Rather than a shunt mounted PCB, like Victron has chosen, which offers true "plug and play" simplicity, the Link series shunts still require wire stripping, crimping, and the physical need to manually wire the shunt. The blue & red wires from the previous photo, and not pictured here on the shunt, go to the positive battery post with in-line fuses.


Again not difficult to wire but more tedious. I still have a Link-Pro on my own vessel and I am of the opinion that the Xantrex units are slightly more robustly built but you certainly pay for that quality, which may not even be necessary.


As if this writing the Xantrex Link-Lite cost $223.99 at Defender. That however is not the whole story. The Xantrex monitors do not come with the wire to hook it up, just the shunt. The "communication kit" or roughly translated to as "multiple twisted pair wire" runs another $104.99 at Defender. The Victron units come complete.


A Xantrex Link-Lite will cost you $233.99 + $104.99 = $328.98 A Victron BMV-602S will cost you about $100.00 or so less. They BOTH will monitor the voltage of a second bank but the Victron is costs less and does more. It will also allow the connection of a computer which the Link-Lite will not do.


That being said if you don't need to monitor the voltage of a second bank, really not all that necessary if it is just a starting or reserve bank, then Victron also offers the BMV-600S single bank monitor for just $184.25 and it is available for purchase right here, and helps support this site.. Buy A Battery Monitor (LINK)


Ideally unless you are taking a "resting voltage" reading of a secondary bank it really won't tell you much of anything close to accurate anyway. Stick with the single bank version for the best value.