Looking for suggestions to monitor 2 trojan T-105 6 volts I presently use in my 30ft. Class C.

I would go with a quality digital volt meter mounted close as possible to the power bank.

I've never felt the need for more than a digital volt meter. Make sure it is a 2 place decimal (hundredths of a volt).You can definitely go more complicated, and spend your life looking at amp in/out values, and if that's something you enjoy, go for it.

Hundredths is helpful? IMO if you need to watch that close more/bigger batteries are in order.

I have a voltmeter and a (bidirectional) digital panel ammeter that shows the charge or discharge current for the battery. Many of the inexpensive panel ammeters available cannot measure bidirectionally, and it required a bit of extra fiddling (installing a little isolated DC-DC converter so the ammeter's supply isn't referenced to ground) to be able to get the bidirectional readings, but it's most useful to be able to see both charge current and discharge current.Oasisbob wrote:I would go with a quality digital volt meter mounted close as possible to the power bank.Mounting the voltmeter close to the battery bank is not essential for an accurate reading. Connecting the sense wires as close as practical to the battery bank is important, but they can be run quite a distance without materially affecting the accuracy as the amount of current they carry (and hence the voltage drop due to wire resistance) is miniscule. This is doubly true if you have the sense wires separated from the power supply wires.The same applies to the sense wires from a current shunt, as well; they can be any halfway reasonable length without appreciably impacting the accuracy of the reading, for the same reasons.

Contrary to the others, I prefer a meter that counts amps in vs. amps out for tracking the battery's state of charge.My choice is the Victron BMV. I like it because there's a Bluetooth interface and I can just check the status of my batteries from my phone as long as I'm 20-30' from the batteries.This is what I have:https://learntorv.com/victron-battery-monitor/

Battery monitor gauge upgrade | Good Sam Community

dsmuir
Explorer
Dec 14, 2019
I have used the https://www.amazon.com/AiLi-Battery-Monitor-Voltmeter-Motorhome/dp/B07CTKYFTG/ref=sr_1_2?crid=2MPJX2W60KGI6&keywords=aili+battery+monitor&qid=1576357649&sprefix=aili+batter%2Caps%2C211&sr=8-2Aili battery monitor as it is cheap and monitors both outgoing and in-going volts and amps along with % of Amp/Hours in batteries. When boondocking it is nice to know what the solar panels are adding to the batteries and seeing what devices are drawing from the batteries.This comes with a shunt that is placed off the negative battery terminal. The deluxe solution is the https://www.amazon.com/Victron-Energy-MONITOR-VTBMV-S-BMV-712-Battery/dp/B075RTSTKS/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=2MPJX2W60KGI6&keywords=aili+battery+monitor&qid=1576357649&sprefix=aili+batter%2Caps%2C211&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&smid=AERMGYAT5R869&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUExN1ZYMzlYM0FOWFhPJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwMTA5NzQ0MzZXMk43T01PNVNYSyZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwNzEyNzc3MU4wUjNBNko3UE41SyZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX2F0ZiZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=Victron BMV712 but much more expensive and it has bluetooth so can check many more things with your cell phone.
Veebyes
Explorer II
Dec 14, 2019
I have no life. Had a volt/amp meter as part of the solar system for a boat some time ago. The thing was so sensitive it knew when a thin cloud went by or when the sound system was turned up.

One can never have enough gauges to look at.

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