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hi youtubers  jeff cote here with ask pys a common  question that we  get or boaters wonder is jeff i'm  installing a battery monitor on my boat  and it looks pretty straight forward  but where am i going to be installing  the battery monitor shunt  and that sounds simple but it's actually  pretty tricky so let's have a look at  the diagram  so a shunt is this device right here  and a shunt is a way um  for us to measure current going in and  out of the battery  so that's really essential a battery  monitor is calculating all the current  going in  calculating all the current going out  and it's using that to figure out what  is going to be the battery capacity of  your boat  and it's also useful because it's also  telling us oh i'm maybe charging my  batteries at 50 amps i'm discharging my  batteries at 15 amps  so you actually get to see what is  getting put in your battery and what's  getting pulled  out of your battery now so let's have a  look at the diagram so the shunt is  right here and you'll notice  that the battery the house batteries  right here positive connections are  directly connected directly at the  battery  it's possible right and we call that  often unswitched distribution  but the shunt has to capture all the  loads  going in and out of the battery and the  first trick to doing that is installing  a negative distribution the negative  distribution is what i'm highlighting  here  okay and that is key you've got to if  you don't have a negative distribution  on your boat you want to install one you  don't want to have too many connections  on your battery post  trust me there's a whole video on just  negative distribution but here  take my word and you want to install a  negative distribution if you're going to  be installing a battery monitor shut  so negative distribution right here and  then the shunt  right here and notice how all the  current going in  right or out is actually  going through that shunt over time what  happens is people don't understand the  purpose of a shunt  it's not their fault it's confusing and  what they end up doing is they end up  bypassing the shunt  so for example maybe one day someone's  going to be installing a heater on your  boat  is going to be installing downriggers is  going to be installing a  new maybe refrigeration system on your  boat and it's not you it's someone else  and that person doesn't really  understand what a battery monitor is and  assumes that connections can be done  directly at the battery well that  is a big no-no because what happens is  if they bypass the shunt  right this device that i'm hiding right  here if they bypass that  magically the shunt won't be measuring  any of the amperage being drawn  from maybe your downriggers or from your  heater  and i've had boaters that invite me on  board and say jeff my heater is magical  it draws no power  but what they're actually failing to  understand and it's not their fault  because they're assuming it's done right  is that their heater is actually  bypassing the shunt  and if you bypass the shunt it can't be  counted and something that can't be  counted can't be measured  and therefore it's magical and your  heater draws no power  so the location of the shunt is  essential and  nothing can bypass the shunt  thank you for watching this pys video if  you've got further questions  ask them down below or go on our website  to fill one of the forms  don't forget to subscribe and thanks for  watching  English (auto-generated)  Videolytics