tlukasavige172 wrote:
How do I know if I'm doing damage to the batteries if I can't check them while there is a load on them? Is there a different number to go by when a load is applied (one you should not dip below)?
There used to be a table for battery under load, similar to that open-circuit table that you see in 12V Life (and in many other places, ex. Az Wind Sun, they all copy-paste from one another). Can't find it. But this isn't important, because there is no such "number". The heavier the load, the lower voltages you see.
Those fancy monitors like Trimetric will help, counting the amp-hours in and out, but you can't trust them too much either, because they don't consider Peukert or temperature effects. You need to know your loads, what amps draws each, which one is of no consequence and which one is an energy hog. The majority of fulltime boondockers have no idea of their daily energy draw, and neither can they control their wants. They just run a generator few hours every day and replace the batts after a few years.
