solar charging issue

Question

Hey guys I just installed The Kid charger with a 325-watt panel 24v panel into my RV. I finished the install, followed the directions, turned it all on, and boom everything seems to be working great. It was raining, but enough sun that the charger was making around 3-4 amps at 12 volts per the charger controller.

Here's my issues. I installed a Bogart Trimetic battery meter a couple weeks ago. The meter properly shows negative amp draw when turning lights on and what not and positive when hooked onto shore power and charging (so appears to be working properly). However the trimetic meter did not show any input from the charger at all. It did reflect higher voltage that the charger was putting out on bulk.

Is the Kid not functioning properly? How can I verify the amps output at the battery to ensure the Kid is charging? Thanks.

lspangler · Answer

Is your battery at 100%. If it is the solar charger will turn itself off. Let your battery get down to 80% and then check amp display. It should be charging. Linc

mexicowanderer · Answer

Hand draw a diagram.BatteryConverterPower to 12 bolt fuse panelWHERE does panel controller hook to the rig's electrical system?

bfl13 · Answer

The neg wire output from the solar controller has to go to the Trimetric shunt same as all the other negatives, for the Tri to "read" that. It sounds like you have that wire going to the neg battery post and not via the shunt.

You will find the output amps as shown on the controller display can be higher than what is on the Tri, when the battery is nearly full and you have a light on, eg. The battery might be accepting 3 amps and the controller says 6 amps, which means the light is using 3 amps.
The Tri only shows what is actually going into the battery.

clotus · Answer

BFL13 wrote:The neg wire output from the solar controller has to go to the Trimetric shunt same as all the other negatives, for the Tri to "read" that.  It sounds like you have that wire going to the neg battery post and not via the shunt.I think you are absolutely right!!!  Why didn't I think of that.  I will re-wire it tomorrow and see if that fixed it.  My last install used the trimetic meter along with their solar charger (SC-2030) and I had the cables directly on the batter, but because they communicated it probably worked properly despite not being wiring properly.

evanrem · Answer

clotus wrote:BFL13 wrote:The neg wire output from the solar controller has to go to the Trimetric shunt same as all the other negatives, for the Tri to "read" that.  It sounds like you have that wire going to the neg battery post and not via the shunt.I think you are absolutely right!!!  Why didn't I think of that.  I will re-wire it tomorrow and see if that fixed it.  My last install used the trimetic meter along with their solar charger (SC-2030) and I had the cables directly on the batter, but because they communicated it probably worked properly despite not being wiring properly.I just finished installing a similar set up and he is correct.

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