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Battery Monitor Install


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First time posting. We have a 2017 Legacy Elite 2 with the Trojan AGM batteries. I ordered a battery monitor (Victron) and in the interim between ordering and receiving I looked at the online installation instructions. The instructions all sounded easy enough (and I am comfortable enough and reasonably competent with electrical work) but when I looked at the actual battery wiring and the battery schematic provided by Oliver (see attached) I had a number of questions like how actually to wire the shunt and should I install a bus for the negative leads, and based on others experience where best to mount the shunt and bus (if needed) . Anybody able to give a hand? Could markup the attached schematic if convenient, or we could talk, or whatever. Thanks upfront. 

oliver battery monitor07052020182207.pdf

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It’s a little late for pictures tonight, but I’ll give you this to think about.  When I got finished with my Victron BMV-712 installation, there were only 3 wires going into the battery box.  1 to the battery negative, 1 to the battery positive and 1 from the Victron temperature sensor.  I installed a positive and negative buss bar in the lower hull under the pantry on the walkway wall.

Mossey

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Mike and Krunch   Lutz, FL  
2017 LEII #193 “the dog house”

 

 

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Tody,

I helped someone else with this, who just completed their install on a 2017, last week.

I would be more than happy to talk it through with you and/or get you in touch with the Oliver owner who just completed the work.

If you are interested, please PM me with your contact information.

Andrew

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Andrew

 

2019 Legacy Elite II  2018 BMW x5 35d 

 

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I think my favorite spot for the shunt is on the side of the battery box, bolted through. That way it’s solidly secured and out of the way. Then run a 4/0 cable to either a bus bar or combiner post, whichever you prefer. And that can be located pretty much anywhere - you’ll find that Oliver regularly changes up where they place electrical equipment, so what works great for some people might not work well for you.  I do think either a bus or combiner post is needed - I think you’d have a hard time getting all the various negative cables attached directly to the shunt securely. 
 

Wiring it up is simple. You’ll have the cable from the battery box attached to one side and a cable from your new bus bar attached to the other. Then the Ethernet cable and power/voltage sensor plug into the side of the shunt. 
 

On your bus bar you’ll have the cable from the shunt; the primary negatives from your solar, inverter, and Oliver’s electrical; and then the grounds from your solar (maybe?) and inverter. That’s it. 
 

Most importantly - use shrink wrap on all the lugs and add strain relief to all the cables. You don’t want a cable to pull out of a lug one day from vibration. That would ruin your day and possibly your trailer. Basically on all your connections and mounts, think what its going to be like after ten years of vibration, bouncing the trailer off curbs, etc.

As for the monitor itself, if you bought the Bluetooth version, then just tuck it somewhere inside the hull. You’ll need access to it when you set it up but otherwise you won’t ever need to look at it, so no point in cutting a hole in you trailer. 

Edited by Overland
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Thanks Overland. So using Oliver schematic for AGM's as a reference take all the negative leads (Battery temp sensor, inverter ground solar ground, and main ground and attach to bus bar. Then run a 4/0 cable from either (?) negative post on the 2 batteries located on the left hand side of the schematic to the shunt. I've shown what I think is the correct install wiring on right hand side of attached schematic. Is this correct? I didn't show the power wire to monitor.  Sorry for being a bit "anal" on all this but I'd prefer to avoid screwing anything up. Thanks,  

wiring for battery monitor07062020093048.pdf

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Toby,

In my experience, it’s more fun to stub your toe and learn from your mistakes.😄

And please take AndrewK up on his offer to help as he has done his own install and guided several other Ollie owners with their installations, giving him more experience than I have.

FYI:  I removed the Zamp Charge Controller temperature sensor and used the Victron instead.  This is in preparation of upgrading my charge controller.

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Mossey

Mike and Krunch   Lutz, FL  
2017 LEII #193 “the dog house”

 

 

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I know I can use the bluetooth feature to access the battery info (versus mounting the gauge) but has anyone run the cable and installed the gauge above the battery/tank gauge monitor that came with the Oliver. I've tried running some wire down both sides of the cabinet (one side of which has the Oliver battery/tank monitor gauges) but haven't been successful...I keep running into obstructions. I know the power cable for the battery gauge monitor runs behind the cabinet but I haven't had any luck trying to run a cable down this direction either. I would really like to avoid drilling any holes. Any advice? The good news is Oliver really seals these compartments well, far far better than most trailers I've seen! Thanks.

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I had the same problem and ended up running the cables inside the pantry - in the front corner where they’re out of the way and not visible unless you poke your head inside. Obviously I had to drill through the pantry into the overhead compartment and then through the bottom. But the holes are small and tidy with grommets.  My battery monitor is to the left of the pantry above the color display. 

There’s definitely a path between the hulls though if you can find it. 

Edited by Overland
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52 minutes ago, Toby said:

I know I can use the bluetooth feature to access the battery info (versus mounting the gauge) but has anyone run the cable and installed the gauge above the battery/tank gauge monitor that came with the Oliver. I've tried running some wire down both sides of the cabinet (one side of which has the Oliver battery/tank monitor gauges) but haven't been successful...I keep running into obstructions. 

I tried forever and could not snake a wire down around the pantry. I installed my monitor just below the pantry counter, at the back corner.

 

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It works fine, access to the threaded ring is simple if you have average sized arms, and it is easy to read by leaning over. I seldom use the display but like it to be visible, just in case my app screws up, which it has a couple of times. I mounted the shunt below the rear bed, across from the inverter, and a 1 meter Victron cable just reaches it. I didn’t want an extra 47 feet bundled ip there.

I thought about starting an installation thread but haven't got around to it yet....

John Davies

Spokane WA

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Edited by John E Davies

SOLD 07/23 "Mouse":  2017 Legacy Elite II Two Beds, Hull Number 218, See my HOW TO threads: https://olivertraveltrailers.com/topic/john-e-davies-how-to-threads-and-tech-articles-links/

Tow Vehicle: 2013 Land Cruiser 200, 32” LT tires, airbags, Safari snorkel, Maggiolina Grand Tour 360 Carbon RTT.

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2 hours ago, Toby said:

I know I can use the bluetooth feature to access the battery info (versus mounting the gauge) but has anyone run the cable and installed the gauge above the battery/tank gauge monitor that came with the Oliver. 

I use the Victron app exclusively except for setup, but if you are trying to route the data cable from the shunt to the pantry area, you should be able to run it up in the rear street side corner.  Although I haven’t measured the data cable, you could lay it out and see it would be long enough.  The BMS-712 data sheet indicates that the RJ 12 cable is 10 meters or 32.8 feet.  My rough measurements indicate that 20' of data cable would reach from under the pantry to the SeeLevel ll tank gauge area on the dinette side of the pantry.

A word of caution though, be sure you can get from the left to right side of the pantry before committing to this path.  I worked it behind pantry with access through the port hole by the radio and the cable lays under the rubber mat in the storage bin above the bed along with a lot of other wiring.
I relocated the surge suppressor remote from below the street side bed to the overhead bin above the dinette by this route and it is basically the same cable.

Mossey

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Mike and Krunch   Lutz, FL  
2017 LEII #193 “the dog house”

 

 

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3 hours ago, mossemi said:

I use the Victron app exclusively except for setup, but if you are trying to route the data cable from the shunt to the pantry area, you should be able to run it up in the rear street side corner.  Although I haven’t measured the data cable, you could lay it out and see it would be long enough.  The BMS-712 data sheet indicates that the RJ 12 cable is 10 meters or 32.8 feet.  My rough measurements indicate that 20' of data cable would reach from under the pantry to the SeeLevel ll tank gauge area on the dinette side of the pantry.

A word of caution though, be sure you can get from the left to right side of the pantry before committing to this path.  I worked it behind pantry with access through the port hole by the radio and the cable lays under the rubber mat in the storage bin above the bed along with a lot of other wiring.
I relocated the surge suppressor remote from below the street side bed to the overhead bin above the dinette by this route and it is basically the same cable.

Mossey

Toby,

Follow Mossey's direction.  The cable is plenty long.  I used a five foot fiberglass fish rod to pull a string behind the pantry, tied it to the end of the cat 5 cable and taped the connector well, as to not damage it and pulled through.  You will also need the fish rod to pull the wire down the back wall along the condensate tube for the AC.

I placed the shut under the dinette seat with all of the other negative wires.  I like keeping the positive and negatives sperate, as Oliver has done.

Andrew

Victron BMV-712.JPG

Victron BMV-712 Shunt.JPG

Edited by AndrewK

Andrew

 

2019 Legacy Elite II  2018 BMW x5 35d 

 

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You guys are great! From a first time user I was super impressed with the breadth of knowledge/experience and timelines of the responses. I sure do know where to go for expert advice!! I ended up installing the shunt and a new bus bar inside the battery compartment on the left hand side. I used a small piece of pvc molding (thank you Home Depot) and attached it to the battery compartment wall with 3M adhesive and attached the shunt and bus to it. I installed the gauge just below the pantry counter on the right hand side and ran the data cable and a power cable through the battery compartment using grommets to eliminate chaffing. Reinstalling the batteries and hooking the cables to the battery was a piece of cake. All works great! Special thanks to Andrew for the phone calls...and advice!  

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