Trimetric 2025 Battery Monitor

NWJeeper · 02-26-2010, 03:44 PM

I just finished up the installation of the Trimetric 2025 battery monitoring system in our Georgetown. As we like to dry camp I wanted to have a better idea of what our system is doing in terms of power usage and solar charging.

Installation was fairly easy and took me about a day when all was said and done. The meter is the one on the right in the picture (sorry it's a bit out of focus causing the display to appear to be "on fire") The reading is set on amps and is showing a charge of about 3 amps. If you are drawing more than you are putting into your batteries then a negative symbol will light up on the left side of the display. The unit will display voltage as well and when programmed with the total amperage capacity of the battery bank will also show percentage of battery power (in amps) since last fully charged. The meter is installed so that it will track all power into the batteries (from the engine alternator, onboard charger or solar panels) and power being used from the bank.

Once installed I confirmed it was set up correctly and started to take some readings. The cool thing is that when you turn something on you can see immediately how much power it is using. Here is what I found when I started using the meter:

At rest, no shore power and batteries disconnected there was about .1 amp draw (probably the meter itself).

LPG detector draws .2 amps
Single dual bulb light (198 bulbs) 2.3 amps
Single dual bulb light (LED panels) .1 amps
Light fixture over dining table (4 198 bulbs) 4.5 amps
Single reading light over bed (1 198 bulb) .8 amps
Recessed Halogen lighting, living room (6 lights) 8.4 amps Full on
2.1 amps Fully dimmed
Recessed Halogen lighting, over sink (1 light) 1.4 amps Full on
.4 amps Fully dimmed
Recessed Halogen lighting, over couch (3 lights) 4 amps Full on
1.2 amps Fully Dimmed
Refrigerator 1.2 amps
Furnace (Suburban SF35) 7 amps
Water Pump (Shurflo Smart Sensor 5.7) 11.9 amps running, 12.6 max
Exterior porch lights (3 incandescent bulbs) 2.8 amps
Exterior Porch Lights (3 LED bulbs) .8 amps

Of considerable interest to me was the amount of amperage the water pump draws. I had no idea it drew so many amps.

Some things to consider about power usage and battery banks you can draw from this information:

If you have an RV equipped with a single group 27 battery (many trailers) you have about 105 amp hours of capacity on the high side. If you dry camp and run NOTHING but the refrigerator then in 1 day you will use 28.8 amps of power, almost a third of your capacity! That's not including running the pump, furnace at night to stay warm or a few lights for a few hours in the evening. You can see fairly easily from this that if you are dry camping where it will get cold at night you very easily can wake up the next morning with a dead battery.

My testing continues as does my learning on how to extend our dry camping capability using our solar panels.

I am still awaiting the arrival of several different LED bulbs for testing and will report my findings on them in another post.

MtnGuy · 02-26-2010, 03:58 PM

Very interesting, NWJeeper. I had no idea that 2 12 volt bulbs would pull that many amps. 3 fixtures on equals the furnace fan.

Why does the fridge draw amps in the propane mode?? Would your defrost strip be on ??

NWJeeper · 02-26-2010, 04:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mtnguy

Very interesting, NWJeeper. I had no idea that 2 12 volt bulbs would pull that many amps. 3 fixtures on equals the furnace fan.

Why does the fridge draw amps in the propane mode?? Would your defrost strip be on ??

The electronic circuit board I would guess is part of what is drawing the amps on the fridge. I have not checked the defrost strip. Our fridge also has fans that come on, I suppose to move more air over the cooling fins on the back side but they were not running at the time.

When you start to put things in perspective like you pointed out with the lights it really does open your eyes as to how fast you can use up your battery power.

MtnGuy · 02-26-2010, 04:17 PM

Now you got me wondering about my fridge on propane.

I know that the fridge in a motor home is probably different than in a travel trailer, but 1.2 amps seems high for a circuit board.

I might have to get me 1 of them puppies to see where all of my battery juice goes.

Thanks for all of the excellent info.

NWJeeper · 02-26-2010, 04:43 PM

I went out and looked all over for a switch for a defrost strip on our fridge but there seems to be none. I know it does build up frost on the inside and I have to turn it off every few months to defrost it. I don't think ours has one or if it does you can't turn it off.

MtnGuy · 02-26-2010, 04:51 PM

on our Dometic Model #DM2652, the toggle switch is on the upper freezer door opening.....you have to open the freezer door to get to the switch.

NWJeeper · 02-26-2010, 07:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mtnguy

on our Dometic Model #DM2652, the toggle switch is on the upper freezer door opening.....you have to open the freezer door to get to the switch.

Yep, only thing there on our is 3 switches for, on/off, Manual/auto and Temp set. There are no other switches on our fridge. I opend all the doors looked all around the frame and in the back of the fridge and could find nothing.

rsl · 04-07-2010, 01:35 PM

I just oredered my 2025-rv today and the 500 amp shunt. Any tips, tricks, suggestions to pass on from your install experince?

baldy · 04-07-2010, 02:25 PM

I have a question. What does the electronics of the Trimetric 2025 draw? I would assume that the amp draw from this would have to be factored into the overall equation? My fridge has an LED on it to indicate that it is operating. Just a whisper in the grand scheme of things but it would add up over time.

**Herk7769** · 04-08-2010, 06:25 AM

My unit is sitting on my workbench. Will photo my progress and post them. Hope this goes as well as I hope. Planning a complete DC system mod with dual batteries and selector switch monitored by the Trimetric 2025RV.

rsl · 04-14-2010, 12:51 PM

Weel I got my 2025 installed, it was very easy. I used exsisting wire paths and loom that was routeed from the battery comparment all the way to the wall I wanted to mount on. IF anyone would like more specifics or has questions please feel free to ask.

baldy · 04-14-2010, 02:46 PM

Looks good! I like the battery box too!

Baldy

tmmar · 04-14-2010, 03:52 PM

Nice install. I have a dumb question. I have a magnum converter/inverter in my motor home and it has a remote control panel that shows the state of the batteries. Is the 2025 different or does it provide any different information?
thanks.

NWJeeper · 04-14-2010, 04:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tmmar

Nice install. I have a dumb question. I have a magnum converter/inverter in my motor home and it has a remote control panel that shows the state of the batteries. Is the 2025 different or does it provide any different information?
thanks.

Tmmar. Yes the Trimetric is different. Your display on the inverter only shows what the battery voltage is (same as the built in battery level meters on all RVs) and the amperage that the inverter is drawing from your batteries but that is it.

You will notice the large brass block that has the heavy wires running to and from it on the picture above. This is called a "Shunt" and ALL battery power even the inverter runs through this with a battery monitor system. It is installed on the negative battery cable between the battery bank and ALL loads. Therefore the Trimetric shows all amperage being drawn from or put back into the battery bank. It is the only way to find phantom loads. If you had solar panels as we do and they are putting 14 amps into the bank and you are running your inverter and using 12 amps then the Trimetric would show a net charge of 2 amps.

Battery monitor systems like this are the ONLY way to really know what your batteries are doing. When you first set up the Trimetric you tell it what size your bank is. For us we have a 740amp/hour bank. As we use power while dry camping it will tell us based on how much was used and put back in via solar or running the generator what % of full we are. It's an awesome system if you dry camp. If not then it's not that big a deal but I will never have another rig without one.

tmmar · 04-14-2010, 05:02 PM

nwjeeper,
Thanks for clearing things up.

Killman · 07-16-2010, 01:23 PM

I hope that this isn't off subject, but along the same lines of monitoring the batteries. We don't really do any dry camping, so battery consumption isn't really a concern for me. What I would like to do though, is be able to do real-time monitoring of my power consumption. If I can explain this correctly....I'd like to be able to see amps being used at any time. When the AC and the microwave are on, I'd like to see what my amperage draw is. When I turn something else on, how much extra is the draw? I hope that makes sense. Is there anything that can be either hardwired or plugged into a circuit that can show me that? Maybe the Trimetric does that, I don't know. I know that I can get the Kill-A-Watt and plug in each piece of equipment to see what it draws, but having something that monitors the entire system would be my preference.
Thanks for your help.

2Susan · 07-16-2010, 04:56 PM

I'm finding this really facinating. In particular how much various devices draw. I think a battery monitor is a mod we will seriously consider. It's hammering home how much less the LED lights use.

NWJeeper · 07-16-2010, 06:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Killman

I hope that this isn't off subject, but along the same lines of monitoring the batteries. We don't really do any dry camping, so battery consumption isn't really a concern for me. What I would like to do though, is be able to do real-time monitoring of my power consumption. If I can explain this correctly....I'd like to be able to see amps being used at any time. When the AC and the microwave are on, I'd like to see what my amperage draw is. When I turn something else on, how much extra is the draw? I hope that makes sense. Is there anything that can be either hardwired or plugged into a circuit that can show me that? Maybe the Trimetric does that, I don't know. I know that I can get the Kill-A-Watt and plug in each piece of equipment to see what it draws, but having something that monitors the entire system would be my preference.
Thanks for your help.

The Trimetric is DC only but I fail to see the value in monitoring AC load usage. It really is of no value that I can see. Outside of the Kill-A-Watt I am sure there are systems out there to monitor the AC amperage but it would require re-wiring of the AC shore power cord and I am sure they are not cheap. I don't really care how much amperage I am drawing when plugged in to power, as I am paying the same amount to the campground every night anyway.

**Herk7769** · 07-17-2010, 06:54 PM

I use the Kill-a-watt to monitor Inverter output amps when I dry camp.

NWJeeper · 07-17-2010, 07:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by herk7769

I use the Kill-a-watt to monitor Inverter output amps when I dry camp.

The Kill-A-Watt will only tell you how many AC amps your devices are using from the inverter not how many amps it is actually pulling off the batteries. This is ultimatly of no value in knowing how many DC amps the inverter is pulling from the battery bank. Depending on the inverter, it's display should show you how many DC amps it is pulling from the bank and that is the only number you are really concerned with.

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