Victron SmartShunt 2000A/50mV SHU050220050

The SmartShunt is a good alternative for a BMV battery monitor, especially for systems where battery monitoring is needed but less wiring and clutter is wanted. The SmartShunt is equipped with Bluetooth, a VE.Direct port and a connection that can be used for: monitoring a second battery, midpoint monitoring or a temperature sensor.

A shunt is added to a system to measure current flow. This is needed for system monitoring or to calculate the battery state of charge.

A shunt is a resistive element. When current passes through it a small voltage drop will occur over the shunt. If the current is small the voltage will be low, and if the current is large the voltage will be higher. If the current flow reverses, the voltage drop will change polarity. The voltage of the shunt is an indication of the amount of current and the direction of the current. This information can be used to find out how much current runs into a system or for battery state of charger calculation.

A shunt has a current and a voltage rating, for example, 500 A, 50 mV. This means that if 500 A current passes through the shunt, there will be a 50 mV (= 0.05 V) voltage drop over the shunt.

The shunt needs to be rated to the maximum DC current that will flow into the combined consumers in the system.

Example: An inverter is connected to a battery. The maximum current will be the peak rating of the inverter. A 3000 VA inverter has a peak current of 6000 W, this is, at 12 V a 500 A current. A BMV battery monitor comes with a 500 A, 50 mV shunt. In case this shunt is not big enough you will need to add a bigger shunt. Victron shunts are available in the following sizes: 500, 1000, 2000 and 6000 A. And they are 50 mV. When using a bigger shunt make sure that you change the shunt parameters in the battery monitor.