Tip for other newbies ---> that positive wire is a pain to get into the shunt spacing.....true pain in the you know what (perhaps I just had crappy socket opening)
Thanks for posting this vid. I had some minor difficulties getting the provided battery + red wire in that small hole. Eventually got it to slide in… Otherwise this is a very solid and well made monitor. Only gripe is how the screen mounts, I prefer the bezel approach like the other monitor screens and switches from Renogy.
Been looking at these. I just received a 300 ah Ampere Time LiFePo4 for emergency solar power in my camper. I have 11 solar power stations for all the small stuff and my chest freezer and dorm fridge but need some emergency air conditioning after hurricanes. Plus I can use it to reduce my electric bill so I can buy other things which is important when you`re on a tiny Social Security check. Spend my savings on the battery, 60 amp MPPT charge controller, wiring, and fuses. I already have 500 watts of glass panels, several sets of 20 ft MC4 cables, and 100 and 120 watt high quality folding panels. Gotta figure all this out on my own but I`m studying about it. Gotta get one of these monitors too.
@@DIYKAI I have nothing right now but a watt meter to measure what`s coming out of the inverter but that doesn`t measure inverter losses. Not sure what the losses will be since they can vary wildly. But right now I at least have enough backup power for cooling off if a storm comes any time soon. In the process of moving which got very expensive fast due to my sister screwing up repeatedly trying to get electricians to hook up my camper. Thank God I got the battery before this happened or I`d have no money left. I made the mistake of assuming she had a working brain.
I bought one and installed it as per the instructions. Its been used for about a month and only ever shows 100%.... I disconnect the DC/DC charger for 3days and let my car fridge run in a hot car and it still shows 100% !! Not sure what the issue is..
I have this, I need to see about adjusting the light, also, I needed a longer cable, found one on Amazon, had to file some plastic tabs off at one end but it worked out great for me...
@@DIYKAI I know how to turn the light on and off I want to see if mine adjust, I mounted mine inside my trailer, the cable was to short, so I had to find a longer one, hopefully you don't have that problem lol.
I just installed this with my RV batteries, and it seems to work great. I would, however, like to have a monitor at the front of the coach and one at the rear. Is it possible to put two of these monitors in parallel?
Yes while but this is possible, When connecting the two shunts in series, errors in the battery voltage measurement can occur. The shunt that is not directly connected to the battery loses the voltage drop of the other shunt in the voltage measurement.
But if you can connect one to each battery that’s better or go with an induction pickup type that just clamps around the wire for up front as you are only going to be monitoring only from one hope this helps
@@DIYKAIThanks for the reply. Still trying to understand this. So the meter is measuring a small voltage drop across the shunt which can be used to calculate current through the shunt, is that correct? What if I wired in a second meter on the same shunt, so basically the two meters were connected together? I'm not sure how I would do this, I guess I'd have to splice into the first meter's connecting wires. Would this cause an error in the readouts?
Also, I can already monitor the voltage up front, with a simple cigarette lighter meter, but I'm mostly interested in how much current is going into the batteries from the alternator, and knowing when they are fully charged.
Could I extend the postive wire so I can mount in, under the bed where all my power connections are? Or can I tap into the power lead to the battery? Thanks any help would be appreciated
With the shunt the neg needs to come directly from the battery and all loads on the other side......as far as the power side the main also on the hot side but you should be able to tap it anywhere off the main as it's just sampling from that side and powering the screen
Hi great video! I like how you show it in action. Do you know if the meter can be used with non-Renogy controllers (just for the use you demonstrated, not Renogy app use)!
@@DIYKAI That's a good philosophy mate. I'm setting up off grid in an area in Australia that is prone to bushfires in summer, and the last thing I want it for my system to overheat and cause a fire.
I have one of these but it never shows a plus input only out whatts or amps I have 400w solar dc2dc and 240 charger but it never shows or adjusts the remaining amp hours/ battery life The only way I know it’s charging is the battery volts climb back up to 14.2 Is this a common fault ?
Do you program in the battery technology you are using? It looks like you use LiFe batteries which can be taken to complete empty? I am using AGM which can go 50%, only.
Hi. The company that installed my Renogy 2000w Pure sine inverter charger put it in the back of a cupboard that i have No access too.. So i need to a add a battery monitor screen. Can i use this Renogy shunt monitor on my Renogy 200w pure sine Inverter charger ? (I contacted Renogy directly but they've replied saying it cant be used with my 2000w charger inverter) (I am a bit confused because I've seen videos on youtube of people using them together)
The shunt can be used in any system up to the amps it’s rated for….this shunt is good for 500A at 14vdc or so……you will be fine on a 2kW inverter…..we have it on a 3kw inverter
I noticed the backlight is flashing when its charging, is there a way to turn this feature off and does it stop flashing if you have the backlight turned off?
Yes you can turn it off we find it annoying that it flashes while charging. Yes backlight is totally off when you select it off and stays off until you turn it back on
I have my renogy monitor connected to Trolling motor + circuit breaker + battery and all negatives are connected correctly but the "Remaining AMP Hours" are stuck on Zero when i run test the motor... any ideas why this is so? Or is this product simply only works with inverters? or do i need something else connected to the Negative?
@@DIYKAI yeah tried resetting using both up and down and still no use. I noticed the Amp reading barely budge above 3Ah no matter how high I adjusted my motor throttle. I suspect the meter was reading DC only as I'm in Australia and we have AC .. that's my guess really
@@aDadWithBadJokes so the shut won’t measure amps of the motor it will only display capacity of the battery and watts/amps being drawn out of the battery
You don't have to do any of that. Just get the Blue Sea Terminal Block 5191 without the fuse.. The block will make the connection to the battery terminal. As these Fuse Blocks are designed for fuses to make the final connection. But the Shunt hole is big enough to fit over the insulator...Best way I found without all the fuss...
Hello and thanks for viewing. It monitors the whole system. All your load negatives will go to the shunt. This single shut can handle 500A it does not matter how much reserve capacity you have. We use it with two 400aH batteries no issues
Ok, I found this video helpful. But, why did you have to make the "Z" part? Is that something I will have to do when I instal? I didn't understand that part. Thx!
Hello thanks for watching…….that Z piece is a stand off because it does not sit flat and we wanted it connected directly to the battery….if you use the provided holder and run battery cable off each side you will be fine….this was just not wanting to have extra wire to deal with
standoff is a term used...you can say its like a bridge.......shunts work only on the negative side as with DC it flow Neg-Pos......you have to have basic electrical knowledge before attempting something like this for safety reasons
Definitely wouldn’t buy this again, it’s so frustrating. It should be simple but the bolts are so thick they’re too big to for any of the rest of my setup. Don’t have any wire lugs big enough to fit on them and don’t have the facilities to make a Z bus bar just to fit it on my battery terminal. Absolutely stupid.
@@DIYKAI Only a 200amp system at the moment but I have things to add. I've managed to fit the shunt now but I'm not getting anything from the actual monitor LED screen. Do you know why that might be? (The shunt is wired in series on my negative side as instructed and all my appliances are working as normal) I've tried the positive in each positive terminal of the shunt and still nothing. Could my device be faulty?
@@benjamindavidscargill5633 Ok shunt connected directly to battery one side the other side all loads. Did you wire the monitor power it should be some small wires
@@DIYKAI yeah I have the shunt coming directly off the negative terminal with all the negatives coming off that with the small red power cable attached to the positive terminal.
Tip for other newbies ---> that positive wire is a pain to get into the shunt spacing.....true pain in the you know what (perhaps I just had crappy socket opening)
Yes you have to get creative with connections sometimes
Do both batteries go into that small positive hole?
Thanks for posting this vid. I had some minor difficulties getting the provided battery + red wire in that small hole. Eventually got it to slide in… Otherwise this is a very solid and well made monitor. Only gripe is how the screen mounts, I prefer the bezel approach like the other monitor screens and switches from Renogy.
Your welcome! Yup we had the same issues and grip lol hopefully they fix a lot of the customers concerns that’s a quick way to lose people
Do both battery positives go in that small hole?
Been looking at these. I just received a 300 ah Ampere Time LiFePo4 for emergency solar power in my camper. I have 11 solar power stations for all the small stuff and my chest freezer and dorm fridge but need some emergency air conditioning after hurricanes. Plus I can use it to reduce my electric bill so I can buy other things which is important when you`re on a tiny Social Security check. Spend my savings on the battery, 60 amp MPPT charge controller, wiring, and fuses. I already have 500 watts of glass panels, several sets of 20 ft MC4 cables, and 100 and 120 watt high quality folding panels. Gotta figure all this out on my own but I`m studying about it. Gotta get one of these monitors too.
it's well worth it you will know exactly how much power you have and what's coming ang going out the battery
@@DIYKAI I have nothing right now but a watt meter to measure what`s coming out of the inverter but that doesn`t measure inverter losses. Not sure what the losses will be since they can vary wildly. But right now I at least have enough backup power for cooling off if a storm comes any time soon. In the process of moving which got very expensive fast due to my sister screwing up repeatedly trying to get electricians to hook up my camper. Thank God I got the battery before this happened or I`d have no money left. I made the mistake of assuming she had a working brain.
Usually a modified sine wave inverter is about 85% efficient and a pure can be between 90-95%
Dude, thank you. Watching your video I saw where I was going wrong and now it works 💪
@@bazxtrail your welcome awesome glad it helped you
When you scrolled through the screen options, they're was maybe a setting for an alarm?
I bought one and installed it as per the instructions. Its been used for about a month and only ever shows 100%.... I disconnect the DC/DC charger for 3days and let my car fridge run in a hot car and it still shows 100% !! Not sure what the issue is..
Have you gone into the setting and tried to adjust
Thank you for help on the installation. Great job.
Your welcome
How does this reset? Mine keeps showing the prior setup for another battery I had it connected to
I believe you have to go into the settings or leave it disconnect for 30 minutes
I have this, I need to see about adjusting the light, also, I needed a longer cable, found one on Amazon, had to file some plastic tabs off at one end but it worked out great for me...
this one has 8 levels of light adjustment, or you can turn it off we are going to mount it today hopefully all goes smooth
@@DIYKAI I know how to turn the light on and off I want to see if mine adjust, I mounted mine inside my trailer, the cable was to short, so I had to find a longer one, hopefully you don't have that problem lol.
@@camperbum Ah got ya….ours is in a solar back up room so we went straight into the Sheetrock lol all is good
Nice video easy to understand.question what size is the bolts on the shunt. Thanks mike
Thanks we will check and reply back
I just installed this with my RV batteries, and it seems to work great. I would, however, like to have a monitor at the front of the coach and one at the rear. Is it possible to put two of these monitors in parallel?
Yes while but this is possible, When connecting the two shunts in series, errors in the battery voltage measurement can occur. The shunt that is not directly connected to the battery loses the voltage drop of the other shunt in the voltage measurement.
But if you can connect one to each battery that’s better or go with an induction pickup type that just clamps around the wire for up front as you are only going to be monitoring only from one hope this helps
@@DIYKAIThanks for the reply. Still trying to understand this. So the meter is measuring a small voltage drop across the shunt which can be used to calculate current through the shunt, is that correct? What if I wired in a second meter on the same shunt, so basically the two meters were connected together? I'm not sure how I would do this, I guess I'd have to splice into the first meter's connecting wires. Would this cause an error in the readouts?
Also, I can already monitor the voltage up front, with a simple cigarette lighter meter, but I'm mostly interested in how much current is going into the batteries from the alternator, and knowing when they are fully charged.
I like that it says how much time you can run the load
Yes and it’s very accurate
Before I purchase I am trying to find out if it can transfer the data to the charge controller so the info can be transferred via Bluetooth
Not sure we can check and get back to you
Could I extend the postive wire so I can mount in, under the bed where all my power connections are? Or can I tap into the power lead to the battery? Thanks any help would be appreciated
With the shunt the neg needs to come directly from the battery and all loads on the other side......as far as the power side the main also on the hot side but you should be able to tap it anywhere off the main as it's just sampling from that side and powering the screen
Hi great video! I like how you show it in action. Do you know if the meter can be used with non-Renogy controllers (just for the use you demonstrated, not Renogy app use)!
Yes it will work without the app and just using the monitor
Thanks!
Why do you need a bus bar for higher amperage? I'm setting up a 24v system with 540ah of LA storage.
We like to use bus bars because they are rigid less chance of something coming loose
@@DIYKAI
Ok, no worries. Thanks for the quick reply.
@@carl8568 Your welcome its more preference than anything we always like to over engineer things lol
@@DIYKAI
That's a good philosophy mate. I'm setting up off grid in an area in Australia that is prone to bushfires in summer, and the last thing I want it for my system to overheat and cause a fire.
Pure bar would definitely outlast wire and rubber lol we generate about 2.2kW a day off 600w
I have one of these but it never shows a plus input only out whatts or amps
I have 400w solar dc2dc and 240 charger but it never shows or adjusts the remaining amp hours/ battery life
The only way I know it’s charging is the battery volts climb back up to 14.2
Is this a common fault ?
No we never had that issue we set it on e last year and its been on autopilot since
Do you program in the battery technology you are using? It looks like you use LiFe batteries which can be taken to complete empty? I am using AGM which can go 50%, only.
Yes lifepo4 we drain them to about 20% most of the time
Yup agm lead acid 50%Dod
Hi. The company that installed my Renogy 2000w Pure sine inverter charger put it in the back of a cupboard that i have No access too..
So i need to a add a battery monitor screen.
Can i use this Renogy shunt monitor on my Renogy 200w pure sine Inverter charger ?
(I contacted Renogy directly but they've replied saying it cant be used with my 2000w charger inverter)
(I am a bit confused because I've seen videos on youtube of people using them together)
The shunt can be used in any system up to the amps it’s rated for….this shunt is good for 500A at 14vdc or so……you will be fine on a 2kW inverter…..we have it on a 3kw inverter
The shunt goes between the inverter and battery make sure you have the proper size wire for your loads we use 2/0
I noticed the backlight is flashing when its charging, is there a way to turn this feature off and does it stop flashing if you have the backlight turned off?
Yes you can turn it off we find it annoying that it flashes while charging. Yes backlight is totally off when you select it off and stays off until you turn it back on
Mine is showing how much I use but not much is going back in.
I have my renogy monitor connected to Trolling motor + circuit breaker + battery and all negatives are connected correctly but the "Remaining AMP Hours" are stuck on Zero when i run test the motor... any ideas why this is so? Or is this product simply only works with inverters? or do i need something else connected to the Negative?
should be battery negative to one side all other negs to other side. Did you set the Ah up in the menu
@@DIYKAI yup did all you mentioned and still Zero in the remaining hours 😭
@@aDadWithBadJokes hold the up arrow for a few seconds
@@DIYKAI yeah tried resetting using both up and down and still no use. I noticed the Amp reading barely budge above 3Ah no matter how high I adjusted my motor throttle. I suspect the meter was reading DC only as I'm in Australia and we have AC .. that's my guess really
@@aDadWithBadJokes so the shut won’t measure amps of the motor it will only display capacity of the battery and watts/amps being drawn out of the battery
how did you bend the bus bar and did you drill the holes before or after it was bent? I have a piece of 1/8x 1 bus bar that I'd like to use for that.
Vise and a good ole hammering. Drilled before use some heat to bend and oil to drill
You don't have to do any of that. Just get the Blue Sea Terminal Block 5191 without the fuse.. The block will make the connection to the battery terminal. As these Fuse Blocks are designed for fuses to make the final connection. But the Shunt hole is big enough to fit over the insulator...Best way I found without all the fuss...
@@WizzRacingGreat idea! Thanks!
Can this unit monitor a bank of batteries, or do you need one monitor per battery in the bank?
Thanks in advance.
Hello and thanks for viewing.
It monitors the whole system. All your load negatives will go to the shunt.
This single shut can handle 500A it does not matter how much reserve capacity you have. We use it with two 400aH batteries no issues
@@DIYKAIso you have the monitor set to 800Ah ?
@@Hawkcrom typo we meant (2) 200Ah
Ok, I found this video helpful. But, why did you have to make the "Z" part? Is that something I will have to do when I instal? I didn't understand that part. Thx!
Hello thanks for watching…….that Z piece is a stand off because it does not sit flat and we wanted it connected directly to the battery….if you use the provided holder and run battery cable off each side you will be fine….this was just not wanting to have extra wire to deal with
@@DIYKAI Where do I find all the values enter into the monitor?
@@sherrieeverett4733 Press and hold the OK button to enter the menu
@@DIYKAI how do I know the values to enter, I have 100ah
@@sherrieeverett4733 the battery should have came with a card….what type of battery are you using?
What size hole does the monitor fit in?
We can check for you but it was maybe 1”x3”
Just under 4” wide and about 2.5” height
5/8” thick
What is the terminal size please
Not sure it’s either M8 or M6 you will have to have a bus bar or similar to attach it to the battery
Busbar standoff? Why are 2 sides hooked to negative? Confusing video.
standoff is a term used...you can say its like a bridge.......shunts work only on the negative side as with DC it flow Neg-Pos......you have to have basic electrical knowledge before attempting something like this for safety reasons
Nice ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
TY
Definitely wouldn’t buy this again, it’s so frustrating. It should be simple but the bolts are so thick they’re too big to for any of the rest of my setup. Don’t have any wire lugs big enough to fit on them and don’t have the facilities to make a Z bus bar just to fit it on my battery terminal. Absolutely stupid.
Yes this is a 500A shunt that’s why it’s so large. Maybe try a smaller one what size is your system?
@@DIYKAI Only a 200amp system at the moment but I have things to add. I've managed to fit the shunt now but I'm not getting anything from the actual monitor LED screen. Do you know why that might be? (The shunt is wired in series on my negative side as instructed and all my appliances are working as normal) I've tried the positive in each positive terminal of the shunt and still nothing. Could my device be faulty?
@@benjamindavidscargill5633 Ok shunt connected directly to battery one side the other side all loads.
Did you wire the monitor power it should be some small wires
@@DIYKAI yeah I have the shunt coming directly off the negative terminal with all the negatives coming off that with the small red power cable attached to the positive terminal.
@@benjamindavidscargill5633 weird ok we will look at our system real quick and let you know how we have it