Battery monitor pricing
I understand the need for a battery monitor - certainly the analogy of monitoring your fuel level via a fuel pressure gauge strikes home (although it's a little bit off). I want to get one. What I ...
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Victron is often cheaper than Trimetric, though still upwards of $150. Looks nicer to me than Tri.
Yes, it's mostly bells and whistles. You can get a watt/A/V/AH meter for $50 or less, but it likely will come without push-button switching between In and Out, or a network cable connection.
With solar, if you don't experience frequent and uncontrollable changes in your energy flow, like rain in and out, DW or children suddenly running some loads of God knows what wattage for God knows how long - you might not need a monitor. I don't have one. I know how many AH I'm going to use on average day. Display of my solar controller in the evening shows how many AH it harvested, and how many hours batteries floated after hitting Absorb, and on most days they do hit Absorb - and pretty early in the day.
Yes, it's mostly bells and whistles. You can get a watt/A/V/AH meter for $50 or less, but it likely will come without push-button switching between In and Out, or a network cable connection.
With solar, if you don't experience frequent and uncontrollable changes in your energy flow, like rain in and out, DW or children suddenly running some loads of God knows what wattage for God knows how long - you might not need a monitor. I don't have one. I know how many AH I'm going to use on average day. Display of my solar controller in the evening shows how many AH it harvested, and how many hours batteries floated after hitting Absorb, and on most days they do hit Absorb - and pretty early in the day.
