Smartgauge vs Mastervolt Easyview-5 vs Simarine Pico

[MichelleWhy]

Installed the Simarine Pico Blue Package in change for the old BMV-702. Nice gadget which should help to get rid of 3 different systems in my previous installation on my Yacht.
And as with Rene there came a lot of questions up on installation, which are not covered in the manuals. I then wrote a couple of emails to Simarine. None of them have been answered as of today. So I can't share the same experience like Rene had.

Maybe one of you guys already working with the Simarine can help?

Here is what I am unsure of:
1. The package contained the SCQ25. It seems that it is a new version which now has a few more connections, most probably a relay. But the manual doesn't cover this part and the illustration/image in the manual for the SCQ25 still has the old version in it. They look quite different. Unsure what to do with these connectors.

2. I'm missing the shaded diagram for the Barograph (like the one Rene is showing in his post above). All I see is a curved line, no shadow.
The Simarine iPhone App shows a thick line with blue shadow.

3. One of the main reasons I bought this piece was to see the history of current/power generated by my Windgen and Solar Panels. In all the advertisings from Simarine I see they have history diagram for that reason. But again, nothing about it in the manuals and I think I've been through every setting. Nothing. That is quite disappointing.

4. Before I installed the SCQ25, I only had the SC501 as a current sensor for the house battery bank. I noticed that the display showed total current available and time remaining. As soon as I connected the SCQ25 and set up the sensors, the total current available information was gone. How to get rid of that and make the information display again?

5. Just like Rene, I had to connect two current sensors for the Windgen and another two for the Solar Array to overcome the 25A limit. I only guessed how that was done. Made a shortcut on each pair of connectors In/Out and named sensor 1 and 3 for the generators. 2 and 4 left blank. It seems to work. At least I can see current flow and it matches the Victron App from my Solar charger.
Is there anything else I should know or maybe did something wrong?

Firmware: 1.178 (latest)

Fair winds,
Stefanie

[ayates]

I looked into Simarine, and yes, email responses are hit and miss. They are probably a very small company. I inquired about long term data logging, like is available on the Victron CCGX, and received the following reply:

Logging capabilities in Pico is limited to 1-3 months, depend of how many data you want to log.

There is no option to log into SD card, but we prepare solution for transfering logs into your phone and then the capabilities are practically unlimited. You will be able to see all the data and statistics on your phone and the shortest log period will be 1 minute. This solution will be available until end of this month.

Igor KocmanDirektor/CEO

Allan.

[ReneJK]

Hi stefanie !

Ive shared what i know in between and have some Q’s as well for you !!

Originally Posted by MichelleWhy

Installed the Simarine Pico Blue Package in change for the old BMV-702. Nice gadget which should help to get rid of 3 different systems in my previous installation on my Yacht.
And as with Rene there came a lot of questions up on installation, which are not covered in the manuals. I then wrote a couple of emails to Simarine. None of them have been answered as of today. So I can't share the same experience like Rene had.

Maybe one of you guys already working with the Simarine can help?

Here is what I am unsure of:
1. The package contained the SCQ25. It seems that it is a new version which now has a few more connections, most probably a relay. But the manual doesn't cover this part and the illustration/image in the manual for the SCQ25 still has the old version in it. They look quite different. Unsure what to do with these connectors.

There are 2 versions of the scq25 (t) the one with only shunts and one with shunts and extra sensor connections , if you post a pic we can figure out which you have ? I have the SCQ25T pictured in a previous post

Originally Posted by MichelleWhy

2. I'm missing the shaded diagram for the Barograph (like the one Rene is showing in his post above). All I see is a curved line, no shadow.
The Simarine iPhone App shows a thick line with blue shadow.

Since the last fw update my shaded part is gone as well , i only see a line on the display but the shaded part does show on the app on my phone

Originally Posted by MichelleWhy

3. One of the main reasons I bought this piece was to see the history of current/power generated by my Windgen and Solar Panels. In all the advertisings from Simarine I see they have history diagram for that reason. But again, nothing about it in the manuals and I think I've been through every setting. Nothing. That is quite disappointing.

I have not been able to find the history graph either , they do have coulomb counters now (long press the return button on the display , go to devices , scroll down to ‘coulomb counters, and you see total generated / used power by item

Originally Posted by MichelleWhy

4. Before I installed the SCQ25, I only had the SC501 as a current sensor for the house battery bank. I noticed that the display showed total current available and time remaining. As soon as I connected the SCQ25 and set up the sensors, the total current available information was gone. How to get rid of that and make the information display again?

Possibly you need to make the house bank visible and ‘add’ all generators to the housebank , that worked for me but its not very intuitive

Originally Posted by MichelleWhy

5. Just like Rene, I had to connect two current sensors for the Windgen and another two for the Solar Array to overcome the 25A limit. I only guessed how that was done. Made a shortcut on each pair of connectors In/Out and named sensor 1 and 3 for the generators. 2 and 4 left blank. It seems to work. At least I can see current flow and it matches the Victron App from my Solar charger.
Is there anything else I should know or maybe did something wrong?

Firmware: 1.178 (latest)

Fair winds,
Stefanie

I would like to know how you show 2 channels as one on the display , ive not been able to do that ! I will play some more with it but if i leave one blank (delete the name) i just see a nameless bar

[MichelleWhy]

Interesting. Thanks Allan.

I'd be happy if at least I can see 1 month of history data. Igor forgot to explain how to access the 1-3months of data

Saying that it comes to mind that the Coulomb counter is another mystery to me.
I made a shortcut between In 3 and In 4 (same for Out) on the SCQ25 for my Solar Array. Now when I look at the Coulomb counter there is quite a difference between sensor 3 and 4 (named Solar Panel and SCQ25 4 in the image), which are parallel inputs. They should display the same Ah!?


While playing around with the Alarm settings today it turned out that it is completely buggy.
I set a high alarm for the Windgen. When current exceeds 30A (I know that will never happen ) for 5 minutes it should sound an alarm.
When I re-checked the alarm settings, it goes back to default 0A and 20s
Same with the other alarms. So far I was not able to get the Alarm sound. The iPhone App is showing different things. At least it remembers the settings, but I doubt it shares the settings with the Pico and of course it doesn't sound any alarm
Sure that the longer I dig into it, I find more bugs.

Stefanie

[MichelleWhy]

Hi Rene!

Originally Posted by ReneJK

Hi stefanie !

Ive shared what i know in between and have some Q’s as well for you !!



There are 2 versions of the scq25 (t) the one with only shunts and one with shunts and extra sensor connections , if you post a pic we can figure out which you have ? I have the SCQ25T pictured in a previous post

It is not the (T). It says SCQ25 but has the extra ports for a relay I think, which the illustrated version in the manuals, ads and one the website of Simarine do not have. See attached image.



Since the last fw update my shaded part is gone as well , i only see a line on the display but the shaded part does show on the app on my phone

Ah ok, that explains it. Funny that they make false advertising. Images on their web is not what you get.


I have not been able to find the history graph either , they do have coulomb counters now (long press the return button on the display , go to devices , scroll down to ‘coulomb counters, and you see total generated / used power by item

Yes, I found it. See my other post.


Possibly you need to make the house bank visible and ‘add’ all generators to the housebank , that worked for me but its not very intuitive

The house bank is visible and all generators are going into the house bank. But I did not select "add" as it seems illogical to me in my setup. SC501 is the main shunt, measuring all current going in and out, that includes the power coming from the Windgenerator and Solar Array. If I say "add" in the settings", it will add the current coming from the generators to the current already counted by the main shunt. This results in wrong numbers. But of course, I can be totally wrong here.



I would like to know how you show 2 channels as one on the display , ive not been able to do that ! I will play some more with it but if i leave one blank (delete the name) i just see a nameless bar

I kept the default name for the other channel (the one in parallel), but made no selection for the battery. As soon as you select a battery bank, be it house or starter, it will show up in the display. So that should fix it for you. Name the other channel and select the proper battery bank for it.

Hope this comes through readable for you. Sorry if I messed the quote up. Not sure how it works

Stefanie

[MichelleWhy]

Originally Posted by MichelleWhy

Hi Rene!



I kept the default name for the other channel (the one in parallel), but made no selection for the battery. As soon as you select a battery bank, be it house or starter, it will show up in the display. So that should fix it for you. Name the other channel and select the proper battery bank for it.

Hope this comes through readable for you. Sorry if I messed the quote up. Not sure how it works

Stefanie

Rene,

I have to correct myself on that matter. Seems like it does not work that way as supposed. When you don't assign a battery for the second parallel channel, it does not count the amps from the second channel in the overall statistic for the SC501/301. So you have to assign the same battery bank to the 2nd channel as you did for the 1st channel. The downside is that you will see both channels in the battery display. See attached images for details. There is a difference in between channel 3 and 4 in the Coulomb Counter although they are in parallel. According to Simarine that is due to a difference in resistance inside the power circuit of the shunts and negligible as long as the total amp numbers are correct.

Meanwhile I'm in contact with Igor, the CEO of Simarine. Currently on vacation he has limited internet access. So that might explain the delay in support.

Stefanie

[Kenomac]

It’s hard to believe it’s been nearly two years since I started this thread. I’m back in Croatia and the Mastervolt Easyview 5 is finally installed along with the MasterShunt 500 and MasterBus USB, and everything is working flawlessly with the two Mastervolt chargers and Mastervolt inverter. Just as I’d hoped.

It’s a much better system than the SmartGauge I had previously installed, and provides more useful information at a glance.

[CatNewBee]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

It’s hard to believe it’s been nearly two years since I started this thread. I’m back in Croatia and the Mastervolt Easyview 5 is finally installed along with the MasterShunt 500 and MasterBus USB, and everything is working flawlessly with the two Mastervolt chargers and Mastervolt inverter. Just as I’d hoped.

It’s a much better system than the SmartGauge I had previously installed, and provides more useful information at a glance. [emoji2]

I recently sold my MasterShunt and the EasyView gauge, I prefer the Victron gear, more open and better integration options. Still have 2kVA MasSine inverter as backup or to team up with the Victron Quattro for peak demands.

[arisatx]

Originally Posted by ayates

I've always wondered why the manufacturers haven't switched to hall effect devices for current measurement, to eliminate all that wire cutting.


Allan.

Maretron's DCM100 does exactly that: https://www.maretron.com/products/dcm100.php

[Kenomac]

It’s truly amazing how many people post on these battery monitor threads. Has anyone used the Simarine Pico system who can now report their results after a season? So far so good with the Mastervolt system. I did some testing the other day using a voltmeter, and found two of our Trojan 6v batteries to be under performing, so this will probably be the 8th and final season for them prior to replacement.... unless I can figure out how to equalize them.

Here’s where we’re at at 5pm today with the solar still putting in 4.9 over and above what we’re using.

[Kenomac]

After performing a more thorough check on the batteries, it appears that one of the Trojan T105’s has failed and tests at only 4.5 volts, so I’ll be replacing it in the upcoming week. Being able to monitor this stuff has helped me to see the issue and deal with it before it becomes worse. I first noticed voltage drops on the Mastervolt EasyView 5 when the alarm began sounding as multiple appliances were in use and when the bow thruster was used.

[OceanPlanet]

Power monitoring is knowledge, and knowledge is power...;-)

However, in our experience it's a good habit to often question the monitoring. The devices don't "know" anything, they only do math based on incoming data and programmed settings then show the results

We often run several battery monitors in parallel here in the shop, and they rarely all say the same thing. Perhaps nearly so, but never exactly.

[ReneJK]

Pico after 12 months

The current monitoring abilities through the small shunts are awesome and usable, and after the last fw update i can also combine shunts and show total numbers (ie shunts are 25A max , my solar does close to 50A so i had to use 2 shunts which can now be combined in the display to show up as 1)

It enables me to do what i wanted “have all current generators and users show and read them on a single screen” it helped me when the mppt gave the ghost and didnt take 3 days and empty batteries for me to notice

The battery monitoring abilities seem fine , i know my setup isnt optimal as i connected a large user (2kw inverter) bypassing the pico shunt , so i dont put any faith in the ‘SOC’ number shown on the display , this will be changed one of these weeks / months , i do use the pico to monitor charge voltage and current constantly

What i find really annoying is that there is a 0.2-0.4 volt difference between what my pico tells me vs. victron 100/50 mppt and sterling 50A charger. My fluke multimeter agrees with the sterling/victron

Maybe this is due to the constant current draw on the system but they are all connected and measured on the same spots , still the pico varies 0.2 to 0.4 volts

Also their phone app has the ability to show used amp hours , the display does not (yet?) have this ability , annoying and hopefully solved in the next fw udate

And deep in the menu there is a coulombcounter hidden away , i would like this to be more accessable and with more fuctionality (ie not just totals but programable like in and out per 24 hours)

What else would you like to know ?

[ReneJK]

The 500ah and temp show up on the app , but not the display itself

And on instagram one of their dealers showed a lot more logging capabilities , from a future fw release, i hate those teasers as it looks rrally usefull like 24 hour coulomb counting shown in a graph etc

[ReneJK]

And i want this graph that one of their dealers showed , nowhere to be found on the pico (yet?)