Picture this: you've driven four hours to a remote campsite, set up the awning, plugged in the fridge, got the camp lighting going – and somewhere around midnight your battery gives up the ghost. The fridge warms up, the lights die, and you spend the rest of the night wondering what went wrong.
Or maybe you've pulled up after a long day of travel, gone to fill the camp shower, and discovered the fresh water tank you thought was half full is actually bone dry.
Both of these situations have the same root cause: you didn't know what was happening with your systems until it was too late. That's exactly the problem the KickAss 600A Smart Shunt with Battery and Tank Monitor is designed to solve.
So What Exactly Is a Shunt?
If you've never heard of a battery shunt before, don't worry – it’s fairly simple to understand. A shunt is a precision resistor that sits in your battery circuit. As current flows through it, the shunt measures that flow with very high accuracy. Your battery monitor then uses those measurements to calculate everything you need to know: how much charge you have left, how much energy your gear is drawing, how fast you're charging, and critically – how long until you run out of power. As an added bonus, it logs everything for up to 35 days, so you’ll have a handy record of your power usage.
Why 600A? The shunt is rated to handle up to 600 amps of continuous current. That's more than enough for any touring rig, caravan or 4WD setup – even large dual-battery lithium banks with high-draw appliances like compressor fridges, inverters, and air circulators all running simultaneously.
What Does It Actually Monitor?
The Smart Shunt tracks a lot. In real time, it gives you:
And it doesn't just show you a snapshot – these calculations update in real time as loads change. If you fire up the camp oven at the same time as the fridge kicks its compressor in, the time-to-empty figure adjusts immediately. It's genuinely dynamic and responsive, not just a static reading.
The Tank Monitoring Feature – A Clever Bonus
Here's where this product gets clever. The Smart Shunt includes an input for a tank sensor or sender, so if your caravan, camper trailer or rig already has a tank sender installed, you can wire it into this system and see your water level right alongside your battery data – on the same colour LCD screen, or in the same smartphone app.
Important: the tank sensor is not included. The Smart Shunt is designed to connect to a tank sender you already have installed, or one you source and fit separately. The point is that you don't need a separate water level monitor cluttering up your dash – this system monitors both systems in one place.
What Tank Senders Are Compatible?
The system works with two common sender types:
The good news is that the system is also calibratable to suit virtually any tank shape or size, so you're not locked into a generic "small/medium/full" reading – you can get accurate levels regardless of whether your tank is a standard rectangle or an awkward custom shape.
How You Monitor It: App + LCD Display
You've got two ways to check in on your system:
The Bluetooth App
Pull out your phone, open the app, and you've got a full dashboard of real-time data: voltage, current, power, State of Charge, tank level, and historical logs going back up to 35 days. The app is also where you do your initial setup – selecting your battery chemistry, entering your battery bank's capacity, and calibrating the tank sensor. The interface is clear, intuitive, and easy to navigate.
The Colour LCD Remote Display
When you don't want to dig out your phone, use the colour LCD display. Mount it somewhere convenient in your van or rig, and it’ll give you an overview of all your key data.
Battery Compatibility – Works With What You've Got
Whether you're running an old-school AGM setup or a new lithium battery, the Smart Shunt has you covered. It's compatible with:
The system also supports a wide voltage range – up to 60V – meaning it works for everything from a basic 12V single-battery setup to higher-voltage banks, and can be powered from the battery itself or an external supply.
The Relay Output: Automation You Didn't Know You Needed
Hidden in the spec sheet is a feature that more advanced users will love. The gateway unit includes a relay output that you can configure to trigger based on voltage, current, power or temperature thresholds. This means you can automate load shedding (e.g. switch off a non-essential load when voltage drops below a set level), trigger alerts, or integrate with other system components – without doing it manually.
It's the kind of feature that makes this more than just a display device – it makes it an active part of your power management system.
Data Logging: 35 Days of History
The built-in data logging module records voltage, current and temperature continuously throughout your trip. You can review that data to spot usage trends, identify power-hungry gear, or figure out why your battery didn't last as long as you expected.
For anyone who does extended touring, this is incredibly useful. You can learn how your system behaves in different conditions – for example, on hot days with the fridge working harder, how overnight temperatures affect battery performance, and the difference solar makes to your daily balance.
Is This Right for You?
If you're running any kind of auxiliary battery setup in a caravan, camper trailer, canopy rig, or 4WD and you currently have no idea how much power you have left unless you check the voltage with a multimeter – this product is for you. Even knowing your voltage doesn't tell the full story; State of Charge calculated from actual measured current flow is far more accurate than voltage alone, especially with lithium batteries.
And if you already have a tank sender fitted to a fresh water or grey water tank and you're currently monitoring it with a separate panel-mounted gauge, the convenience of consolidating that into one smart unit is a genuine quality-of-life improvement.
Once you use it, you'll wonder how you ever managed without it. Grab the KickAss 600A Smart Shunt with Battery & Tank Monitor today, or save even more in a KickAss bundle.