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20-03-2021, 11:44
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#1
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Marine Service Provider
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Chessapeake
Boat: Island Spirit 401 Catamaran
Posts: 543
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Battery Monitor Comparison - Victron BMV712 vs Balmar SG200
Does anyone have experience with both the Victron BMV712 and Balmar SG200? I have currently have the Balmar SG200 but need to buy a second one for a different installation.
For me, the key measurement is the State of Charge (SOC) and so I want to know if the Victron can provide the same measurement as accurately as the Balmar. A buddy of mine has the Victron but I couldn't determine if it measures the same attribute or as well, in part, because he didn't have a load on his batteries.
I know the Victron is a little less expensive but if can't measure the SOC accurately then it won't do what I need. I've also used the Blues Seas monitor but that doesn't does provide an SOC and I might as well just have a multimeter.
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20-03-2021, 11:52
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#2
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Registered User
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: canada
Posts: 4,642
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Re: Battery Monitor Comparison - Victron BMV712 vs Balmar SG200
if will measure the SOC. as long as the battery capacity is entered correctly. which means you need to know the actual capacity of the batteries. which may not be what is written on them. because they degrade over time.
IE you have a brand new 100ah battery. you draw 50ah out of it. the meter shows 50% and it's correct.
8 years later that 100ah battery only has a capicity of 50ah. you draw 50ah out of it and the meter shows 50% but it's really 0%. you need to manually adjust the meter capacity from 100ah to 50ah. (well at that point you need new battery)
where as the balmar also gives SOH. which tells you of the degrade. and I think does the math for you. so in the above I think the balmar would show 0% SOC (and 50% soh) without user input. but I'm not 100% sure on that.
I have used many vitrons and xantrax meters but very little use of the balmar
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20-03-2021, 11:59
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#3
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Marine Service Provider
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Chessapeake
Boat: Island Spirit 401 Catamaran
Posts: 543
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Re: Battery Monitor Comparison - Victron BMV712 vs Balmar SG200
Interesting - I will check on whether Balmar uses the SOH when calculating SOC. That could be a significant advantaged.
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20-03-2021, 12:33
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#4
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Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Florida east coast
Boat: 1981 Endeavour 32
Posts: 50
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Re: Battery Monitor Comparison - Victron BMV712 vs Balmar SG200
FWIW - in my opinion a lot depends on what type of batteries you have and what info you really need.
For reference, I have FLA golf cart batteries and the original SmartGauge, which I much prefer to the new versions because of the simple two-wire installation and no need for a shunt. And, it has provided what I feel to be really accurate SOC info on my house batts that are primarily charged by solar and alternator power.
I used to have a Victron meter that needed to have the battery capacity programmed in, and required the use of a shunt. All well and good when you know how to test or guess the capacity and you’ve got everything wired exactly just so.
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20-03-2021, 13:25
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#5
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Registered User
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: canada
Posts: 4,642
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Re: Battery Monitor Comparison - Victron BMV712 vs Balmar SG200
Quote:
Originally Posted by bigdogandy
FWIW - in my opinion a lot depends on what type of batteries you have and what info you really need.
For reference, I have FLA golf cart batteries and the original SmartGauge, which I much prefer to the new versions because of the simple two-wire installation and no need for a shunt. And, it has provided what I feel to be really accurate SOC info on my house batts that are primarily charged by solar and alternator power.
I used to have a Victron meter that needed to have the battery capacity programmed in, and required the use of a shunt. All well and good when you know how to test or guess the capacity and you’ve got everything wired exactly just so.
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the first smart gauge was less usefull. the SOC does not work while charging. so when you fire up the engine for a hour of charging you have no idea when to shut the engine off. as the SOC does not work. nor do you have a amp reading to show the alternator is working. with amps you can tell if the battery is getting full or not as well.
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20-03-2021, 14:02
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#6
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Registered User
Join Date: Dec 2020
Posts: 750
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Re: Battery Monitor Comparison - Victron BMV712 vs Balmar SG200
My expereince with the Balmar gauge was less than super. It worked as advertised for a while, but then seemed to ALWAYS report my batteries as being at 100% health. This seemed impossible, but the tech support reassured me that I had good batteries and I should believe the numbers.
Stupid me. By not paying attention to other more subtle signs of trouble, I drove a good battery set into the ground when the "Smart" Gauge should have been, but was not, showing me the issue, and given me time to fix it.
I sold it, and went back to the Victron BMV gauge which now has the advantage it full integrates into my much more sophisticated monitoring system. It's a better solution for a sophisticated user who actually understands the limitations of the usual SOC measurements.
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21-03-2021, 01:52
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#7
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Marine Service Provider
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Chessapeake
Boat: Island Spirit 401 Catamaran
Posts: 543
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Re: Battery Monitor Comparison - Victron BMV712 vs Balmar SG200
Quote:
Originally Posted by BillKny
Stupid me. By not paying attention to other more subtle signs of trouble, I drove a good battery set into the ground when the "Smart" Gauge should have been, but was not, showing me the issue, and given me time to fix it.
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Exactly what issue was it not showing?
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21-03-2021, 09:24
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#8
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Registered User
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Friendswood, Texas
Boat: Westsail, 32, CAN DO
Posts: 18
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Re: Battery Monitor Comparison - Victron BMV712 vs Balmar SG200
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ostinato
Interesting - I will check on whether Balmar uses the SOH when calculating SOC. That could be a significant advantaged.
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I can't comment on the Victron but https://www.marinehowto.com
has done a great job of evaluating the Balmar SG200 here:
https://marinehowto.com/balmar-sg200...ttery-monitor/
I would be very interested if anyone can provide this kind of information on the Victron.
Good luck!
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21-03-2021, 09:31
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#9
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Registered User
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Friendswood, Texas
Boat: Westsail, 32, CAN DO
Posts: 18
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Re: Battery Monitor Comparison - Victron BMV712 vs Balmar SG200
Amazon has the Victron for sale and you can read the user comments here:
https://www.amazon.com/Victron-Energ...ustomerReviews
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21-03-2021, 13:17
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#10
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Registered User
Join Date: Oct 2019
Location: Frederick, MD
Boat: Beneteau Oceanis 40
Posts: 251
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Re: Battery Monitor Comparison - Victron BMV712 vs Balmar SG200
The Balmar SG200 is supposed to accurately report SOC as the batteries age, automatically. This should be the holy grail in battery monitoring.
I have a Balmar SG200 installation with three shunts and the Bluetooth gateway which they said would be necessary to sort out the system.
The SG200 has not worked since day one. It always looses the shunts, displaying only the smart gage with nothing connected to it. We've been all through the wiring, software updates, etc.
Balmar does not respond to emails. I had been under the impression that Balmar was a good company. Based on my experience I wouldn't recommend purchasing anything from them.
Reporting the SOC as the batteries age is truly a terrific feature. But first the system has to actually work and I have not seen that happen.
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21-03-2021, 14:19
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#11
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Registered User
Join Date: Dec 2020
Posts: 750
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Re: Battery Monitor Comparison - Victron BMV712 vs Balmar SG200
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ostinato
Exactly what issue was it not showing?
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What it should have been telling me was that the SOH was declining. It did not. It was stuck at 100% SOH. Every day, every charge cycle 100%. I called tech service and said this can't be right. Oh, no, they say, it has to be right.
In the meantime one battery developed an internal short, and damaged the whole bank before the damage was obvious. If it had correctly showed the SOH declining, I would have been on a hunt for the problem and fixed it before the whole bank was trashed.
I trusted the "magic" instrument that was supposed to keep exactly this scenario from happening. Even when I saw that the data was suspicious, I didn't look deeper. Shame on me. I know better than to trust magic.
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21-03-2021, 14:35
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#12
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Registered User
Join Date: Nov 2015
Location: Ireland
Posts: 467
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Re: Battery Monitor Comparison - Victron BMV712 vs Balmar SG200
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22-03-2021, 15:02
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#13
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Registered User
Join Date: Dec 2014
Posts: 311
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Re: Battery Monitor Comparison - Victron BMV712 vs Balmar SG200
I was hoping this thread would generate a bit more feedback. Adding a quality battery monitoring gauge is one of my next projects. The Victron has a solid reputation, but I’m very interested in the SOH reading that the Balmar reportedly can give. Otherwise you’re just guessing at what your 100% really means. Is my 4 year old 100a battery capable of 90 amps... or 70? There’s no set answer because every battery’s SOH is dependent on how it’s been used and maintained during those 4 years.
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22-03-2021, 15:46
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#14
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Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Cowichan Bay, BC (Maple Bay Marina)
Posts: 9,704
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Re: Battery Monitor Comparison - Victron BMV712 vs Balmar SG200
Quote:
Originally Posted by Phyrcooler
I was hoping this thread would generate a bit more feedback. Adding a quality battery monitoring gauge is one of my next projects. The Victron has a solid reputation, but I’m very interested in the SOH reading that the Balmar reportedly can give. Otherwise you’re just guessing at what your 100% really means. Is my 4 year old 100a battery capable of 90 amps... or 70? There’s no set answer because every battery’s SOH is dependent on how it’s been used and maintained during those 4 years.
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To the bolded text: Nonsense.
The coulomb counters all can show SOC.
Here's why you're so completely wrong, and we all hope you read this previously linked LOOONG thread on this forum ( https://www.cruisersforum.com/forums...or-209056.html)
For everyone installing a battery monitor: The " Gotcha Algorithm" thread, a "MUST READ"
http://c34.org/bbs/index.php/topic,4922.0.html
DEFAULTS are factory settings that are made to be modified to suit your setup.
Also read this one:
Programming a Battery Monitor (by Maine Sail)
https://marinehowto.com/programming-a-battery-monitor/
***********
The simple answer is trailing amps at absorbtion voltage. If you don't know what that is, do a search on "trailing amps" --- it's been beaten to death.
Good luck in your research and homework.
__________________
Stu Jackson
Catalina 34 #224 (1986) C34IA Secretary
Cowichan Bay, BC, SR/FK, M25, Rocna 10 (22#) (NZ model)
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22-03-2021, 19:06
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#15
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Registered User
Join Date: Dec 2014
Posts: 311
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Re: Battery Monitor Comparison - Victron BMV712 vs Balmar SG200
Quote:
Originally Posted by Stu Jackson
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Uh. What...? I didn’t say anything about showing SOC.
I was actually talking about battery health and what someone initially plugs into a battery monitor program for their bank size. If they just plug in their when-new battery capacity, and actually have old batteries, they may be way off seeing 100% and thinking they have XX amps available to them.
And yes, I’ve read those threads until my eyes glazed over.
Regardless.... what I really want to know is if the Balmar works as advertised? Has it developed into a functional, reliable tool? Or is a Victron a better instrument, and I’m stuck having to test and computate to determine my batteries SOH?
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