Watts Up installation?

Give best converter a call and ask about the Trimetric it is the best for boondocking

TCcruzn wrote:
Give best converter a call and ask about the Trimetric it is the best for boondocking

X 2! I had one in my last camper and LOVED it! ... Soon to purchase for my "new to me" camper...

Dak

Are you wanting to know what voltage is at any given time or do you need all other information also ?

I also boondock in Idaho & have a Volt Minder that indicates just voltage of my 2 GC batteries. It plugs into any female 12 volt receptacle in the coach. I tested the accuracy of it using my Fluke meter & it's dead on.

The most important piece of info I'm after and want to be able to track is Amp-hours.

Hi,

Victron and Smartgauge are both better than the trimetric. Smartgauge is an adaptive system that becomes more accurate the longer it is in use. The others do not do that.

We camp off the power grid alot with our OFF-ROAD POPUP camper. I am using three 12VDC Interstate GP24 85AH batteries in two banks. I originally started out with four batteries but lost one by constantly charging with 13.6VDC and not monitoring the battery fluids.

Early on I added a PD9260C 60AMP Smart Mode converter/charger unit and this solved my battery maintenance situations.

I came up with this homemade BATTERY MONITOR PANEL using two 12VDC VOLTMETERS monitoring each battery bank with a single 0-75AMP DC Current monitoring the selected battery bank (OFF-BANK1-BOTH-BANK2) feeding my trailer systems.



This is how I monitor what is happening to my battery banks when camping off the power grid. The values shown on this battery Monitor panel is telling me both selected battery banks have run down to their 50% Charge state and the trailer is drawing 18AMPs DC current running things.

This is exactly what I want to see at 8AM the next morning after camping off the power grid the previous day/night run off my batteries except the DC Current will be around 1-2AMPS by then just showing my Parasitic drains.

Usually where we end up camping here on the East side of the USA all have generator run time restriction in place and I want to immediately start re-charging my two battery banks by connecting my 30AMP SHORE POWER cable directly to my 2KW Honda Generator. This allows my PD9260C 60AMP converter/charger re-charge my two battery banks in a quick three time frame. Now I am ready for the next day/night run off the batteries.

I watch my battery monitor panel real close when camping off the power grid and using something like the TRIMETRICs 2025RV Battery Monitor would really be beneficial to me by having the built-in settable alarms along with stored history where I could convert easily to AH usage etc.


So far doing it the manual way is still working for us. My three 85Ah batteries are just now starting to fall off abit on full performance after some 7 years of use..

The big deal is doing something to keep track of the batteries otherwise they will not last as long as you expect.

We found out real quick you can't show up at the off-the grid camping sites and start using your batteries. It takes alot of planning...

I am at the point now I want to add solar panels to the off-road camper. These will cut down the generator run time required while my battery banks are drawing maximum DC current when first being charged by my PD9260C converter/charger.

Knowing that each battery in my banks needs to see 14.4VDC @20AMPS DC current to be able to re-charge the battery banks in a quick three hour time frame. That would require my SOLAR Panels producing around 60AMPS of DC current which would be more panels I could to my small camper roof-top. A typical 120WATT SOLAR PANEL will only produce around 5-6AMPs DC Current when in the HIGH SUN.

By using the generator first to re-charge for the first hour and when the DC Current demand from the batteries drops from 53AMPs to around 8AMPs DC Current then my solar panels could take over and finish my charge state during the rest of the HIGH SUN day.

In my situation I must start out my one day/night camping with my batteries at their 90% charge state if I want to make it until 8Am the next morning when I am allowed to run my Generator. Once my batteries drop below 50% charge state I have to stop using them or it will do unrecoverable damage to my batteries.

In my setup SOLAR PANELS will only be required to supplement my battery charging...

My camping off the power grid real experiences...

Roy Ken

Xantrex Link Lite or Link Pro, or the Tri-Metric are very good meters.

They have been around for quite a while and are very well proven meters. I prefer the Xantrex meters because they are smaller and more compact for mounting.

I have a Link 10 (predecessor to the Link Lite) in my 2010 AF811.

All of the above will tell you amp hours consumed, amps currently being used as well as voltage.

I have the shunt mounted on the plywood that makes the top of the batter enclosure, which is accessible in the plumbing access door above the battery door.

I have the meter mounted in the cabinet to the right of the sink. I made a new cabinet door and drilled it out for the meter.

My inverter remote is there too.

The space at the top of the divider for this cabinet is open, which allowed me to route the wiring to the area under the sink, then the wires follow the side wall and go through an existing hole through the wall to get to the plumbing access area under the bathroom sink.

The TriMetric Battery Monitor has worked well for me since about 2006. I have played with it in an effort to learn everything it does. I gotta say, it absolutely tells me everything I want to know, and a couple of things could care less about. It can be surface mounted or recessed. It also has a lightening protector available as an add on.

Mine is the older version of the TM2020. This link will provide its features. It is even made in the USA.

Wayne

pianotuna wrote:
Hi,

Victron and Smartgauge are both better than the trimetric. Smartgauge is an adaptive system that becomes more accurate the longer it is in use. The others do not do that.

if you're referring to adaptive SOC, the Magnum does that and it's the only way I would run it.

I do like the looks of the Trimetric.

Question for those who currently have one. LED lights obviously have a very low amp draw. Does the Trimetric have sensitivity to these levels?