What is the Ideal Battery Charging System?

BFL13 wrote:
IMO forget the expensive clamp meter for now anyway. The 10 amps feature on the cheapo multimeter is not required for most things, but is useful for the odd thing. You just want the voltmeter part for now.

You can use the 120v setting to check campground pedestals. You can use the DC voltage setting to check any thing in the RV that is 12v. eg, to see if the converter is working at 13.x v and you are not just on battery at 12.x volts with a duff converter.

While camping off grid you want to know when it is time to recharge. Your "morning voltage" before you turn on stuff will start at say 12.65, then next day it might be 12.45. You want to stay above 12.15.

So you see at that rate next day it will be 12.25. Hmmmm. Ok that means if you wait another day it will be 12.05, so you better recharge at 12.25 to stay above 12.15.

X2!

I am 100% AGM and had to learn to read battery health without a hydrometer.

I use BFL's technique as well to forecast when I need supplemental genny/shore-power charging. Of course, you must have enough AHs in your battery bank to last more than a day.

I have a meter called a Turnigy. It has a few extra features that make it better than a typical hand held meter(HHM).

One feature is that it shows the lowest voltage since attached. Low voltage can warn you if your circuit boards in your propane fridge might shut off soon. In my case, it warns me about my 12V fridges.

After I recharge I reset the Turnigy $30.

If placed in-line between a source and load, you can get Amp data such as accumulated AHs, Watthours, and Highest Amps.

HTH;
John