Freep wrote:
StirCrazy wrote:
Victron is like GO Power or like Battleborn. They came out with a quality product when there wasn't much competition and they could set their price. Now that there is lots of competition they don't want to drop their price and start ad campaigns to trash the quality of other manufactures, say because they are made in China. Well, both good and bad quality can come out of china and that depends largely on the specs the importing company gives the manufacturer. Most of Victron probably comes over in sea cans and they're good quality. My 50 buck battery monitor is the same set up as the 250.00 Victron (CDN pricing) the only thing different is the Victron has Bluetooth. Bluetooth would be worth an extra 20 to 30 bucks, but not 200.00.
Steve
Keep in mind that Victron offers a lot more than just Bluetooth. Many of their components coordinate with each other, Victron also uses CAN bus, have developed the Venus Operating System for their monitoring and control features and opened it up for developers and DIYers. For example, a developer can run the Victron operating system on a Raspberry Pi and create their own custom monitoring and automation. And a lot of people do this.
So if you need that sort of interoperability and flexibility, it's hard to beat Victron. If you also don't mind paying the premium, then Victron is pretty much impossible to beat.
With all that said, it still looks like the claim that Victron uses some special lookup table for their Smart Shunt is false. It has a lot of great features, but that isn't one of them from what I can tell. And even if it is true, with most LiFePo4 packs you'll never be able to tell the difference between counting Coulombs and counting Coulombs plus using a lookup table.
obviously if your going with a whole system you stick with compatable parts, but most of the time you are not and just getting a piece here and there. the smart shunt is oneof there pieces I do like to add in with liFePo4 setups, a little pricy but not to bad. a lot of the controlers we see out there are pi based thats why there has been a flood of them laitly even in BMS. I am looking at a couple BMS that are basicly using a Pi as the brains. they are looking pretty good so far..
Steve
