Battery monitor: useful tool or toy?

[Ductape]

Hello all. As we prepare for FT (mostly boondocking) I am working through the 12v upgrades. Got the 600 AH of Lifelines in place. Two banks of 6v pairs; 4 batts in all. Upgraded the converter to 80, probably change out the inverter later to an invert/charge unit as well. Will top it off with solar in the end.

Question I have is an AH monitor e.g. Trimetric seriously useful, or is a voltage check just as accurate (more accurate?) an indicator of SOC? Mainly interested in what will I really need to measure to make decisions on when to fire up the gen vs let the solar fill the bank.

Thanks again. I've spent a lot of my career working with tech but I am learning a lot from you guys.

[mena661]

IMO, it's almost required for AGMs but others will say different. Generally, also IMO, you really don't need one. It's a nice to have.