Pv shunt on a boat install with alternator

[Gareth George]

Hi,
I'm using my SBMS on my Lipo4 install on my boat. I have power coming in from a shoreline (through invert charger) , PV, and from a 100amp alternator. Would it make any difference if I installed the alternator pos through the PV shunt so I can record what's coming in from that charge source as well as the solar or would the normal shunt pick this up?

Am I just being silly?

[Bernd]

Hi Gareth,

we do not offer silliness tests at the moment in this forum :-)

What I do is, I run my chargers logically as PV modules and have them connected via DSSR20. This lets the SBMS0 turn them ON or OFF in case of whyever these should run to long.

This also let the PV shunt count the wattage / amperage of charging and the SOC value.

What was your alternative you were thinking about?

[Gareth George]

That's interesting. I thought the DSSR20 was just for PV? I was going to just wire the PV and alternator straight to the PV shunt. I already have disconnect devices for the alternator.

[Bernd]

How shall the DSSR20 know, if the power is generated by a PV module or some other source???

As long as we stay below the 20A per DSSR20, I do not see any reason for this not to work.

I have a victron 16A charger and the DSSR20 should be able to hanldle this.

Also concider the max amperage of your battery during charging.

A have lots of PV modules and together with the 16A charger, i will be off limits, but i do not plan to start the fuel generator in full sunlight to let the victron charger run....

Maybe Dacian has a comment here as well?!?

[Gareth George]

My alternator will put it up to 60a+ while moving. Wouldn't this be to much for them?

[Bernd]

Way to much... quite sure these will generate some smoke...

You need to ensure, that in case of full battery or a full cell, you stop charging.

I believe you must go via the shunt and i would not risc charging without SBMS0 being able to turn off the charging. e.G. via relais.

Which alternator do you have?

[Gareth George]

Using a victron bms 12 200 as a voltage regulator and isolater for the alternator and have connections to the inverter charger and solar controller. Think I've got everything covered

[Philippe Damour]

Hello Gareth

Using an Victron Orion is more simple.

See attachment

[Dacian Todea]

You can connect any charge source to the PV shunt. The DSSR20 is designed for constant current charge sources with less than 20A current limit.  Alternators are not a constant current source just a simple constant voltage source so to charge any other battery other than a small starter Lead Acid you need a so called battery to battery charger that is a constant current source.

The Victron Orion is an option (and can be installed before or after the PV shunt it just depends on if you want to count energy from PV panels as separate to see how much you get from PV or if you want all charge sources counted as then the Load energy will also be correct). You will want to avoid charging from alternator anyway as it is 50x more expensive than charging from PV.

Renogy also has battery to battery chargers https://www.renogy.com/12v-dc-to-dc-on-board-battery-charger/  and many people also use those. The ignition signal will be controlled by your car ingition so charging is done only when engine is runing and in series with that the EXT IOx set as type 1 from SBMS will also be used so that SBMS0 can stop charging when battery is fully charged.

What model is your inverter charger ? If is a Victron Multiplus then there is no problem you can just use this instructions https://www.victronenergy.com/upload/documents/Manual-Connecting-other-lithium-battery-systems-to-Multis-and-Quattros-EN.pdf  If not then things will be much more complicated.

[Gareth George]

Thanks for the info. Was very useful. Unfortunately I'm using a Victron MultiPlus Comapct so I've got a SSR to cut off the incoming shoreline connection that would either be external power of from my genny.

[SKM]

Philippe, thx for sharing your diagram, it is very helpful. A couple of questions:

-  What equipment is represented by “D+ Relay”? 

-  Did you use any SSR for connecting EXTIO4 to the Li Charger and similarly EXTIO3 to inverter and BP65?

Thx, Sam

[Franco De Mei]

If I can help you ,in attachment what I'm doing on My boat.Interface Pcb is one simple board handmade, to avoid lot of wire all around the batteries.

[SKM]

Franco, thank you! My application is also in a boat. Great idea to reduce wiring clutter.