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
One thing to consider regarding a battery monitor is "where to put it".
We're in a small motorhome, so I put our RV battery ammeter and voltmeter on the dash so I can see them when driving down the road or when camping.
The ammeter shunt is in the negative lead of the coach battery bank, so it monitors actual current going into, or out of, these batteries. The voltmeter is not connected directly to the coach batteries - it is instead connected to a 12V receptacle in the coach. Having the voltmeter reading from this point tells me, while driving down the road, whether or not the refrigerator has power - so we don't wind up having traveled for hours with a non-operating refrig if it should not have, or lose, 12V power while we're underway (... such as if I should forget to turn the coach battery disconnect switch back ON after refueling at a gas station).
I watch the ammeter while underway to make sure that the engine alternator is properly charging the house batteries - as I'm about to install my 3rd solenoid that has failed in 9 years that automatically connects the house batteries to the alternator whenever the engine is running. This solenoid's contacts corrode over time and become resistive instead of being a short - which doesn't stop the alternator from charging the house batteries, but does slow the charging rate way down such that one can arrive at the next campsite with the coach batteries not being fully charged.
If our RV was a towable, I'd definitely want at least a voltmeter on the dash that was wired to monitor the actual trailer's or 5'er's 12V system to make sure it was powered at all times for the refrigerator's sake.
We're in a small motorhome, so I put our RV battery ammeter and voltmeter on the dash so I can see them when driving down the road or when camping.
The ammeter shunt is in the negative lead of the coach battery bank, so it monitors actual current going into, or out of, these batteries. The voltmeter is not connected directly to the coach batteries - it is instead connected to a 12V receptacle in the coach. Having the voltmeter reading from this point tells me, while driving down the road, whether or not the refrigerator has power - so we don't wind up having traveled for hours with a non-operating refrig if it should not have, or lose, 12V power while we're underway (... such as if I should forget to turn the coach battery disconnect switch back ON after refueling at a gas station).
I watch the ammeter while underway to make sure that the engine alternator is properly charging the house batteries - as I'm about to install my 3rd solenoid that has failed in 9 years that automatically connects the house batteries to the alternator whenever the engine is running. This solenoid's contacts corrode over time and become resistive instead of being a short - which doesn't stop the alternator from charging the house batteries, but does slow the charging rate way down such that one can arrive at the next campsite with the coach batteries not being fully charged.
If our RV was a towable, I'd definitely want at least a voltmeter on the dash that was wired to monitor the actual trailer's or 5'er's 12V system to make sure it was powered at all times for the refrigerator's sake.
