of the boat is my breaker panel. I have a negative (black) buss there fed with a #4 wire. Can I wire the shunt in there? It's about 10 ft. away.

Thumbs Up · 29-11-2016, 00:04

yes you can but you need to twist the pair of wires, I can't remember why though. I have much longer runs than that on my shunts. I ended up using some thin gauge solid strand wire that was left on my boat (not ideal but works fine). Anyway I chucked the two wires in my drill (attach the other ends to something), stretch them tight and spin. (I also can't remember if they need to be color coded but mine are.

Celestialsailor · 29-11-2016, 00:42

I'm hip to the twisted wires. It is a RF noise reduction trick. I just wanted to know if it was ok to put the shunt behind the breaker panel.
Anyone else have any input?

smac999 · 29-11-2016, 01:10

it can be any distance to the battery but it must be on a single ground wire leaving the battery. with no other ground wires between the shunt and house bank. which is why it's normally right next to the battery. so ground wires can then split off to where they need to.

if you are putting it at the DC panel on the panel feed ground it's likely not the only ground that has left that battery.

Island Time O25 · 29-11-2016, 01:40

I also have Link 10 installed by PO. It seems to be working fine. My question is does it show the combined info for the total battery bank or only for the battery from which the ground wire comes out of. And if latter do I need a separate unit for each battery? Btw I'm using 6 6v Trojans 105s wired as 3 12v. Tnx.

My shunt is about a foot or less away from the battery negative post.

jeannicolas · 29-11-2016, 04:22

you must have easy access to the two small fuses,to check and to reset(frequently)

Celestialsailor · 29-11-2016, 08:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by smac999

it can be any distance to the battery but it must be on a single ground wire leaving the battery. with no other ground wires between the shunt and house bank. which is why it's normally right next to the battery. so ground wires can then split off to where they need to.

if you are putting it at the DC panel on the panel feed ground it's likely not the only ground that has left that battery.

Thanx smac. This is the information I was looking for. Presently all my ground wires (from house and starting) go to a common insulated post. So the ground wire coming from my 3 house batteries would be interrupted before the common post and the shunt placed there. Is this correct?

chris95040 · 29-11-2016, 08:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by Celestialsailor

Thanx smac. This is the information I was looking for. Presently all my ground wires (from house and starting) go to a common insulated post. So the ground wire coming from my 3 house batteries would be interrupted before the common post and the shunt placed there. Is this correct?

That sounds correct to me.

Pay special attention to that twisted pair wire. The "signal" coming off that shunt is the teeeeeeny tiny voltage across it's teeeeny tiny resistance. Do exactly what Xantrex says.

(I had a Link 10 that I could never get working as well as other people's. But I don't know what life it led before it got to me.)

smac999 · 01-12-2016, 00:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by Island Time O25

I also have Link 10 installed by PO. It seems to be working fine. My question is does it show the combined info for the total battery bank or only for the battery from which the ground wire comes out of. And if latter do I need a separate unit for each battery? Btw I'm using 6 6v Trojans 105s wired as 3 12v. Tnx.

My shunt is about a foot or less away from the battery negative post.

that is one battery bank. the shunt should be on the single common ground that leaves the whole bank. the bank itself will have neg jumper wires.

smac999 · 01-12-2016, 00:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by Celestialsailor

Thanx smac. This is the information I was looking for. Presently all my ground wires (from house and starting) go to a common insulated post. So the ground wire coming from my 3 house batteries would be interrupted before the common post and the shunt placed there. Is this correct?

yes, then all current going into / out of the house bank is seen / measured by the shunt.