Measuring battery condition
Easiest way to measure battery level of charge?
Forum Discussion
The right way to measure the state of charge of a battery is not a voltmeter. You need a battery meter. Also known as a state of charge meter, battery gauge, etc. It involves a shunt wired into the negative battery cable to measure the current into and out of the battery over time. You program the meter with your battery capacity and the fully charged parameters and it measures current in and out and calculates the percentage state of charge. Tri-Metric is a good one. Victron makes one. Outback calls theirs the Flexnet DC. Magnum calls their the ME-BMK. Link 10 used to be one but I'm not sure they are made anymore.
As you can tell from all the previous posts, measuring just the voltage is subject to many variations. I don't know very many people who, when camping, are willing to turn off the RV, disconnect their batteries, and wait 15 minutes just to find out the SOC. A nice SOC meter with a wall mounted display is the way to go.
As you can tell from all the previous posts, measuring just the voltage is subject to many variations. I don't know very many people who, when camping, are willing to turn off the RV, disconnect their batteries, and wait 15 minutes just to find out the SOC. A nice SOC meter with a wall mounted display is the way to go.
