Battery Monitor System Ideas

[dlhoppe]

Don't mean to double-post, but this might be useful in the "mods" section.

I saw a few posts regarding battery monitoring and remembered that I installed a system in a sailboat I had a few years ago. Battery monitoring was pretty important to us while staying on the boat for a few days. Dry camping is very similar, so I've decided to use a device from the same manufacturer in the Roo.

These are a bit expensive, but I can tell you from experience they work extremely well. Similar in functionality to the Trimetric.


Microlog products (this is the system I installed in our sailboat)

Microlog products (this is what's going in the Roo)



Dave

[Al Fresco]

I installed one of these with a momentary switch.

It works for me.

[Herk7769]

I am very happy with my TM-2025RV for not all that much more for what you get. The ammeter is worth the price of admission alone IMO.

You can watch every charging amp going in and every discharging amp going out in 100 Milli-amp increments. It can monitor 2 batteries or a bank and solar bank. Once you tell it your bank's capacity in Amp Hours it will tell you in percent remaining what the charge is in 1 percent increments.

http://www.solar-electric.com/trtmbamosy.html

[dlhoppe]

Yes, I absolutely want to monitor my usage and charging performance. These are great tools to have for non-electric camp sites.

[BigRed]

Lou............You have all the toys !! Nice set-up !!

[Herk7769]

The shunt is located in the battery compartment.

[bsmall]

Very nice job Lou!!!

[Herk7769]

Need some new pictures.

I have since added a 150 amp ANL fuse to the Inverter and an on/off switch for the front landing gear.

The two dish tubs I made the battery box out of can hold 2 27 size batteries even though I have 2 24 size ones now.

[dlhoppe]

Lou,

Nice setup!

Are you monitoring "net" current? Or are you monitoring charge-only or consumption-only?

[Herk7769]

It is "Net" current.

The shunt is in the return line (negative terminal of the bank). So it measures the current in or out of the bank. If the number is "positive" it is charging at that rate; if "negative" it is discharging at that rate.

When you turn on a light while on battery, the negative number gets more negative. That way you can write down what each item in the trailer actually uses.

Additionally, you can see how each charging source actually charges the battery bank as the batteries charge. For example when the converter (shore power or generator supplied) is charging the bank, and you demand amps to run the slides (say) you can watch the positive charge rate go negative then back to positive as the start up draw exceeds the converters ability to supply amps momentarily.

You can also watch the the amp "step down" as the battery charges and its voltage increases.

[dlhoppe]

Nice, I'm going with "net" current setup as well. Thanks for the info. Nice to know my plans are already a proven and useful thing to do.

[dlhoppe]

Here's the Microlog monitor installed in my 23SS. It gives battery state and "net" current. Accurate to 100mA. I put the shunt in the front of the hot water heater compartment to get it as close to the battery as possible while still keeping in inside. I played with different combinations of consumption and having the charger on. Works like a champ.


Dave