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 ...
Forum Discussion
Harvey51 wrote:
I made some mistakes in estimating the state of charge with a voltmeter that cost me a good deal more than the price of this excellent battery monitor.
Voltmeter is a tool, results depend on what you're doing with it. Estimating SOC with voltmeter is secondary to other methods.
Voltage-based estimate is not much needed when you are getting a full report from solar controller (especially when report tells you that things go as they should). Battery goes into Absorb, stays there N minutes, and then floats for 3-5 hours. If this is what happens, you can't be off by more than a few %. If it's not, then you need to reconsider your charging methods (or your loads). An ultimate confirmation will be measuring SG. In the worst case scenario you may need both more charging and AH-counter to tell you when you are "there yet". SMK apparently doesn't, and neither do I.
Morning rested voltage can provide a rough estimate - in absence of other tools. To me it's only a confirmation.
