CA Traveler
The Western States
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Here's a picture of my shunt installation which might provide ideas for others. The copper bracket is a piece of 3/4" copper pipe.
But now that the Trimetric 2025 RV battery monitor is operational it's identified a new problem. My rig has a house battery disconnect switch that disconnects everything except the Magnum 2012 converter/inverter. And that piece of equipment draws 0.3A which is enough to discharge the batteries to 50% in 30 days.
My guess is that Monaco wanted the batteries to stay charged even though the house was disconnected. Well OK but I have no power while the rig is stored.
So any suggestions for installation of a disconnect switch in the general area of the shunt?
* This post was
edited 02/07/12 04:57pm by an administrator/moderator *
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OnaQuest
Raleigh, NC
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Not an answer to your specific question, but where does the cable on the negative battery terminal go? To the negative of another battery bank?
Why do you need a negative battery disconnect switch?
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landyacht318
Near a large body of water
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Yeah, I'd run the disconnect on the (+), and if you have solar, connect the controller right to the Battery + bypassing the cut off switch.
One question about your shunt. Why does the terminal on the left have one twisted pair sense wire, yet the other has only a single sense wire?
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JUrban
Delaware
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Nice job on the Lifelines. Can you give me some idea on how high the shunt is? I've been considering a Trimetric. How about a manual turn type switch such as those used on a boat. A whole bunch here: http://www.iboats.com/Marine-Battery-Switches/dm/view_id.216621
John
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CA Traveler
The Western States
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OnaQuest wrote:Not an answer to your specific question, but where does the cable on the negative battery terminal go? To the negative of another battery bank?
Why do you need a negative battery disconnect switch? The batteries are 4 6V batteries in a series/parallel connection. The smaller 2/O cable connected directly to the battery post (along with the copper bracket) goes to the negative of the second pair of 6V batteries. The larger 4/O cable on the left side of the shunt goes to frame ground and from that location there are several ground cables one of which goes to the charger/inverter ground.
A battery disconnect switch could be located on either the positive or negative cable.
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CA Traveler
The Western States
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landyacht318 wrote:Yeah, I'd run the disconnect on the (+), and if you have solar, connect the controller right to the Battery + bypassing the cut off switch. I'm considering solar so thanks for the reminder.
One question about your shunt. Why does the terminal on the left have one twisted pair sense wire, yet the other has only a single sense wire? The Trimetric 2025 RV uses 5 wires. Two of the wires sense the voltage drop across the shunt and have no other loads except for the voltage detection (and hence amp usage) of the shunt. The second pair which includes the second wire on the left side of the shunt and a connection to the positive battery terminal supply power to the meter/display and as such there may be some minor voltage drop on that set of wires. But that voltage drop is not a factor for the first pair of wires which is suppling an accurate represetanion of the amp usage. The fifth wire which is used for the 2025 RV unit is used to display the voltage of a second batterey bank which in my case is the statting batteries. Is that clear as mud?
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CA Traveler
The Western States
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I actually installed a 6 conductor 22 gauge non twisted wire cable before I bought the meter, shunt, fuses and wire. So if there are any problems I can easily convert to the twisted pair cable.
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landyacht318
Near a large body of water
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Okay, that is clear as mud 
I have the same Shunt on my IPN pro remote and it wanted a twisted pair going to each side of the shunt. But it gets it's power through a telephone type cord which leads to the solar charge controller.
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CA Traveler
The Western States
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JUrban wrote:Nice job on the Lifelines. Can you give me some idea on how high the shunt is? I've been considering a Trimetric. How about a manual turn type switch such as those used on a boat. A whole bunch here: http://www.iboats.com/Marine-Battery-Switches/dm/view_id.216621
John The battery terminal is 1/2" high and the shunt 1 1/2" high resulting in a 1" rise for the bracket. While not apparent in the photo there is a horizontal offset in the bracket so that the shunt can clear a battery handle.
Thanks for the link, I'll check those switches and see what kind of clearance I have etc.
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JUrban
Delaware
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CA Traveler wrote:JUrban wrote:Nice job on the Lifelines. Can you give me some idea on how high the shunt is? I've been considering a Trimetric. How about a manual turn type switch such as those used on a boat. A whole bunch here: http://www.iboats.com/Marine-Battery-Switches/dm/view_id.216621
John The battery terminal is 1/2" high and the shunt 1 1/2" high resulting in a 1" rise for the bracket. While not apparent in the photo there is a horizontal offset in the bracket so that the shunt can clear a battery handle.
Thanks for the link, I'll check those switches and see what kind of clearance I have etc. I also found one for under $10 at the Harbor Freight site. Thanks for the shunt info.
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