wildebus
Forum Member
This may be of interest to builders with certain configurations...
Prepping a kit for a build upgrade where both the Starter and the Leisure batteries are under the bonnet. To get the best & saftest use, a Battery Monitor should be installed, and to avoid the need to run a data cable through the bulkhead, the Victron SmartShunt was decided as the best solution.
The SmartShunt is rated as an IP21 device so is ok with limited water splashing but not heavy sprays of water.
So I put it into a waterproof box and fitted some cable glands for the large -ve cables and small +ve cables
As the box lid will hopefully never need to be opened, I added labels to every cable so there is no doubt what goes where.
In this case I used 16mm cables to the shunt, which are a bit smaller than I would typically use but that suits this setup fine. The glands would take a 25mm cable with no problem and potentially even a 35mm cable so the same solution could be used there.
Whether you need to protect the SmartShunt will depend on the location of course - some "outside" locations remain totally dry so wouldn't bother with those,
Prepping a kit for a build upgrade where both the Starter and the Leisure batteries are under the bonnet. To get the best & saftest use, a Battery Monitor should be installed, and to avoid the need to run a data cable through the bulkhead, the Victron SmartShunt was decided as the best solution.
The SmartShunt is rated as an IP21 device so is ok with limited water splashing but not heavy sprays of water.
So I put it into a waterproof box and fitted some cable glands for the large -ve cables and small +ve cables
As the box lid will hopefully never need to be opened, I added labels to every cable so there is no doubt what goes where.
In this case I used 16mm cables to the shunt, which are a bit smaller than I would typically use but that suits this setup fine. The glands would take a 25mm cable with no problem and potentially even a 35mm cable so the same solution could be used there.
Whether you need to protect the SmartShunt will depend on the location of course - some "outside" locations remain totally dry so wouldn't bother with those,
It is a shame the SmartShunt didn't come out years ago for "out the way" installs.