Battery monitor: useful tool or toy?
Hello all. As we prepare for FT (mostly boondocking) I am working through the 12v upgrades. Got the 600 AH of Lifelines in place. Two banks of 6v pairs; 4 batts in all. Upgraded the converter to 80, p...
Forum Discussion
smkettner wrote:
I would get solar before the monitor.
I would agree with this. And if you get a little RC charger monitor with an amp meter hooked up in line while charging, with a little practice, your solar panels output capacity versus the voltage and amps the batteries are taking in will give you a really good handle on the State of Charge of your batteries.
If your solar panels are capable of 25 Amps, and your batteries are taking 14.3 -14.4V but only accepting 5 amps or less, you are pretty much topped off on charge on your batteries. The scenario changes a bit as fall and winter approach and the days get shorter, generator time might need to make up a bit early in the day when the batteries state of charge is lowest, then let the solar panel do the top off charging the rest of the sunny day.
