RoyB wrote:
I built me a nice three digital meter panel using Shure Electronics meters from ebay-china. Was not expensive and looked real nice. Mounted in PVC speciality three position switch box from Lowes. Glued the meters in the large switch holes. Monitors two channels of DC VOLTS 0-19VDC (Bank 1 and Bank 2) and also monitors the whole battery system for INPUT/OUTPUT DC amps (0-75AMPS DC). Lets me know how much is being drained and also how much is being provided by the converter/charger when in charge mode.
Roy's Images
Works great but after looking at some of the manf meter panels I sort of wish I went with the Bogart Engineering TriMetric 2025-RV battery monitoring system. Probably double the cost I spent with the Sure Electronics Meters. It has preset alarms and is in a nice looking meter console. Also provides alot of history of when things were done charging wise etc..
Google Image
I keep it simple when camping off grid and always keep my eye on the Battery Monitoring Panel which is just inside my OFF-ROAD POPUP access door. When i see the battery banks approaching 12.0VDC I know it is getting close to its 50% Charge state. I beefed up my battery bank and cabling to have this happen to me around 8AM each morning when i am allowed to use my 2KW generator to power up my PD9260C Converter/charger unit and recharge my batteries back up to their 90% charge state. this usually takes around three hours of generator run time for me starting with 14.4VDC smart mode charging.
This has been my off-road camping routine since 2009 and I just started to seeing my GP24 12V Interstate batteries start falling off in performance last season... Working on a new battery bank now...
Curious which smart mode converter/charger unit you purchased. I did same thing back in 2009 and picked up the WFCO WF-8945 charger unit which I immediately found out it would never go into smart charge modes. This was a well known thing back then which I was not aware of... So I just replaced the charger in the WF 8900 series Power Distribution panel with a Progressive Dynamics PD-9260C charger unit... It works just fine for me...
Roy Ken
Really nice set up, Roy!
I have looked at the TriMetric but chocked at the price... (I do that). I no longer boon dock let I did a few years ago. Now I spend 4 months snow birding, mostly plugged in. Right now I only spend a few weeks a year un-plugged.
In the future I hope to boon dock in BLM in the southwest. THEN the $$ would be well worth it.
Any cheaper alternatives?
