Volt meter and such.... looking for a data panel...

[bigcitypopo]

i've been hunting...

clicky right heee-a!

let me know what ya think. pretty straight forward, no?

[bigcitypopo]

I guess ill have to pull the mother to look at it. Lol

[mena661]

bigcitypopo wrote:
I peeked into the panel. It looks like 4 or 6ga to the batteries... So I might be good. I've been looking at the boondock swap outs at bestconverter.com.

I do not want to run heavy gauge to the batteries in a new rig.

4 or 6 ga isn't large enough for a nearly 30 foot or more wire run. The boondocker won't go into boost mode at that distance either. The Progressive Dynamics converters will but you'll have to "force" it via its pendant (and you'll get less charging amps). You CAN move the converter closer, making the 120V cord longer as voltage drop there isn't as significant or important. Doing all that, the WFCO still might not go into boost but other converters definitely will.

[bigcitypopo]

I peeked into the panel. It looks like 4 or 6ga to the batteries... So I might be good. I've been looking at the boondock swap outs at bestconverter.com.

I do not want to run heavy gauge to the batteries in a new rig.

[mena661]

If you want a fairly accurate reading, I'd put the panel close to the batteries as possible. What really sucks about the converter being way at the back is you'll definitely have a really long run of too small wire to your batteries. And if you have a WFCO converter it will NOT go into boost mode.

[bigcitypopo]

mena661 wrote:
Congrats on the new rig. I know some people may disagree but DW and I have always liked those Keystone Springdale's.

I love it... more bang for the buck... they threw a curve at me and switched roofing.. to an Alpha system. I bought fantastic fans and such with all the lap sealant. had to go exchange the sealant... lol

I love the full deck'd roof and sealed underbelly. shakedown run is 7/18 soo we will see.

Link to our new rig

if you look at the last pic on the page... you will see the power panel in the bunk house... odly the 30A cord is right behind it.

[camperpaul]

RoyB wrote:

The only thing I really wished I had was an adjustable alarm setup when my DC VOLTAGE drops below 12.0VDC to alert me when my batteries are getting close to their 50% charge state.

Roy Ken..

Roy,
That's an easy one.

A CMOS comparator a few resistors a 20 turn pot and a Sonalert® (or a 555 oscillator and a small speaker) will do the job quite nicely.

[mena661]

Congrats on the new rig. I know some people may disagree but DW and I have always liked those Keystone Springdale's.

[bigcitypopo]

I have the meter, 500a shunt. Sitting on my breakfast bar... I bought a new rig... So getting that setup has been a chore. I Have a big trip planned, AND... My converter panel is now on the complete opposite end of my trailer, so I need to figure out how to wire it now.

[RoyB]

Your ebay panel looks pretty neat... Would like to hear about how well it all works for you.

I went rather cheap with my DC Monitor panel setup. I have around $60 tied up into my install. The meters was the cheap part of the cost... It has two SURE Electronics (EBAY CHINA) Digital Dc Voltmeters 7-30VDC and a +/- 75AMPS DC Current (Hall Effect) Meter.

I mounted these three meters in a LOWES Electrical junction box and used a 3-gang specialty switch panel.. All of my items are installed out of sight and are routed back to the battery switch area in 3/4-inch pvc flex conduit.

Meter Panel Looks like this


The SURE ELECTRONICs digital meters are Model ME-SP230 and Model ME-SP038...

My meter panel is wired into my battery bank system like this. All of the wiring that feeds the remoted panel is protected with a 1AMP fuse. Using the HALL EFFECT donut allows me to not have high current carrying wiring up into my trailer area.


The only thing I really wished I had was an adjustable alarm setup when my DC VOLTAGE drops below 12.0VDC to alert me when my batteries are getting close to their 50% charge state.

Roy Ken..

[Homeless_by_Cho]

bigcitypopo,

Did you buy and/or install this meter? If so, how do you like it? Is it ON all the time or did you put a push button monmemtary switch in the system? If so, where?

Thanks in Advance,
LeRoy

[nbounder]

The meter is nice - looks sharp and offers good features. . . .however : If you need to do any troubleshooting (like maybe check why the WH ain't cooking) you need something that's small and portable. This meter is almost useless for those instances. Need to buy one or 2 Harbor Freight specials for $3 each to supplement this.

[OnaQuest]

pianotuna wrote:
Hi OnaQuest,
I'm sure you did not mean it--but your post sounds a bit aggressive.
Just to set the record straight the Hall Effect meter shows positive and negative flow of amps.
It is rather neat to see the solar system sending energy to the chassis and lowering the load on the alternator.
I already have a volt meter (two, actually). I'm just offering options.

No offense or aggression meant, Pianotuna.
I simply wanted to point out, for the OP's benefit, that there was more function available in the unit being discussed (for nearly the same money) than in a single amp meter. (Shunt or Hall effect technology not withstanding.)

The physical installation of the DC resistive shunt may be more difficult (labor intensive, cable logistics, etc.), but the electrical implementation is not any more complicated.

The DC shunt works well with my simple TriMetric installation.

[tenbear]

bigcitypopo wrote:
hmmm.. do you guys have pics of your stuff, and how your wiring works... this stuff is kinda new to me. Am I over thinking it?

The installation of this meter really consists of 4 parts.

1. Mount the meter where you want it.

2. Install the shunt. The photo Mark posted shows the shunt. One end of it goes directly to ground. The other goes to the negative lead from the battery, which previously went to ground. Note that the shunt is not insulated so you have to figure out some way to mount the shunt so the ungrounded end is insulated from ground. It could be simple or not depending on the wiring of your battery. In my case the battery is under the floor in a plastic battery box. The wiring is exposed to everything kicked up by the tires. I mounted the shunt in a plastic box mounted to the ground stud used by the battery negative lead.

3. Connect the battery negative lead to the ungrounded end of the shunt.

4. Run the supplied 7 wire cable from the battery positive, the ground end of the shunt, the hot end of the shunt to the meter.

When I installed my ammeter I found the most challenging part was installing the shunt. YMMV

[MEXICOWANDERER]

I try to install a T Fuse rated at least 10% fewer amperes than the rating of the shunt. The reaction time of the fuse is impressively fast.