SmartShunt on iPhone: everything the app shows you

What the SmartShunt broadcasts

Instant Readout is a short, encrypted Bluetooth broadcast that any phone in range can receive without connecting. For a battery monitor like the SmartShunt, the data format Victron published lists these fields (Victron, Instant Readout data format):

Power in watts is not a separate field: it is voltage times current. Deeck shows it on the deck, together with the power coming from solar, engine and mains.

Turn on Instant Readout in VictronConnect

Instant Readout is off by default (VictronConnect manual). You switch it on once, in VictronConnect, Victron’s official app:

1. 1

   Open VictronConnect near the SmartShunt and connect to it with its PIN.

2. 2

   Tap the three dots at the top right of the settings, then Product info.

3. 3

   Near the bottom of the page, switch on Instant readout.

VictronConnect often offers this by itself the first time you connect: tap Enable now and you are done. Keep VictronConnect for settings and firmware updates. Deeck never keeps a connection open, so the two apps work side by side.

Set it up in Deeck with the PIN

Reading Instant Readout normally means copying a 32-character encryption key out of VictronConnect by hand. Deeck reads it for you:

1. 1

   Open Deeck near your system. The SmartShunt shows up on the radar, together with every other Victron Smart device in range.

2. 2

   Tap it and type its Bluetooth PIN once: the same PIN you use in VictronConnect.

3. 3

   Deeck reads the key by itself and closes the connection. The deck is live.

The key is stored in your iPhone’s Keychain and never sent to us. Moving to a new iPhone takes one AirDrop or a QR code.

For the setup, Bluetooth has to be on and the iPhone within a few metres of the SmartShunt. After that, Deeck only listens.

What Deeck adds on top

Deeck adds what VictronConnect does not offer on iPhone, without changing anything on the SmartShunt:

• One deck for the whole system. The SmartShunt next to your MPPT, chargers and inverter, with the power flowing between solar, engine, mains, battery and loads.
• Autonomy in days and hours. Computed from how your battery really behaves, counting down to the reserve you choose, not to zero.
• History. The state-of-charge trend over 24 hours, 7 or 30 days, and production against consumption. Seven days of history in the free version; 90 days and CSV export with Pro.
• Alarms. Low charge, low or high voltage, high temperature, with a heads-up before the critical level. Basic alarms are free; multi-threshold alarms and push with the app closed are part of Pro.
• Widgets and Siri. Small, medium and large Home Screen widgets with the state-of-charge ring and autonomy. Ask Siri for the battery charge without opening the app (Siri phrases in English and Italian today).
• Apple Watch and CarPlay (Pro). A complication with the state-of-charge ring on the watch face, and the same deck on the car’s screen: see Victron on CarPlay.

When the numbers look wrong

State of charge is counted, not measured. The SmartShunt adds up the amp-hours going in and out, so it needs to know when the battery is full in order to count from 100 %. It synchronises automatically when the charge conditions set in VictronConnect are met, and you can also synchronise it by hand (SmartShunt manual).

After installation, or when the battery has not been fully charged for a long time, the percentage can drift. A full charge brings it back. If it keeps drifting, check the battery capacity and charge settings in VictronConnect: they live in the SmartShunt, not in the app that displays it.

Time-to-go follows the present draw, so it jumps when a big load switches on or off. How quickly it reacts depends on the averaging period set on the SmartShunt.

Questions people ask