Digital Yacht introduce BM100 battery monitoring solution and NMEA 2000 interface for Victron power products
Staring at a black plastic battery enclosure and guessing what’s happening or how long it will last – or watching lights get dimmer, electronics dropping out and a winch not operating? Digital Yacht’s new iSeaSense BM100 battery monitoring system allows for highly accurate DC voltage, current and capacity measurements enabling reliable monitoring of your boat’s battery and electrical system.
Core to the system is the SmartShunt. It measures battery voltage and current. Based on these measurements, it intelligently calculates the battery’s state of charge and the time to depletion for the remaining charge. It also keeps track of historical data, such as deepest discharge and average discharge current as well as the number of charge and discharge cycles. The SmartShunt can also monitor the voltage of a 2nd battery – typically dedicated to engine starting.
The system features a NMEA 2000 interface so your navigation multi-function display can display all key battery parameters. Modern MFDs from leading manufacturers such as Garmin, Raymarine, Furuno and Navico allow electrical data to be displayed via their NMEA 2000 interface. Alarms and alerts for low capacity and voltage can also be enabled.
The BM100 also has a standalone wireless Bluetooth interface so your mobile phone or iPad can connect and display current, voltage, capacity, additional historical data, state of charge information and time to go based on remaining battery capacity.
We’re increasingly reliant on DC battery electrical power while afloat for lighting, refrigeration, pumps, winches etc so having accurate battery information and monitoring charge from various sources is essential. The service life of batteries depends on many factors. Battery life may be shortened by under-charging, over-charging, excessively deep discharges, excessive charge or discharge currents, and by high ambient temperature. Monitoring the battery with the BM100 will give important feedback to the user so that remedial measures can be taken when necessary. Doing this will extend battery life. There’s also an optional battery temperature sensor available.
The product is a collaboration between Victron Energy and Digital Yacht. The system utilises Victron’s proprietary VE.Direct data connectivity as a source for the NMEA 2000 data. The BM100 is part of a wider group of products now introduced by Digital Yacht which bring NMEA 2000 connectivity to Victron systems using the veKonvert interface. All Victron solar panel controllers (MPPTs) and battery monitors can now also interconnect to NMEA 2000 via the veKonvert interface which is also available separately.
Suitable for 12, 24V and 48V systems, the standard smart shunt is rated at 500A with 1000A and 2000A versions available for larger systems. Multiple BM100’s can be installed for each battery bank if required and they can be field programmed to display individually on the NMEA 2000 device.
The BM100 system is priced at $399.95
The veKonnect interface is $209.95
More information from www.digitalyachtamerica.com
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where have you been my whole life!!
I just added an image of Raymarine, Navico, and Garmin screens showing the NMEA 2000 output of a Digital Yacht veKonvert connected to a Victron battery monitor, and I’m confident that voltage, current, and state of charge will show on most any N2K display. Congrats to both companies for working together to provide another Victron interface choice (that’s particularly useful for a boater who only wants their battery sensor and/or solar panel controller).
But do note that only a Garmin MFD will show the alarms that a Victron battery monitor can be set up to transmit, even though there are standard NMEA 2000 pgns designed to do just that. In short, non-Garmin displays could be more useful with this and other sensor systems if their manufacturers adopted N2K Alerts, more information here:
https://panbo.com/nmea-2000-network-alert-pgns-seem-great-so-why-are-they-hardly-used/
I don’t get it. Why spend 400 bucks on this. The smartshunt is about 100 bucks. DigitalYacht are having a laugh.
The $400 BM100 kit does seem to mark up the Victron components, but not as badly as you state, Martin. The SmartShunt retails at about $130, plus about $15 for the needed VEDirect cable. So you can save about $45 by buying just the $210 veKonvert and getting the Victron stuff elsewhere.
Quick note from DY – Always useful to get comments and we’re certainly not trying to disguise a price. We don’t expect to sell many complete systems – rather most users will just want our veKonvert interface for an existing installation. However, some Digital Yacht dealers do want to sell a complete, new solution and we need to be able to supply and offer a discount for them to sell effectively. Sadly we can’t buy the shunt for $100 but I’m sure the street price will end up being below our MSRP!