January 2007 I finished installing the 500 amp shunt that comes with the Link 1000 battery monitor. A bit of a chore since it comes with only two posts; one for the system negative and the other for all the other negative cables that were originally installed between two 8Ds.

There was no way to place seven negative cables onto the one post so I had to fabricate a buss bar out of one inch wide by one quarter inch thick by three and one half inch long brass bar. Think of it like a wing buss or cross with the center bolted to the post. One side of the buss bar holds two 2 0 AWG cables, the other side holds two 1 0 AWG cables and the center post stud holds two more 1 0 AWG cables plus a 10 AWG cable.

I mounted the shunt on the plywood Genset platform, right behind the upper 8D. I still need to trim some of the slack from a few of the negative cables, but everything seems to work just great. The homemade buss bar cost me about ten bucks in material as opposed to $40 plus for one that may have worked. Im a happy camper.

Im still waiting for the 18 AWG color coded tinned copper wire to come in so I can finish the job. I only need about 15 feet of wire in each of the six colors, but a 100 foot roll minimum per color is going to cost me $8 each from an unnamed supplier as opposed to $30 for one 30 foot roll from WM. Oh, and the three foot 2 0 AWG cable with fittings connecting the bank negative to the shunt only cost me $30 instead of $70 from WM.

First update:

Drove to the boat this morning to finish up the Link 1000 install. Everything went as planned. Ran the 18AWG wires from the control panel to the various connect points; starter battery, house bank, shunt, etc. The buss bar that I made helped things go back together much easier. Wired up the panel, plugged in the three two amp fuses and the system came right up. I still need to tweak the system parameters plus equalize the house bank. Time to go sailing, maybe to Coupeville next weekend weather permitting.

Second update:

Project completed! Set the system parameters to 480 amp hours, because each 8D can deliver 240 amp hours. Peukerts exponent set at 1.25. Still need to equalize the bank and conduct a sea trial, perhaps next weekend. Ill provide another update at that point.

One final note. Contrary to the installation instructions you must connect ONLY the boat ground cable to one side of the shunt. All other battery negatives must connect to the other side of the shunt. Now the display reads correct amps and amp hour consumption and absorption. Before it would display erroneous data. An Xantrex technical support guy set me straight.

P.S. As we prepare for some 2014 winter cruises during Thanksgiving and Christmas, the handmade shunt, Link 1000, 8D AGMs all seem to be holding up just fine. Although the original analog DC voltmeter that came with the P42 power panel still gives me good battery status readings, I tend to more often rely on what the Link 1000 displays, especially while at anchor for extended periods.