I faced just the same problem yesterday - what battery monitor do I use? After thinking about it more, I realized that what I really wanted was a charge monitor. Thanks for putting me right about the size of the shunt needed. Will look at options for buying overseas and importing privately - should not attract too much in import taxes, I hope! (Although our dollar is not worth quite as much as yours - I am quoting NZ $, which is presently worth around 85c US) It is made in Germany so should be well engineered, and here it is $100 or so cheaper than the Bogart. It seems the Votronic is not well known over there. Makes me envious to see how much the Bogart costs in your country! I have read lots of good reviews about the Bogart. Another highly regarded monitor is the Victron battery monitor. Doesn't cost any more than a 100 amp shunt.īogart makes a somewhat more advanced model with more communications capabilities for data logging. you want a 500 amp shunt on a system the size of yours. They are widely available for less than $160. Thanks for the heads up on the Fluke, will google that and check it out. Absorb is set at 58.8V, so SOC is showing 60% of that, and that if I wanted accurate SOC info I had to check the monitor early in the morning, before sun is up, and after the system had been at rest overnight! Which is why I need a device that will give me real time info as I don't relish getting up that early! (it also data logs.)The not being accurate comment came about when I rang the dealer to ask why does the controller monitor show batt voltage at 56V (when 51.6V is full charge) but SOC show as 60%? He explained that the SOC % being shown is the percentage of the programmed charge going in to he battery bank - e.g. ![]() Stick a FLUKE 43B on the wall, and let them argue with it's "accuracy"! AC power measurements can get a lot more complicated. ![]() to meet it is hard to define and enforce a "quality" device.Īs far as DC power goes it is easy to get accurate number with simple equipment so it "not being accurate" sounds suspect to me, but know knowing what you are using it's hard to tell. I would contact the battery manufacture and inquire about the details. So, if I want to keep the warranty looks like I need a monitoring device that meets the warranty conditions. But the supplier/dealer says that these readings are not accurate and cannot be relied upon to give real time information, except early in the morning when everything has been at rest overnight and the sun hasn't come out yet! The batteries have a five year warranty, and one of the warranty conditions says - "A reliable battery monitor must be installed in the system that give accurate charge/discharge in amp hours, state of charge and history for the batteries."īugs me a bit, because the controller has a monitoring function built in (& there is an optional extra available enabling me to connect the controller to my computer), with a small LED screen with selectable parameters, including SOC, battery voltage and current, days max and min, PV voltage & charge state, generated energy & Pv power, batt temp and device temp. However, I now have a new charge controller and a new battery bank. Especially since I, and the previous owner of our place, managed adequately with the analogue voltage meter - I knew from experience that if the meter showed 54V when the sun went down that the batteries would be fully charge at 51.6V or thereabouts, or if after a couple of days of bad weather it was showing 50 - 52V, then it was time to put the genny on and bring the charge back up. It does seem a bit over the top if all I want to know is SOC. Yes, imported goods are expensive here in NZ
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