Solar Charge Controller

Don't know about "more" - I thought it only reads AH/WH, in addition to V/A. Nothing else. Installed on the battery input side, it will read AH/WH into battery, i.e. daily harvest. Must be way to reset the daily AH - or disconnect button? Never had it, only saw the picture.

The meter is installed and works great! I got it connected right to get the charging amps and battery volts i was wanting. It also gives me usage and more which I have to learn as I use the meter. Nice meter for less than $14. It fit nicely right under the solar charge controller and was light enough to attach with velcro and I did not have to cut a hole in my wall. It also hide all the solar wire connections. Thanks to all who posted.
mtnman

mtnman1989 wrote:
Almost,
There are only 4 wires on that meter, can you look at it and tell me the correct way to wire it so I can read amps and volts?
Thanks

How you choose to use it will decide how it is wired.
Read the Manuel (use the 3 wire hook up option, suggest a reset button)

Almost,
There are only 4 wires on that meter, can you look at it and tell me the correct way to wire it so I can read amps and volts?
Thanks

mtnman - you should measure voltage in the morning, not in the evening.

At sunset, when it's just finished charging, voltage is unstable, descending from 13.6 where controller was keeping it. Late in the evening it may read 12.7 not because it's full but because it didn't settle down yet. Or - below 12.7 if there are any loads, while still being nearly full. Morning voltage before sunrise (and preferably without loads) will give you much better picture.

After battery has been charged, it takes 20-24 hours for voltage to settle down to its "true" level, but overnight is close enough.

Wire that little meter so that it would read amps and amp-hours too, not just volts. This, together with voltage, should be enough for your uses.

I will be fine with that little 12 volt meter. I usually check my voltage at night, bed time. We use such a small amount of 12 volt that we have actually went out and set up and stayed 2 to 3 days and never get any sun for the solar panel or run the generator and we still have plenty of power left in the batteries. When it is like that it is easy to measure because it starts out high and just keeps getting lower and lower, no guess work is needed. Last time we went out one of my batteries had a bad ground connection and was not even in the circle and we still had plenty of power with the single battery.
mtnman

Guesstimating state of charge by voltage reminds me of determining vehicle speed by whether or not there are flashing red and blue lights in the rear view mirror

Yeah, well, you get what you pay for.
I "suspected" that GT needs switching to work both ways, and mentioned this earlier.

mtnman should better wire it to measure "out" flow, i.e. from battery to loads. Then he'll know how much charge the battery has lost overnight after controller had brought it to Float the day before.

People think they can measure battery state of charge by looking at the voltage. This would be a close guestimate, but only in the morning, before controller kicks in. In the daytime, with controller working, even without loads, the voltage can only tell you that it's somewhere before or after the 14.4 peak. Or at the peak. But then, most cheap controllers have LED indicator for this.

mtnman1989 wrote:
Almot,
I ordered the GT Power RC 130A Power Analyzer you mentioned earlier from Amazon for $13. It should be here today. It had lots of great reviews. It should do what I want. As I stated earlier, I just want something that I can glance at and tell me my 12 volt system is where it needs to be. We do a good job of monitoring both of our RV 12 volt systems and we get many years out of a set of batteries with near zero no problems.

The little cheap solar charger I have seems to do a good job, I just don't want to get the multi-meter out every time I want to see the status of my 12 volt system.
mtnman

Please remember that the GT unit only works one way at a time (discharge or charge of amps) You would be better off with the gizmo Mex posted. I prefer the TM2030 with the SC2030 myself. Good luck with your project.

Almot,
I ordered the GT Power RC 130A Power Analyzer you mentioned earlier from Amazon for $13. It should be here today. It had lots of great reviews. It should do what I want. As I stated earlier, I just want something that I can glance at and tell me my 12 volt system is where it needs to be. We do a good job of monitoring both of our RV 12 volt systems and we get many years out of a set of batteries with near zero no problems.

The little cheap solar charger I have seems to do a good job, I just don't want to get the multi-meter out every time I want to see the status of my 12 volt system.
mtnman