Poor Man's Trimetric?
I want a cheap sort of 12v battery monitor that can measure at least 100a and keep track of AH. Need some advice here on whether these possibles are any good in the first place, and then about the ac...
Forum Discussion
I have the one in the first post, second link, only mine is the 25 amp version.
It has served well for a whole year now. I don't know how accurate the amp readings are but I'm pleasantly surprised that the amp hour tracking is so good I have never needed to reset it - it reads the 188 amp hours I set as the battery capacity when I start a trip fully charged - and comes right back to 188 after we get home and the solar panel tops up for a day or two.
Come to think about it, charge is not lost as easily as energy. I wouldn't buy the one that measures KWH's because you would have to put more KWHs into a battery than you took out to recharge it because you take out energy at a lower voltage than you must charge with. If it really measures energy (volts x amps x seconds) rather than charge it would be a poor indicator of state of charge.
My complaint was that the wire terminals on the device are too small - I could use only 14 gauge wires. Hopefully the higher amperage model has heavier connectors.
It has served well for a whole year now. I don't know how accurate the amp readings are but I'm pleasantly surprised that the amp hour tracking is so good I have never needed to reset it - it reads the 188 amp hours I set as the battery capacity when I start a trip fully charged - and comes right back to 188 after we get home and the solar panel tops up for a day or two.
Come to think about it, charge is not lost as easily as energy. I wouldn't buy the one that measures KWH's because you would have to put more KWHs into a battery than you took out to recharge it because you take out energy at a lower voltage than you must charge with. If it really measures energy (volts x amps x seconds) rather than charge it would be a poor indicator of state of charge.
My complaint was that the wire terminals on the device are too small - I could use only 14 gauge wires. Hopefully the higher amperage model has heavier connectors.
