Which Battery Monitor ?

[Cool Change]

MaineSail!

I just bought a Linklite Monitor. The installation Instructions call for "over current protection" I am confused as to where to put an inline fuse, and how big it should be.
I have 4 6V golf cart batteries connected in series and parallel giving me 420AH, my charger is a new IOTA 55 A with the IQ4 smart controller.

[Therapy]

Originally Posted by Pelagic

If you study the manual and set up parameters you can see that it does a lot more than “ballpark” the state of your battery

BMV-600 and BMV-602 - Victron Energy

Wow.

I looked at the install stuff - 2 pages and pretty simple.

Then I read the manual.

Yikes!!!

It can be set for an awful lot of specific information. Yikes!!

Looks really good.

[Cheechako]

I guess, I'm a bit of a skeptic since my first one years ago. Maybe someone can help me out and I'll start using mine. Is this how it works ? You tell it how many amp hours are available in your battery bank, then based on voltage readings, input amps and hours etc it tells you your capacity and updates regularly?

[Delezynski]

Cheechako,

Not sure about the others, but our Link 10 works by telling it the total capacity of the batter bank, (300 Ah in our case). It then counts the Ah required to ""fill" up the bank. Once it is full, the system does a set point and you get a blinking LED to say you are good to go.

It then counts the Ah used and lets you know the total (remaining or used) and how long (time wise at an avereged usage that you set).

Then, as you charge using any source, it puts back Ah into the system and accounts for NOT getting 100% of Ah put in due to age and use of the batteries.

We LIKE the 4 LED readout. We are good with all 4 on, start to conserve when 3 are on and think about charging when only 2 remain. I set the full LED mark at 150 Ah, so when the last LED is still green I know I have NOT discharged below 50%.

Greg

[sloopdavidb]

Aloha,
I'm looking at a Battery Bug BB-DCM12-100, Deep cycle battery monitor. Cost about $100. Any one have any input on these. My old monitor is a Spa Creek and I can't find any info on it anywhere.
Thanks David B.

[onestepcsy37]

i've got a plain old volt/ohm/amp meter that i paid 60 bucks for a few years ago. use it for testing everything electrical as well as the state of charge of the batteries. when the house bank (4 t105's) get down to near 50% i charge it up.

amp draw? i know the draw of all of my 'appliances' and how often i use them. daily draw is pretty consistent.

i would go crazy trying to install and use of those high tech monitors....

[quidam]

Bluesea systems has a new monitor that will be available early this year. They call it a "ships monitor" and it has the capability to monitor alot of stuff.

It looks pretty cool , but I think I will give it some time to be tested by other boaters.

[Extemporaneous]

Originally Posted by quidam

Bluesea systems has a new monitor that will be available early this year. They call it a "ships monitor" and it has the capability to monitor alot of stuff.

It looks pretty cool , but I think I will give it some time to be tested by other boaters.

It wouldn't be the Blue Sea VSM 422 (Vessel Systems Monitor), would it?

[theonecalledtom]

Got a second Link20 (the first one had a huge bubble under the front layer) and its still not right. Can't trust it not to get worst so this ones going back and I'm going to pick a different brand.

[Celestialsailor]

Originally Posted by theonecalledtom

Got a second Link20 (the first one had a huge bubble under the front layer) and its still not right. Can't trust it not to get worst so this ones going back and I'm going to pick a different brand.

Maybe it's time to start a thread under Product or Service Reviews & Evaluations

Seems other people should know of the manufacturers quality problems

[theonecalledtom]

Originally Posted by Celestialsailor

Maybe it's time to start a thread under Product or Service Reviews & Evaluations

Seems other people should know of the manufacturers quality problems

Done.

[theonecalledtom]

In The End (hopefully) I ordered a Victron 602 which I'm prety sure will tell me that my house bank is shot (the starter battery gave up the ghost recently and turned out to be 10 years old).

Am also interested in the Battery Bug mentioned byDavid B - seems useful for a variety of vehicles and is also cheap. Does anyone use it?

Amazon.com: Battery Bug Starting BB-SBM12 Battery Monitor: Automotive

[Pblais]

In The End (hopefully) I ordered a Victron 602 which I'm prety sure will tell me that my house bank is shot (the starter battery gave up the ghost recently and turned out to be 10 years old).

Funny thing is it won't tell you the bank is shot. Battery monitors work under the idea that the bank is new. You tell it the size and the exponent and it measues amps in minus amps out and displays the delta. It has no idea if youir bank can hold a charge but if you wake up and it's dead it will tell you how much it went down.

[theonecalledtom]

Originally Posted by Pblais

but if you wake up and it's dead it will tell you how much it took.

Exactly. Right now I'm in the dark (beyond a crappy LED volt display marked in 0.5 volt ranges or my multimeter). I know that we get less juice than I'm expecting but don't know if this is because of stray current, unexpected equipment draw or shot batteries.

[Extemporaneous]

Have any of you ever used a SmartGauge?
SmartGauge Electronics - SmartGauge battery monitor
And how well did it work?
It sure seams to take a different approach to monitoring the batteries.

Extemp.