Newbie battery monitor question

[ScottBrownstein]

Originally Posted by itat

OP is looking to go boondocking regularly. IMO, a proper battery monitor would be a better solution than just a multimeter.

Sorry Cavie...love that image...

[babock]

Originally Posted by itat

OP is looking to go boondocking regularly. IMO, a proper battery monitor would be a better solution than just a multimeter.

X2

[HappyCamperCanada]

What's a proper battery monitor? What's the difference between it and a multimeter?

[babock]

Originally Posted by HappyCamperCanada

What's a proper battery monitor? What's the difference between it and a multimeter?

https://www.amazon.com/Victron-Energ...68428369&psc=1

Actually measures the current in and out of the battery over time. Gives you the SOC while the battery is discharging or charging.

[TitanMike]

Originally Posted by MtBiker

I bought a pack of 5 volt meter modules for 11.00 and mounted one in side of the bench seat. Easy to see for everyone.
Keep your batteries in the 50-90% range when camping and blast them back up to 100% when plugged in.
Running your generator twice a day will keep your battery in the sweet spot without trying to charge past that 90%+ area where you are just burning gas and charging very slowly.

Only charging to 90% sounds like a great formula for sulfation and slow battery death.

As they say, some learn by reading and listening. Then there are some who just have to pee on the fence to find out if it's on.

[camaraderie]

Originally Posted by HappyCamperCanada

What's a proper battery monitor? What's the difference between it and a multimeter?

Expanding a little...a proper monitor like the Victron will tell you the following.
1. The PRESENT state of charge of your batteries while in use. Meters only do this to a WELL rested (24 hours) and disconnected battery bank.
2. It will tell you when you've reached 100% charge...so you don't undercharge and kill batts and you don't overcharge and waste genny gas and life.
3. It will tell you how many amps you are drawing now,
4. It will tell you how long your batts will last at the present rate of draw.
5. It will give you NET amps in and out if you are running the genny or solar.
6 It will tell you the amp draw of individual items when you trun them on and off. It will also show you your parasitic draws when you turn everything off.
IMO...if you boondock...the meter will pay for itself. SOME of this you can accomplish with a meter..and some running around. The most important things you can't.
If you don't boondock...a meter is all you need. If you rely on cycling your batts...it will be your most popular "tool".

[NMWildcat]

Originally Posted by TitanMike

Only charging to 90% sounds like a great formula for sulfation and slow battery death.

As they say, some learn by reading and listening. Then there are some who just have to pee on the fence to find out if it's on.

If you think 5 years is a slow battery death, then yeah, I'm guilty

[TitanMike]

Originally Posted by NMWildcat

If you think 5 years is a slow battery death, then yeah, I'm guilty

Lucky. But if you're constantly charging from 50 to 90% you may be unaware of how much capacity you've lost.

actually I have no dog in this---- I went lithium and even if I have to start my generator from 50% to full takes 3 hrs max and that's 100 amp hours.


I'm done buying batteries and shed 70 lbs of unnecessary weight, doubling my usable power at the same time.

[babock]

I have AGMs in one of my boats that are around 5 years old. They probably have 50% of their capacity these days.They are getting replaced this year. I wouldn't want to have to deal with that on my travel trailer and of course I don't want to run my generator 5 hours every day.

[itat]

OP hasn’t been back to this thread for 2 weeks.

I always find these threads interesting but in reality totally irrelevant for us since we never camp without an electric hookup. So a single, cheaper deep cycle battery is all I really need for our style of camping. The only time we ever camped without power was when the campground lost power from their electrical utility one evening. I was surprised how fast the incandescent bulbs in that trailer drained the battery down. I retrofitted LED bulbs within a year.