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hi youtubers jeff cote here so we've got

a question from a fellow boater

he's asking uh would you be able to show

me how to set up a battery monitor

especially in relation to the shunt

good question because um let's be honest

battery monitors are probably one of the

most commonly missed installed devices

on a boat

when we go aboard so many boats were

invited as electrical audits or doing

projects or scope outs or surveys

it's surprising to see how many times

the battery monitor shunt is actually

not properly installed

the shun is a device that actually

measures current um and it's a device

it's a chokepoint it's a single

connection in this electrical system

where it captures all the amps going in

and all the amps going up amps going out

are loads so that would be running a

water pump lights

uh your inverter and amps going into the

battery would be your charging amp so

that can come from your alternator it

could come in from

a battery charger it can also come in

from

solar

and the shunt is one single device that

measures all of that all right so now

let's have a look at a diagram and see

how this all plays out so where's the

battery monitor on this page the battery

monitor

and specifically the item that we're

wiring is the shunt and it's right here

so the shunt is this device here notice

how the battery is at the bottom

and then at the top we've got a dc

negative distribution

so the shunt is basically a single

chokepoint that stops

counts all the current going in and out

of the battery okay so that's where that

is

all right so now that we know what a

battery monitor shunt is and by the way

a shunt is this little device right here

right it's a choke point so it counts

all the amps coming in and out so now

let's look at it on a diagram

all right so where is the shunt the

shunt is this device right here on the

diagram so i'm circling here with my

little laser pointer

and notice here the battery's right here

and that's the house battery but notice

how there's no negatives connected to

the house battery all that negatives are

actually connected right here they're

actually connected

under the dc negative distribution

so the trick is and the question is

where does my dc negative for my engine

battery connect right and you've got two

choices

so should i for example bring back the

dc negative right here or instead of

that

go all the way and bring it back to the

battery

so

what happens is a lot of boaters right

and it's not our faults because it's

confusing it's hard are simply joining

the negatives together and they're going

battery to battery to battery why are we

doing that we're doing that to have it

coming

so here look at my little pointer so

this battery here the battery negative

is right here and you could actually

follow that and go right to the battery

negative of the house battery but by

doing that what are you doing you're

bypassing that chunk notice again i'm

highlighting the shunt right the shunts

right here

right that shunt

cannot be bypassed

you need to bring the negative again

from the engine battery and you have to

bring it back to the dc negative

distribution right here and by doing

that

you're making sure

that you're not actually going to have

engine battery negative be calculated as

part as your house dc negative

and that is how you wire a battery

monitor shunt also if you found this

video interesting please subscribe um it

honestly does it does help us to know

that all this time that we're investing

is actually we're reaching a lot of

voters and i want to thank all of you

for watching thanks for spending some

time with me