New controller? Looks like it was added today.
Off solar blvd site http://www.solarblvd.com/p2907/Midnite-Solar-The-KID,-30A-MPPT-Charge-Controller,-150V,-Black/product_info.html Hyper-link tab not working for me.
Forum Discussion
Brings up the Trimetric and the solar monitor, do you need both? argument.
IMO the Trimetric SOC reading is bogus and I don't use it. It is based on a capacity you have to enter. But capacity is changing all the time due to temperature. Besides that, the Trimetric notion of when you get to "full" is also bogus, where it defines "full" as being less than "truly full" and even suggests you pick something less than full to be your working number for full.
I do my own calculations for "full" and SOC based on the Trimetric AH count and my own notion of what capacity the batts have at the temperature at the time. and by cross checking voltages, AHs, and even SGs if getting paranoid.
So what does the solar monitor do on SOC that is any better? Is the rest of the rig on its shunt? If not, how can the solar monitor know what the big picture is on the battery and have any clue what the SOC is?
The solar monitor also measures what the solar does all day supplying amps, but does it know how much of that went to battery and affects SOC, and how much of that was "extra" that went to running things? Like in the afternoon, when your batts are near full but there is still plenty of solar available?
AFAIK, you need both a Trimetric for whole rig and a solar monitor upstream from the Tri to get the real story. Otherwise, the Tri is the one to have and you can derive how much was solar "close enough" by doing a little math in your head to account for what else is "on" in the rig when looking at the Tri's numbers.
If all you have is the solar monitor how can you do that?
IMO the Trimetric SOC reading is bogus and I don't use it. It is based on a capacity you have to enter. But capacity is changing all the time due to temperature. Besides that, the Trimetric notion of when you get to "full" is also bogus, where it defines "full" as being less than "truly full" and even suggests you pick something less than full to be your working number for full.
I do my own calculations for "full" and SOC based on the Trimetric AH count and my own notion of what capacity the batts have at the temperature at the time. and by cross checking voltages, AHs, and even SGs if getting paranoid.
So what does the solar monitor do on SOC that is any better? Is the rest of the rig on its shunt? If not, how can the solar monitor know what the big picture is on the battery and have any clue what the SOC is?
The solar monitor also measures what the solar does all day supplying amps, but does it know how much of that went to battery and affects SOC, and how much of that was "extra" that went to running things? Like in the afternoon, when your batts are near full but there is still plenty of solar available?
AFAIK, you need both a Trimetric for whole rig and a solar monitor upstream from the Tri to get the real story. Otherwise, the Tri is the one to have and you can derive how much was solar "close enough" by doing a little math in your head to account for what else is "on" in the rig when looking at the Tri's numbers.
If all you have is the solar monitor how can you do that?
