Hi all, just wanting to hear from anyone who's had experience with BM PRO BatteryCheck 12/24V Bluetooth Battery Monitors, I'm leaning towards this after reviewing heaps on the market, cheers in advance, Bruce.
They are made by the same mob that makes the Drifter BM so I reckon they would employ the same technology. They are also $350 cheaper so that would buy you the smart phone to use as the monitor if you don't have one already. Jayco have been installing Drifters for some time and I have not heard any bad comments about those.
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PeterD Nissan Navara D23 diesel auto, Spaceland pop-top Retired radio and electronics technician. NSW Central Coast.
If you want a future proof monitor you can't go past the Victron 700 BMV in my opinion, it is programmable to suit any battery chemistry and has separate alarm and relay driver settings so it is an active monitor. No doubt Victron have a Bluetooth device that plugs in to send the info to your phone if that is what you are after
T1 Terry
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I've had a BMPro for some months in my ute. The first one seemed to be faulty and was replaced with no problems. The replacement worked most of the time for a while.
My experience with them is that they are pretty erratic, especially for the price. Bluetoothing to my iPhone5 is very hit and miss. Sometimes it works OK, then other times it just doesn't want to connect. The phone says it is connected, but BMPro keeps asking me to make sure the Bluetooth on the phone is connected. I delete the connection, then pair again, and I go around in circles trying to get a result. I was getting a screen up, with a big green "Connect" button on it telling me to go to Bluetooth. Even when I go to the phone and reconnect, including using the 4 digit password, I was going back to the same screen, and just go around in circles. I've just deleted the App from my phone, then reinstalled it. Guess what? we are back at the same old problem with that same screen.
When it was working, more or less, it held the previous session info and showed that, until I refreshed the Bluetooth connection. I was going to get a second one for my van, but think it better to remove the one I have as I'm getting no benefit from it.
I should add, I can be within less than a metre from the unit when trying to get it to function.
The guys from BMPro were initially very helpful, but I feel now it's not worth the time and effort to contact them.
I have the Victron 700 and find no problem at all getting off by butt every now and then to have a quick look at the guage in the van.
Have more of a problem finding my phone so bluetooth would be no good to me.
Hi all
I agree with Tailor - the Bluetooth is an bit hit and miss. And it pops up a message asking to connect whenever you go near the vehicle - I find that annoying.
I have a BMPro on the aux battery in the tug and a BMV700 with the Bluetooth dongle in the van. The BMV is much more stable and easier to use. It seems to connect every time and gives more info.
But the BMPro is certainly easier to install. Especially in an engine bay. And no wires through the firewall.
To give my a BMPro chance to fix it's problems, I completely disconnected the unit, uninstalled the app on the phone and told Bluetooth to forget the BMPro.
Then did a new install of the unit and the app and a new pair from the phone. Unfortunately I am still getting the same old message, which must be in memory somewhere. I'm going to shut down the phone and see if that is the problem.
EUREKA!! Some of the problems are to do with the iPhone. Seems it retains some things in memory and keeps referring to it. Shutting down the phone cleared the message, and now the BMPro is back to normal.
Like Dunnp I find the continual message asking to connect a real pain. Would be much more user friendly from my point of view to just supply information on request.
But the BMPro is certainly easier to install. Especially in an engine bay. And no wires through the firewall.
In the engine bay could mean a bit of RF shielding. Open the bonnet and see how it works when you are standing in front of the vehicle. Also it may not like under bonnet temperatures.
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PeterD Nissan Navara D23 diesel auto, Spaceland pop-top Retired radio and electronics technician. NSW Central Coast.
The body may be shielding to some extent but I don't think that's the problem. The Bluetooth tries to connect - even from 10m behind the car. But it pops up the 'go to settings' message frequently as if it can't pair. It's not that it won't connect; it's just erratic.
Re engine bay temp, yes they will be elevated (I've seen 55C on the BM) but surely it is designed to cope with that. It's not as if you have the option of putting it somewhere cool like in the cabin. It has to be mounted on the negative terminal.
I think there may be some conflicts between the iPhone and the BMPro, it appears to be data being kept in memory in both phone and unit. Like you, I often get the "go to settings" message, a number of times in a row. I found by basically reloading the settings it will eventually pair properly. Absolutely frustrating all the same.
I'm also not too sure of the battery health display. I had older batteries and the health showed 50% on the display, and then I installed two new batteries, but still have the same display, 50% yellow on the scale. Gives me no confidence that the data is correct.
I have emailed them about the issues, but to date no reply. Also asked them if they could change the software to only become active on demand instead of every time I walk past my ute.
I run a BMPRO in the van and it works well with Android phone, it auto-connects when Bluetooth on the phone is turned on so I don't have to mess around. Main issue for me is for multiple batteries is that its $199 per battery. I have the basic Jayco gauge that looks like its Christmas time when its charged and all the little lights are green so its pretty useless to look at charge and drain with different appliances which is why I use the the BMPro.
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Brian & Nada retired and > "Ready to live the Dream" Live in the Shire!
76 series V8 Landcrab with Jayco Starcraft Outback Poptop
not very accurate Santa.
Another vote for the Victron BMV 700/702 here.
With solar going in and power for fridges, telly, some lighting etc, its amazing how much the voltage fluctuates compared to the actual state of charge.
A simple volt meter will eventually be correct (need to wait some time after input and output at least) but you cannot beat counting those coulombs.
Tailor wrote:I'm also not too sure of the battery health display. I had older batteries and the health showed 50% on the display, and then I installed two new batteries, but still have the same display, 50% yellow on the scale. Gives me no confidence that the data is correct.
What is this "health" business? The monitor does not report on the health of the battery. if you battery is getting old the battery could be down to 50 - 80% of its original capacity (that is what I consider the health of the battery.) What the monitor reports on is the SOC based upon what you have set as the batteries actual capacity.
Let's take an example of a battery near the end of its life. If you have a 100 Ah battery it could be down to say 70% capacity. supposedly you had erroneously initially set the monitor to 120 Ah as the battery capacity. If you one night drained 35 Ah from the battery it would be half discharged (ie 50% SOC.) The monitor would have measured the discharge as 35 Ah and calculated that you had used about 30% of the 120 Ah. It would then indicate you still had 70% SOC.
Did you reset the unit by fully charging the batteries? Did you reset the battery capacity setting in the monitor if the battery size was different? The computer in the shunt section holds the previous readings. It does not matter what the discharge state of the battery you have just connected the SOC display will be that of the old battery until you reset the monitors memory by running it through the initial set-up procedure for the new battery.
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PeterD Nissan Navara D23 diesel auto, Spaceland pop-top Retired radio and electronics technician. NSW Central Coast.
Sorry for late reply, have been away.
This "health business" is a separate section as distinct from state of charge, on the BMPro. I think the latter gives us the remaining capacity of the battery, however, the voltage dial shows the current volts remaining in the battery. Hence my confusion regarding battery health.
I did reset the monitor, changing the age from 2 years to NEW, with battery at 13.6V, but there was and has never been any change in the state of health. As far as I'm concerned that information is useless.
I'm also of the opinion that the BMPro does not sync too well with the IPhone 5. Too many times I keep getting sent in a circle to Settings to turn on Bluetooth when it's shown as connected.
All in all the idea I'mth inkling to use it just as a voltmeter, when it does connect, that is.
It's behavior is too erratic. Either have great trouble to connect (from 1 metre away), or drives me mad wanting to connect anytime near it. I have spoken to them about the possibility of change, but haven't had a reply from their IT section.
The idea is great, but execution is not, in my opinion.
This "health business" is a separate section as distinct from state of charge, on the BMPro. I think the latter gives us the remaining capacity of the battery, however, the voltage dial shows the current volts remaining in the battery. Hence my confusion regarding battery health.
I had not read the handbook before my previous answer. I made my assumption on the basis that I have not seen this feature in any other battery monitor. I have since downloaded the handbook and searched through it for "health" using the the search function in my Nitro Reader (so I think I found all references.) There was nowhere in the manual where "health" was explained or defined. Reading between the lines it could have reference to battery deterioration and the maximum capacity left as a result of battery aging. You will have to await the answer from BMPro. Please report on any answer they give you.
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PeterD Nissan Navara D23 diesel auto, Spaceland pop-top Retired radio and electronics technician. NSW Central Coast.
An update as promised in my last post. Have not had any answer to the email to BM Pro.
Just sent them another email saying I'm pulling the damn thing out. It is a great idea, but an expensive piece of worthless piece of junk in real life.
Just wasted half an hour again, trying to get it to function. All I get is the message to go to Setting>Bluetooth and connect. I've done that 15-20n times with no result. Have disconnected the IPhone, reconnected and get a message asking to allow BM Pro to connect. Click allow, go to the battery check and get the same stupid request to go to settings. After three times doing this I give up.
Sometimes it works OK, but in general it's useless.
I've just emailed them again to tell them how I feel. Am going bush for three months and would like the facility but can't handle the agro.
