Balmar SG-200 Battery Monitor

[SailingHarmonie]

I can say it worked for me, up until it did not. Balmar tech service assured me all was good... and because of that I killed my batteries because I missed the signals of impending doom--by believing them instead of my gut.

It cost me a LOT of money. I threw mine away.

[Peeew]

I’ve been using my SG200 for a few years. I really can’t say how well the SOH works. Mine still usually says 100%. But the batteries also seem to be working same as when new. Mine will occasionally display 1% SOC for unknown reason. Seems to be mainly when I start my engine. The only cure is to pull the fuse and then reinsert it. That fixes it. Or wait for a few hours and it seems to figure it out. Since the one amp fuse is hidden away near the batteries I think the smart thing to do is add a breaker or switch that is easy to access

[two-rocks]

Mine works, seems very accurate with the lifepo4.

But years later, my lifepo4 will still be good and I think the Victron would have been just as useful. Maybe more considering how much time I spend looking at the Victron app (lots of Bluetooth Victron stuff).

[jhulmer]

Originally Posted by CrispyCringle

Ive got an SG200 being delivered tomorrow. After reading through this 4 year old running thread I have one question-

Does the SG200 work or not?

I didnt see this thread until after I ordered it. Looks like a lot of kinks worked out over the years. But is it up to snuff now? SoH working?

Thanks

I have been using mine for about three years and I think it works well. The SoH is still showing 100% and the batts are still going to a full charge.

One note: I disconnected my batteries to do some electrical work. The gauge lost it's information on the batteries SoH and SoC. It took it about 2 to 3 charge cycles and it was back accurate again. So I know it is working.

I don't think you will be disappointed in the SG200.
Cheers!

[CrispyCringle]

Thanks for the comments. I guess Ill give it a shot and see how it goes.

The SoH is probably a derived number based on Ah count and expected charge curves for a type battery. I could see how it may be sort of fudged or estimated. Im mainly concerned with SoC and the info from that. But lll see what I get and report back.

[steve77]

Originally Posted by CrispyCringle

Ive got an SG200 being delivered tomorrow. After reading through this 4 year old running thread I have one question-

Does the SG200 work or not?

I didnt see this thread until after I ordered it. Looks like a lot of kinks worked out over the years. But is it up to snuff now? SoH working?

Thanks

State of Health does not work for me. I’ve been reading two horizontal bars for the past few months since returning to the boat after the holidays.

Steve

[lateral]

I've had mine in since they first came out 2016ish. SOH has always been 100%, SOC is not accurate until you get down to ~50% on FLA's where you are not doing decently deep cycles. RC said that that would be the case.
Now have LiFePo4 and works better. Also installed MC618 & works well.
Backed up mine with Victron BVM712 cos of relay.
Hype definitely exceeded performance. 712 more useful, IMO.
Never bought it for SOH, so don't care. Currently basically filling a hole in instrument panel. Oh, & a cross reference on Victron.

[CrispyCringle]

Dang it. Victron makes really good stuff. Maybe Ill go with the Victron BVM712. It gives me the info I really need.

[Statistical]

Originally Posted by CrispyCringle

Dang it. Victron makes really good stuff. Maybe Ill go with the Victron BVM712. It gives me the info I really need.

If you can still return it I would go with BMV-712. Cheaper, better, with built in bluetooth support and an absolutely huge community in case you run into some issues. Especially true for LFP packs.

For someone who already has an SG-200 installed and it works and they are use to it probably not worth changing.

Regardless for both of them (or any similar alternatives) the shunt should be as close to the negative terminal on the battery as possible. Ideally there is just a single negative battery cable connected to the battery and it passes through the shunt. No other connections to the battery. Any connections bypassing the shunt obviously won't be counted which throws off the calculations. Sure any good monitor can reset at 100% SoC but it is an unforced error to allow current to "leak" past the shunt.

[CrispyCringle]

Two months in to using the Victron BMV 712, all I can say is glad I went with the Victron. It shares info with the Vic inverter, and will soon be working together with a Victron solar controller. It works beautifully.

Note that I did return the SG200 without ever taking it out of the box. So nothing bad to say about it, just glad I went with the choice I did.