The SmartShunt is a powerful battery monitor with Bluetooth on board. It can be installed out of sight, behind the scenes – whilst live data from the device is relayed to your mobile phone or laptop via the VictronConnect App, which is free to use. Before we even get to the settings, please note that these three parameters work together to determine when your battery is at 100% State of Charge (SOC): Please note that if the "Consumed Ah" reading indicates three dashes: “---” this means that the battery monitor is in an unsynchronised state. This mainly occurs when the battery monitor has just been installed or after the battery monitor has been left unpowered and is powered up again. For more information, see the Synchronising the battery monitor chapter.

The SmartShunt 500A is an all in one battery monitor, only without a display. Your phone acts as the display. The SmartShunt connects via Bluetooth to the VictronConnect app on your phone (or tablet) and you can conveniently read out all monitored battery parameters, like state of charge, time to go, historical information and much more. Siphon regulatory devices: their role in the treatment of hydrocephalus. Neurosurg Focus. 2007; 22( 4):1–8. [ PubMed] [ Google Scholar]The battery monitor estimates how long the battery can support the present load. This is the “time-to-go” readout and is the actual time left until the battery is discharged to the set “discharge floor”. The discharge floor is by default set at 50%. For the discharge floor setting see the Discharge floor chapter. If the load is fluctuating heavily, it is best not to rely on this reading too much, as it is a momentary readout and should be used as a guideline only. We recommend the use of the state of charge readout for accurate battery monitoring. It’s likely you’ll want to use more than one appliance at a time. It is therefore important to factor the total wattage into your inverter calculations. Helps to calculate remaining time of battery (based on current rate of discharge … hmmm the current current). Basically this is the amount (in percentage) that you want to not be part of the normal 100% of usable energy in your battery.

The Victron manual states: The “charged voltage” parameter should be set to 0.2V or 0.3V below the float voltage of the charger.

Make sure you calculate the size of all wires, fuses, and other system accessories.

The battery is considered as “fully charged” once the charge current has dropped to less than the set “Tail current” parameter. The “Tail current” parameter is expressed as a percentage of the battery capacity. The shunt is fitted in-line with theleisure/house battery's negative cable, the starter/auxiliary battery's negative cable is connected to the shunt's output and fused +ve supplies are takenfrom each battery into the shunt's 2 inputs. As an alternative to monitoringthe voltage of a2nd battery, the shunt's2nd/auxiliary inputcan be used for temperature monitoring (requires optional temperature sensor) or midpoint monitoring. The information from the SmartShunt can also be displayed on a GX device by connecting with a VE.Direct cable. The diagnosis and treatment of idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus. Nat Clin Pract Neurol. 2006; 2( 7):375–81. [ PubMed] [ Google Scholar]

Let’s flesh this out a bit as getting it wrong usually causes the shunt to report 100% SOC too early (i.e. it’s still accepting charge). The Strata valve also uses a ball and a magnetic rotor, as has been detailed for the Medos valve. With the Strata, there are only five adjustable pressure settings, and a setting is selected depending on the specific needs of the patient. The Strata solution includes preoperative and postoperative adjustment tools. With the locator tool and the indicator tool, both preoperative and postoperative tools follow the mechanism detailed in Figure 2. The postoperative tools, named StrataVarius, includes a digital display to allow noninvasive measurement of pressure. The Strata is approved for MRI usage, but patients must seek readjustment immediately after imaging to ensure valve pressure invariability. In the VictronConnect app press the ”Synchronise” button to synchronise the battery monitor to 100%.Evaluation of CSF flow in shunts using a non-invasive thermal technique. Cerebrospinal Fluid Res. 2009; 6 S1:S41. [ Google Scholar] The main function of the battery monitor is to follow and indicate the state of charge of a battery, to be able to know how much charge the battery contains and to prevent an unexpected total discharge. This is the actual current flowing in or out of the battery. A negative current indicates that current is taken from the battery. This is the current needed for DC loads. A positive current means that current is going into the battery. This is current coming from charge sources. Keep in mind that the battery monitor will always indicate the total battery current, being the current traveling into the battery minus the current traveling out of the battery. In vitro hydrodynamic properties of the miethke ProGAV hydrocephalus shunt. Cerebrospinal Fluid Res. 2006; 3( 1):9. [ PMC free article] [ PubMed] [ Google Scholar] Transcutaneous pressure-adjustable valves and magnetic resonance imaging: an ex vivo examination of the codman-medos programmable valve and the sophy adjustable pressure valve. Neurosurgery. 1997; 40( 5):1050–8. [ PubMed] [ Google Scholar]