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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I use both a built-in ammeter and two plug-in voltmeters to tell about where my RV batteries are at ... much less money than a battery monitor system.
The ammeter shows all current draws for every 12 volt load in the RV. I just watch it change as we turn things on or off. With any kind of charger (solar, converter, etc.), whenever the ammeter reads zero with charging voltage applied to them it means that the batteries have been fully charged. The voltmeters provide a good enough estimate of battery state of charge if I check them whenever RV loads have been at a minimum for a few minutes before I check.
You can soon learn to read your batteries fairly well by watching currents and voltages.
The ammeter shows all current draws for every 12 volt load in the RV. I just watch it change as we turn things on or off. With any kind of charger (solar, converter, etc.), whenever the ammeter reads zero with charging voltage applied to them it means that the batteries have been fully charged. The voltmeters provide a good enough estimate of battery state of charge if I check them whenever RV loads have been at a minimum for a few minutes before I check.
You can soon learn to read your batteries fairly well by watching currents and voltages.
