Solar Cynergy Panels

Almot wrote:

JiminDenver wrote:
You don't need any of that to know you are not getting enough AH's, you will know when the battery dies. ;)

It appears that many owners are using exactly this latter method :)

Seriously though - to keep an eye on battery SOC, you can try different methods (beside SG measurements, obviously).

LED indicators on controller will tell when it's reached Full (or Float, whatever).

If in the evening it's not Full and you are in doubt whether it reached Full or not while you're were away, then you need some SOC counter. Can be a monitor like Trimetric or Victron, or a data log that you can retrieve from controller memory where it says that Full was reached at some point today. My controller keeps full log of charging stages for a month and automatically displays today's entry in the evening. I don't know whether TS 45 is keeping such a log, and/or whether this can be read on that single-line display that they offer, or you need a laptop for that.

And, of course, you can put a cheap V-A meter on the wall and check rested voltage in the morning.

My not very educated friend is using the last method with some variations: he put V-A meter on the wall, right across the door so he can see it any time. He can see voltage climbing slowly before noon. If he missed Absorption/Float transition and voltage is low in the evening, he goes to the obscure nook where controller is sitting (it is always in some obscure nook, this is where it belongs, I'm serious) - to see if LED indicator is steady green (=Float) or blinking green (=still charging). If it's blinking and he "doesn't like" the voltage, he cranks the generator up. Like I said, he hasn't got much education and is doing what he can. Better than doing nothing at all.

Yup, you can break it down to the easiest solution possible. I've found that solar does such a good job of charging that it's boring :B. I have analog meters which are easier to read at a glance, for me, and a check on them will let me know if all is working. Lately, I press a button on the Victron since it's located a foot higher than the analog meters. :)