First post wrote:
Iโve managed just fine with monitoring volts only for 9 years. Looking for something wireless for my new rig.
I tried voltage for one year and killed my batteries. The problem was that when driving, engine charging made the voltage on the batteries well over 12.6 volts and it stayed that way for hours after stopping. They call it surface charge. I thought the batteries were getting fully charged from the engine until the furnace failed to work in the morning.
I bought new batteries and read a lot here so I knew the voltage method is only accurate several hours after all charging has ceased. I wanted to know the per cent of full charge all the time so I bought a $25 battery monitor from China via
Ebay. It doesnโt have a remote display but Iโm very happy with it after about 5 years. The display is conveniently mounted in the house. I recently bought one of the monitors with remote display but Iโm so happy with the basic one with shunt for current measurement that I havenโt installed the remote monitor using a Hall Effect sensor described in posts above. I may use the remote one for our car which has a parasytic current draw problem.
2004 E350 Adventurer (Canadian) 20 footer - Alberta, Canada
No TV + 100W solar = no generator needed
