Does Victron make...

[PetePetePete]

I have three battery banks on my boat.

Port Motor (1 battery)
Starboard Motor (1 battery)
House Bank (2 batteries)

I would love to have something at my helm where I could see the voltage of all three of these banks. Doesn't have to be NMEA, I'm open. But it has to be Victron, and if it isn't Victron, it better be as good or better. LOL.

Thanks,
Pete

[tkeithlu]

Hmmmm. I use two analog gauges, one 120VAC and the other 15VDC, each with a rotary switch the lets me choose the source : Shore, genset, inverter; house bank, engine starter, genset starter. The two gauges are tidy and attractive on the panel.

Another approach would be simple digital voltmeters. I use one on an antique motor bike that has battery problems. They usually fit square holes in the panel.

Here are some to look at:

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=12v+DC+vo...f=nb_sb_noss_2

https://www.amazon.com/uxcell-85C1-V...ustrial&sr=1-5

https://www.amazon.com/uxcell-Positi...l%2C222&sr=1-8

[PetePetePete]

Looking for something that will be at the helm that is not fully enclosed. Something IP rated. BlueSea, Victron, or similar.

The big hook is that I'd like to be able to monitor the three banks so I could just push a button and scroll through to see where each battery is or something similar.

[wholybee]

There is a Victron app for Raymarine Chartplotters. I don't think it is as simple as connected to a few smart shunts with it though. It seems much more complicated than it should be.

You could use a few smart shunts and an iphone.

[noelex 77]

If all you want is voltage then the Blueseas voltmeter is excellent, if you want a quality unit.

https://www.bluesea.com/products/173...meter_-_Yellow

The Blueseas version is accurate, reads to two decimal places and is IP66 rated, but it is a little overpriced. There are plenty of much cheaper no name brands available that may be more suitable, especially as you will need three if you want a continuous voltage reading of all the battery banks.

If buying one of the cheaper “no name” units, try to pick a model with a common cutout size so it is easy to replace. The quality control and reliability can be a gamble.

[Dsanduril]

Following up on Noelex's BlueSea product, their M2 does 4 battery banks in an IP 66 package.

[smac999]

The victron battery monitors only do voltage on 2 banks.

[PetePetePete]

Yeah... I think the Blue Sea one is the best bet...

[Jammer]

The Victron way of voltage sensing is either to install one of their shunts and a display device, or to install one of their battery monitors.


You could install three of the shunts, for example, and see voltages on your existing chartplotter, or on one of the Victron displays.

[Stu Jackson]

Originally Posted by Jammer

The Victron way of voltage sensing is either to install one of their shunts and a display device, or to install one of their battery monitors.


You could install three of the shunts, for example, and see voltages on your existing chartplotter, or on one of the Victron displays.

Why would you need a shunt to measure voltage?

[N4585K]

Install a Cerbo GX with three shunts. From the Cerbo GX you can NMEA2000 to your chart plotter.

[Dsanduril]

Originally Posted by Stu Jackson

Why would you need a shunt to measure voltage?

Because Victron doesn't sell voltmeters. They really only sell battery monitors and their shunts are used to provide both current and voltage to the monitor. So, if you want to use Victron gear you install their shunts to feed into your monitoring system. If all you want is voltage then clearly a shunt isn't needed, but you have to move outside the OP's desire for Victron.

[Jeff F]

https://www.victronenergy.com/access...-battery-sense

[Simon.Sails]

I've got the above Victron battery sense on my lifepo4 battery as it doesn't have a bluetooth-enabled bms. Three of these should work, but they're a bit pricey for how simple they are. You can define min/max shutdown temperature however.

Not sure how they can be combined in an easy view, but switching between the battery senses only takes seconds in the Victron app.

[Dsanduril]

Originally Posted by Jeff F

https://www.victronenergy.com/access...-battery-sense

I had forgotten about those nifty devices even though I have them on my starting batteries for the same reasons as the OP. The difficulty is still the display, I use a phone or tablet, the OP is wanting something water resistant at the helm and to get there in Victron you need to install devices at each battery (shunt or sense) and then a display to read them. Using Bluetooth that may still be cheaper than running wires to the helm, but it is significantly more complicated than a simple voltmeter (or three).