If you are looking for my favorite battery monitor here it is. amzn.to/3n4PJqk. It gives so much info and is easy to set up and the quality is amazing!
You dont consider how these cheap option dont have a convenient way to mount the shunt (unlike the Victron). Do you just leave the shunt hanging in mid air?
You are the consummate RV authority. I understand why you have the following that you do. It’s so apparent that you know exactly what you are talking about. Bravo!!!
I bought the monitor (off Amazon) that you recommended for my 5th wheel. We have 30 amp service at our seasonal campground and on hot days panic to not burn out or trip appliances. It was difficult to run the wire out of the breaker box and up inside the 2” thick wall. I mounted the readout in the main room. Took me several hours. It is on 24 hours per day and our only issue is that it becomes a very bright blue nightlight for people sleeping on the pop-out bed below it. It gave us a real readout on what appliances really draw. More stuff can be used when we run the A/C than we thought before.
Your videos have been saving our family's life. We got evicted and are moving into an unfinished skoolie in 2 weeks. Thank you for these, may God bless you and your family.
Timing could not have been better for me! Just bought the first cheap battery monitor in the video and played around with installing it with some success but now I'll be wiring in the DPDT switch for my application! Thank you so much! My significant other balked at spending $300 Canadian for the Victron at this point so this will appease my inner mad scientist.
Awesome video!!!! What I discovered with the cheap meter is if you put the negative wire from the charging source, in my case the charge controller, on the opposite end of the shunt, leaving everything else exactly as the wiring diagram on the meter, the meter no longer goes to zero when the battery is charging. It shows the total draw from the battery. This works better for me because it tells me exactly how many kWh is drawn from the battery regardless of it being charged and my solar system tells me the kWh produced. From there I can compare the difference between both so I know my energy consumption vs energy produced by my solar system.
This is the best video I ever saw about battery monitors. I bought a 30$ one, I could not convince myself to pay over 250$ for a fancy one. All we need is a volt-meter and an energy meter or counter. Even if it drift a bit what we need is not necessary something very accurate but give us an idea of where we are and what is the actual consumption. With The solar controller and a clamp amp meter we have all the information that we need to figure were we are. Thanks for your time doing this very useful video.
It was a good video. But the apostrophe in “RVs” just bothers and annoys me The $250 one? Never! The $30 one, then you have enough left over to buy that meter he has :) But actually my solar charge controller gives my charge input and I just reset that datapoint every day. However, it doesn’t have the ability to monitor the cumulative draw of the inverter. Which could prove useful.
Thanks for giving a clear, no nonsense explanation of the monitors. It's refreshing to watch someone who can produce a video without resorting to drama. You've earned another subscriber, just wish I'd have seen this particular video one day sooner. I would have ordered a different monitor.
Hi , Might Want to add a couple of " In Line Fuses " To the Wiring At The Source Prevent a Short / Fire . Also a Weather / Marine Type Water Proof High Ampere Circuit Breaker At The Batteries . For Mounting The " Shunts" Find Something Other Than Directly To A Piece Of Wood . These Shunts Can Get Very Hot Under A Load .
An Excellent Combo: Great explanation plus illustration of why a Battery Monitor is essential, followed by the best summary of truly affordable monitors that I've seen on TH-cam. This is a gem.
Excellent ! I am fitting out a small van and there is so much information to take in for the beginner I am. Thanks to your video, I understand a lot better how this little device I bought works, and that I will install asap. Thanks again.
Absolutely correct... All those cheap / standard RV battery monitors use only voltage to tell you your SOC or State Of Charge... If you go by those it looks like your batteries are running down way too fast any time a significant load comes on like the heater. As soon as the heater goes off though the voltage comes right back up and then your batteries look good again. I added 900 watts of solar to my trailer and installed a Midnight Solar Kid charge controller with the optional Wiz bang Jr. 500 amp shunt which provides accurate SOC data.. To your point though, This is an expensive option with the Kid charge controller running around $350 and the wiz bang Jr shunt upgrade running around $100... But if you're adding solar to your RV. You need a charge controller any way. When considering the overall cost of a solar upgrade. Adding the shunt is actually fairly cheap. The Kid charge controller however is practically plug and play. It provides a whole slew of information like percent charge, watt hours, watts, amps being used and much more... Hookup is fairly straight forward and easy. You will need to program in the battery information which requires reading through the manual to understand the menus and of coarse you will need to know the technical data for your specific batteries like battery type, max charge current and amp hours. No... I don't own stock in Midnight Solar. I just love my setup and the ease of DIY installation. I like it so much that I built a larger system for my off grid cabin using Midnight Solar Classic charge controllers. One controller for wind power and another for solar power...
Super grateful for the beginner basics. I am brand new RVer, with an older class C. Lots to learn, and so glad I found you and your channel. God bless!
I have watched several of your RV battery posts and I am an electrical engineer with an RV. You provide excellent info. I do the AGM for my occasional boon-docking. Well done!
I know I'm a couple of years late on reply as I just saw the GREAT video!! I would only make one suggestion to the wiring and that would be to put the power lead that feeds the indicator to the plus side of the battery disconnect switch so when you disconnect batteries it kills power to the indicator. I could not find where they show current draw of the indicator but would think that leaving an RV over the winter for example and draw of the indicator powered would run the batteries down. Just like a vehicle powering the backup for the clock etc. After a long period of time you end up killing the battery. Just a thought.
Excellent presentation that is very clear and easy to understand. No distracting music in the background. Devices clearly shown, demonstrated and Amazon links posted in the video notes. Other TH-cam presenters take note - this is how to do it if you want 100K views and a grateful audience. Teach the world!
great demonstration and explanation, thanks. i have 4 of the "small ones". one for battery in, one for battery out, one for solar in, and one for inverter out. BUT, what you brought to my attention is the shunt limit of 100A! my inverter output exceeds that, and while i have not had a problem with it, i may switch that monitor to the mid grade one you demonstrated. I also put an on / off switch (same one you show) to turn the monitors off, for 2 reasons: 1) to stop the small draw when not in use, and 2) to stop the monitor glow when i am sleeping at night as 4 of them does light up a dark room. much thanks again.
Just the info and instructions I was looking for. I didn't realize this type of monitor was a one way only, but the switch idea is great and I will be using it like per your instructions to monitor my battery on my small 200 watt solar setup that I am building for the first time. Thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience, it is very much appreciated for noobs like me.
WOW!!! I don't know why your video came up, maybe because I'm an RV owner. That's TH-cam for you. But DANG!!! I really like the way you explain things. You are absolutely a genius when it comes to this stuff. I want to thank you. I should get a battery monitor battery, as I don't have one. Come to think of it, I will get one. I have two, both batteries are like 8 years old. I'm almost sure I will need to replace them very soon. This will be a good time to get a battery monitor on a new set of batteries. Once again, thanks and you just got a new prescriber to your channel.
So I installed the DROK monitor as I mentioned in a previous comment and ended up purchasing another. I have wired them across the same shunt so I can measure incoming and outgoing power at the same time. What two monitors gives me versus the DPDT switch solution you mention (and I previously considered) was now I get to see aggregate power consumption and charging as opposed to momentary. If I reset both Power meters at the same time, I can see over the course of a day or weekend just how much power I'm "making up" versus consuming. One other thing I noticed is that the consumption meter only factors in consumption OVER AND ABOVE whatever is being charged by solar or other means. Which is to say, if I have a 10 amp load and my solar is putting 8 amps in, the consumption meter shows NET consumption of 2 amps, not the 10 amp load. I suppose this is a result of the solar energy in the circuit being more "available" than the current that would need to travel across the shunt to the load. Essentially, following the path of least resistance. Thank you so much for sharing.
Not Sponsored? You must not be sponsored, because this is an incredible video instructing the common layman how to hook up sophisticated monitoring for very small amount of $$$. I loved this video, and commend you for giving us people on a tight budget, a chance to hook up great power and voltage monitoring at affordable prices. This is an example of helping our common man, or neighbor, on how to wire things up, like the big boys do, but on a very tight budget. Hooking up a switch to allow the viewer to see both power out versus power in is a lot of help.
Nice job Jerod. Not only with the information but the time in presenting the information in the mockup and the diagrams you have appear on the screen. Always enjoy your videos. Thank you!
Thank you. We just invested in Twelve, 1200Ah AGM batteries to begin creating our house system. My wife and I are just playing with it (Panels, Charge Controller, Inverter, .....) using just one of the batteries just in case we screw up and kill the one. We started by charging the one battery with our panels through our configured CC and then disconnecting the battery and bringing it into our house. We then connected the inverter (2000W Modified Sine Wave) to the battery. So just the inverter and battery and a calibrated Fluke Multimeter monitoring Battery Voltage at the battery terminals where the inverter was connected. We then plugged our Entertainment System (Giant Flat Screen, .....DVD, Channel Box, ..... Surround Sound Amp, .....) directly to the inverter AC out. We continually watched about 3.75 hours of Movies and such and monitored our battery voltage very carefully starting from 13.2 resting Voltage. Within the 3.75 hours, the underload voltage of our battery dropped to 12.46 Volts and we freaked and disconnected it. After 30 minutes of resting, the battery voltage at the terminals with inverter disconnected was 12.84 Volts. By the battery manual, this indicates a fully charged battery.(??) We were confused until we watched some other TH-cams, but it all came together watching yours and have now ordered 2 of the inexpensive shunt monitors through your link and will play with those until we purchase the BMV you recommend. We think with the shunt monitor we will be able to correctly (safely) use much more of our battery capacity than we did cutting off at 3.46 loaded volts by monitoring Watt-Hours used as a percentage of fully charged Watt-Hours. **** Is monitoring the "before and during" Watt-Hours with the above monitor a safe and reliable method of monitoring the capacity (usage) of our batteries? We want to get the maximum cycle life from our batteries and so only want to discharge them about 20% per discharge cycle.**** Thank You!!!
Thanks!! My new RV supposedly has a Bluetooth monitoring system. But I need something that actually works so I can monitor my battery / solar when boondocking. The Drok unit looks like a great option.
Okay , so I'm an idiot and followed the diagram on the back but.... But....... I found it much more explanatory when you showed that 10 second connection from the battery to the shunt on the table .... Thanks !
Great video. Energy monitoring and management are difficult concepts to explain, this demo will answer alot of basic questions for ppl. I have all three of the meter types you showed here, they all work great and serve their purpose. My next project is to install one on my engine alternator output and set up the field current wire to a relay so I can disable the alternator when my solar is putting out enough to run the chassis while on the road (old GM CS series alternator). Handy little devices
Great video, that said, I believe I would fuse the positive side between the monitor and the battery, near the battery to protect in case of a short. Just a thought, I guess it comes to mind since when we travel in our Class A (we used to snow bird but had to take a couple of years off due to illness in the family) we usually spend nights while en-route at truck stops, parked between semi's. My daughter, who lives with us, is on the Ambulance Squad as an EMT. She had to respond at 5:00 AM to a truck fire at the local grocery store/fuel stop at the junction of the two highways that transect our little village. A trucker had been asleep in his sleeper when his heater apparently shorted out, caught the truck on fire, and they had to remove his chard body from the remains of his tractor. Not a pretty sight, but you take the job and you deal with what comes, much as I did when I too worked as an EMT while on the Police Force for 24 years. Fuses can, and do save lives, especially in a rig where you intend to spend time sleeping.
I couldn't agree with you more. On my camper trailer I have 4 X 190watt 24 volt panels in a series / parallel configuration ( 48volt 380watt ) feeding a 50/100 victron MPPT controller with a victron remote monitor and a victron 100 amp load controller set at 11 volts cutout . This feeds 6 X 240 AH 2 volt Narada Lead Carbon Batteries in series ( 12 volts ). The controller gave me the ability to set the charge voltage at 13.8 , the float at 13.5 and limit the input to 40amps as per manufacturers specs. The panels lose sun at 3pm and sunup on the panels is around 7am at which time the battery bank is usually around 12.5 volts no load. I put a basic shunt and display unit in ( Identical to the one you showed ) on the load side and have found it so easy to glance at as I go past that I am also going to put one on the input side. While the Victron display is excellent it requires stopping and scrolling through to check. While although it is currently parked it is running a 150 ltr ( 6.5 cubic feet) 240 volt ac freezer and a 50 ltr 12 volt dc fridge, even though we are in late winter the controller switches over to float at around 8am. The panels were purchased second hand from a dealer at 1/3 new price , are less than 2 years old and come with a 10 year guarantee. For any one wondering about the lead carbon batteries, they treat the negative plates with carbon to reduce the sulfation that occurs when in Partial State Of Charge ( POSC ) as is normal with a solar powered system . Set up as I have them they have a life expectancy of 25 years.
My question on this meter is: I installed one on my 2x 200amp/h lithium battery 24v system, but which settings would i choose being that those readers are set for 100amp batteries? (1,2,3,4,5 batteries, but all 100amp) My meter shows 100% all the time. Gotta be wrong!
Hi Jared, thanks for all wonderful informative videos, we are going to build our camper van , we are wondering that the need of bus bar ( either neg and pos ) is necessary for hooking up power inverter to house battery as we plan to have Renogy DC DC charger with Bigbattery Lithium while we drive? Very confuse about how lithium battery is be able to feed Inverter while charging at same time as battery only has 1 neg and 1 pos post, there is no such input or output posts😅😇.
Great presentation, have been using a Blueseas M2 for 3 years and its having problems, Blueseas tech are giving support but its good to know what is out there.
I believe the terminals on the switch you used would accept crimp-on 1/4 inch female spade connectors, save having to solder. There is also one that fits smaller spade termonals. As to power for the battery monitor, do you have to connect directly to the battery or just a full time 12 volt power source?
I never knew that shunts could meter in both directions; I thought in DC, voltage always travels plus (positive hot polarity) to minus (negative ground).
Clear and easy instruction on install and switch schematic for dual operation. The second one with Hall effect sensor is definitely a better option. But the aili is by far #1 and much, much less expensive than the $200 alternative 👍 thank you.
7:20 ok so it will only give either in or out current of the battery at one time. But will it still keep track of the total charge %, or what happens when you charge and draw from the battery at the same time ? Will it loose track of the charge state then ?
Can I add 2 meters ??? I would like to put the Droc near the inside control panel, and the less expensive one in the battery tray. Can the shunts just be installed in series near the battery and then run the smaller gauge wires to the meters? OR, if I get 2 of the same Droc meters, can they both be hooked up to the same shunt, but their own respective hall-effect probe?
Hi, do you know if it will keep its parameters if the power is not connected? "Shunt still connected"I was hoping to put it on a switch, and turn it on when I want to read it, will it work? or will I need to tell it the size if the battery again ?
Super info, I like the 2nd option which would nice and simple for my house batteries. What would you recommend for monitoring the starter battery on a gas Class A RV? I’ve been fighting a battery drain on my engine starter battery and I need to determine the size of the drain so I can track it down.
When I first wired it up to test it everything worked fine. After setting into a hole and permanantly setting up the wiring the voltage is reading high 50's low 60's where it use to read around 12.7 or so. What changed and how do I change it back.
I purchased two of the cheap monitors a couple years ago and have one coming in from the solar panels and another heading out from my battery. It’s not the most elegant solution but it works well. I can see how much is going in and goi g out at the same time without switching back between screens so that is pretty nice.
I have just found this video and found it really useful. The switch reverse’s the direction of the current but is it possible to wire two monitors, with one set of wires reversed to view in and out direction simultaneously, onto the same shunt.
Thank you! You did an awesome job with explaining what the numbers one the monitors mean and how to calculate them. I learned so much and I only had to watch it once to understand it! lol
Well i do have a 300a juntec shunt battery monitor. It does show 100% battery charge already at 13.6v and according to victron mppt charge controller the battery will still take 15ah untill its full. So whatever these Monitors show is only a rough estimate. If you realy want to know exact Ah and Watts used then you better buy a victron 702 or 712.
I agree the BMV 712 is much better and very accurate and is why it is my favorite monitor. These budget monitors are for those that don't won't to spend close to $200 but want a better system than a voltage tester. Thanks for watching!
Gatdangit, Jared Gillis! Once again, another one of your videos came in clutch! Super appreciative! Clever trick with the double polled/double throw switch. Maybe one day we'll see you on the road. Jared Gillis, THE RV GOD WITH ALL OF THE ANSWERS!
Could we put in 2 monitors 1 for charging and 1 for power out? And can we buy a larger shunt? Ours is 5000watt inverter c/w 8, 6 volt golf cart battery’s
Thanks for the detailed video. I got everything setup and running except for setting up the Energy. How do you set up the energy? I have two 100ah AGM batteries. Thanks in advance.
Thanks for this. I've been gathering a supply of portable power stations and putting them to use but I'm ready to start building a more permanent system and moving into building a battery bank. This will certainly make it easier to get going.
This so great. I really need to monitor my battery as I mostly boondocks, but am not ready to go to the Victron. However, I don't understand where you put all this stuff--is inside the battery box or do you need to get wires inside the RV somehow? Would love to see an installation video. Thanks for your super helpful and thorough videos!
The first meter/monitor shunt at 100 amps is a big limit. Shunts are rated that ive used from 60 to 500 amps, but you can't put that much load continuously. A 500 amp for instance might be good for 350 continuous, which is a lot. But that 100 amp might be really only good for 50 to 60 amps.
I saw the version of this thing with 200 Amps shunt, but I'm not sure, if the concept of using shunt for current measurement is applicable to high-current setups... I can't say for sure about the shunt for the power meter from the video, but usually such shunts have voltage drop of 75 mV / 0.075V. For applications with little currents, it's not gonna be a problem. But for currents with tens of Amps, let alone hundreds of, this will definitely generate a lot of heat! Let's say, we're taking 50 Amps from the battery. Then, P = U x I = 0.075 x 50A = 3.75W. OK, it's not too much... But for 100 Amps it's already 7.5W, and for 200A - 15W! Of course, if take 100A case, when you're consuming 12V x 100A = 1200W, 7.5W is negligible addition for you... I agree, but the heating may be the problem! Therefore, my overall verdict is to use only the meters with hall counter for high-current applications, and for low-current ones (up to 20Amps in total), I'd suggest using the version of meters with integrated shunt. At least, it seems way easier to use: less wires, better accuracy (in theory). And usually low-current versions of power meters go with integrated shunt. In particular, I saw such version for the meter from video, and for many similar meters like that.
Hi, Great video! I bought everything using your links a while back and finally got around to trying out your analysis. I was able to successfully read Voltage, Current, Power & Energy flowing out of my test battery. However, when I plugged in a battery charger (charging a 33Ah AGM battery at 2 Amps) and flipped the switch in the opposite direction, it only displayed the voltage. Do you have any idea why this might be happening? Is there something I'm missing or doing wrong? Thanks!
Today I installed two AC power monitors and they both work perfect. One on the 30am and one on the 20amp. However when I attempted the DC I didn't get it correct. Not sure what I'm missing but all the videos and instructions only talk about a battery. In the RV I have a battery but also have an inverter (if t hat is the correct term) going from the AC to the DC. Now I just can't figure out where to put this shunt so it displays the load as everything running on DC. Back to the research.
Jerry, The Drok looks like a nice solution, "except" for a major flaw. It's hall effect sensor comes with a very short cable..!! Not enough to do anything with, unless you plan to strap the display directly to your house batteries, or other... They need to supply a long shielded optional cable so one can mount this inside the RV and still have the sensor outside on the battery set....
This is great info, thank you! We are looking for a way to add a power meter to the inside of our teardrop. We only have the 2 main lines coming in from the external battery. Can these be wired without running any additional wires to the battery? Just drawing power from our fuse box? Thank you!
Just watched your battier video was was think the $250 option was a bit much for my 03 Rialta, then you posted a video of the exact three cheaper battery monitors I was looking at, it's like your the Alexa of RVing you always know what I need. Thanks.
Thanks. Your a Wizz kid. Being 71 yrs old I had to watch the end for the switch setup to get it. Ha. Probably have to watch is a few times more to get this monitor in.
Can you tell me a little more about the wires you need? I see 2/0 and 2 gauge wire that costs a lot of money some places, like they're "specialty wires". I also see 2 or 4 gauge battery terminal wire that costs a lot less. And the skinny wire to give power to the monitor, what size are those? Is it the solid core stiff wire or the braided flexible wire that has strands in it?
Very good information. Being unfamiliar with things electric, I am left confused about the switch wires going to monitor. The monitor schematic has a shielded wire with a connector at the shunt and the other end has a connector that slips into the monitor. How do the switch wires connect to the monitor?
Very helpful! My system is quite simple and has only one PV panel. So I'm clear, if I install the "sampler" all negative lines (input from solar and load) go through the shunt and the $40 meter will tell me current into battery and out, yes?
Hi bought the budget battery monitor with the shunt to monitor power going out but not getting any readings for current/amps or power/watts tried swapping cables around but still no readings is it me or do you think it could be faulty, very useful video by the way which is why i bought this device many thanks John
you can easy order 5 of them, after around 12 month of use the display was showing incorrect voltages. So i changed it and now it is good since a couple of weeks. But I ordered 2 more just to make sure. If I can see a major difference between Inverter, charger and monitor system in Voltage, I check my battery bank by hand and mostly it is the monitor. could be a difference of 0.2 to 0.8 volt sometimes more. Its cheap, yes but you still need to monitor by hand ...
I bought the Aiili monitor and it worked great for a few months, then it lost the ability to show battery level. It kept going to zero. I looked on line and it appears this is a common problem. It still shows amps in and out, and voltage. I will have to upgrade to a better monitor now.
Good stuff and very succinct explanations of things. I would only add one word of caution. When working with electricity of any kind, please remove ALL jewelry. That ring on your finger could cause you to lose that finger (or worse) if you touch the wrong thing with it. I've seen it happen. I worked in the avionic and defense industry as both a radar and system engineer and safety is absolutely paramount when working with electricity. Aside from that, great stuff!! Thanks for sharing!
Keep the videos coming, lots of good information. I am exploring expanding my 100watt factory installed solar arrangement and want to add 300more watt solar panels and two 12v 100amp lithium batteries to my 2022 Winnebago 2108FBS trailer
Looking to figure out how much power is being consumed by the 12v side of my service so I can size a battery bank and solar. This would give me that information correct?
Question?? If my battery is out of the trailer, can I still leave the trailer plugged in to shore power, or will this damage the fridge. Will this damage anything else on the trailer. Or is it best to Disconnect from shore power all together.
Hi Jared. Thanks for your videos. I am converting to a 6 volt golf cart battery system. We camp mostly on weekends 6-7 times per year. Can’t justify lithium just yet. I was considering the the drok hall monitor system. Do you think it is ok just to install that temporarily on the weekends we camp. It seems simple to install. I would leave the display right by the battery box. This way i would have a quick read out with out testing with a volt meter. Thanks
I’ve learned a lot watching your channel and will be exploring one of these options. Just in the process of wiring up a small portable solar setup on our new trailer so it seems like the perfect time to add a monitor to the shopping list. Thanks Jared!
I have a battery lighting emergency system at home with the 1st meter to monitor battery but i also have a batt charger connected to it but going directly to battery bypassing meter. Do you have a circuit diagram of how i can connect the charger also to operate through the meter so i can also monitor the charging process and see the amps and watthrs going into battery. Thanks. ALL YOUR VIDEOS ARE EXCELLENT and you are a natural. Wish i had had you as my teacher in college. MAN YOU ARE GOOD !!! Keep up the good work. .
I have a setup to install like the budget friendly first one you showed. Like the one you spotlighted, the shunt is not really protected and does not have a base. How is it installed on the system? Does it have to be protected? I know it’s on the negative side of things but I’m concerned about it moving around and not being protected in my circuit build. I cannot find any info about this online. I appreciate any help you can give me.
I knew what a shunt does. I watched this video to see how you mounted it so it doesn’t bounce around. The shunt has no mounting holes or tabs to attach it to something. I watched the video until the end and was disappointed that you didn’t address this important issue. BTW, Trimetric battery monitors are superior to Victron and they cost a bit less because the company doesn’t pay promoters to feature them.
If you are looking for my favorite battery monitor here it is. amzn.to/3n4PJqk. It gives so much info and is easy to set up and the quality is amazing!
You dont consider how these cheap option dont have a convenient way to mount the shunt (unlike the Victron). Do you just leave the shunt hanging in mid air?
Not into RVs but the quality of information on this video is a pure gem.
Once you started talking about the switch...I Lost Ya !!
You are the consummate RV authority. I understand why you have the following that you do. It’s so apparent that you know exactly what you are talking about. Bravo!!!
I bought the monitor (off Amazon) that you recommended for my 5th wheel. We have 30 amp service at our seasonal campground and on hot days panic to not burn out or trip appliances. It was difficult to run the wire out of the breaker box and up inside the 2” thick wall. I mounted the readout in the main room. Took me several hours. It is on 24 hours per day and our only issue is that it becomes a very bright blue nightlight for people sleeping on the pop-out bed below it. It gave us a real readout on what appliances really draw. More stuff can be used when we run the A/C than we thought before.
Your videos have been saving our family's life. We got evicted and are moving into an unfinished skoolie in 2 weeks. Thank you for these, may God bless you and your family.
Timing could not have been better for me! Just bought the first cheap battery monitor in the video and played around with installing it with some success but now I'll be wiring in the DPDT switch for my application! Thank you so much!
My significant other balked at spending $300 Canadian for the Victron at this point so this will appease my inner mad scientist.
That’s great!
Awesome video!!!! What I discovered with the cheap meter is if you put the negative wire from the charging source, in my case the charge controller, on the opposite end of the shunt, leaving everything else exactly as the wiring diagram on the meter, the meter no longer goes to zero when the battery is charging. It shows the total draw from the battery. This works better for me because it tells me exactly how many kWh is drawn from the battery regardless of it being charged and my solar system tells me the kWh produced. From there I can compare the difference between both so I know my energy consumption vs energy produced by my solar system.
This video is a perfect example of why your channel is so informational and educational. Thank you so very much!
Thank you!
This is the best video I ever saw about battery monitors. I bought a 30$ one, I could not convince myself to pay over 250$ for a fancy one. All we need is a volt-meter and an energy meter or counter. Even if it drift a bit what we need is not necessary something very accurate but give us an idea of where we are and what is the actual consumption. With The solar controller and a clamp amp meter we have all the information that we need to figure were we are. Thanks for your time doing this very useful video.
It was a good video. But the apostrophe in “RVs” just bothers and annoys me
The $250 one? Never! The $30 one, then you have enough left over to buy that meter he has :)
But actually my solar charge controller gives my charge input and I just reset that datapoint every day. However, it doesn’t have the ability to monitor the cumulative draw of the inverter. Which could prove useful.
Thanks! We love your tips!
Thank you!
I just received this monitor from Amazon. Thanks for describing the connection process.
Thanks for giving a clear, no nonsense explanation of the monitors. It's refreshing to watch someone who can produce a video without resorting to drama. You've earned another subscriber, just wish I'd have seen this particular video one day sooner. I would have ordered a different monitor.
Hi , Might Want to add a couple of " In Line Fuses " To the Wiring At The Source Prevent a Short / Fire . Also a Weather / Marine
Type Water Proof High Ampere Circuit Breaker At The Batteries . For Mounting The " Shunts" Find Something Other Than Directly To A Piece Of Wood . These Shunts Can Get Very Hot Under A Load .
An Excellent Combo: Great explanation plus illustration of why a Battery Monitor is essential, followed by the best summary of truly affordable monitors that I've seen on TH-cam. This is a gem.
Excellent ! I am fitting out a small van and there is so much information to take in for the beginner I am. Thanks to your video, I understand a lot better how this little device I bought works, and that I will install asap. Thanks again.
Absolutely correct... All those cheap / standard RV battery monitors use only voltage to tell you your SOC or State Of Charge... If you go by those it looks like your batteries are running down way too fast any time a significant load comes on like the heater. As soon as the heater goes off though the voltage comes right back up and then your batteries look good again. I added 900 watts of solar to my trailer and installed a Midnight Solar Kid charge controller with the optional Wiz bang Jr. 500 amp shunt which provides accurate SOC data.. To your point though, This is an expensive option with the Kid charge controller running around $350 and the wiz bang Jr shunt upgrade running around $100... But if you're adding solar to your RV. You need a charge controller any way. When considering the overall cost of a solar upgrade. Adding the shunt is actually fairly cheap.
The Kid charge controller however is practically plug and play. It provides a whole slew of information like percent charge, watt hours, watts, amps being used and much more... Hookup is fairly straight forward and easy. You will need to program in the battery information which requires reading through the manual to understand the menus and of coarse you will need to know the technical data for your specific batteries like battery type, max charge current and amp hours. No... I don't own stock in Midnight Solar. I just love my setup and the ease of DIY installation. I like it so much that I built a larger system for my off grid cabin using Midnight Solar Classic charge controllers. One controller for wind power and another for solar power...
Super grateful for the beginner basics. I am brand new RVer, with an older class C. Lots to learn, and so glad I found you and your channel. God bless!
I have watched several of your RV battery posts and I am an electrical engineer with an RV. You provide excellent info. I do the AGM for my occasional boon-docking. Well done!
I know I'm a couple of years late on reply as I just saw the GREAT video!! I would only make one suggestion to the wiring and that would be to put the power lead that feeds the indicator to the plus side of the battery disconnect switch so when you disconnect batteries it kills power to the indicator. I could not find where they show current draw of the indicator but would think that leaving an RV over the winter for example and draw of the indicator powered would run the batteries down. Just like a vehicle powering the backup for the clock etc. After a long period of time you end up killing the battery. Just a thought.
Excellent presentation that is very clear and easy to understand. No distracting music in the background. Devices clearly shown, demonstrated and Amazon links posted in the video notes. Other TH-cam presenters take note - this is how to do it if you want 100K views and a grateful audience. Teach the world!
Thank you that is very kind.
great demonstration and explanation, thanks. i have 4 of the "small ones". one for battery in, one for battery out, one for solar in, and one for inverter out. BUT, what you brought to my attention is the shunt limit of 100A! my inverter output exceeds that, and while i have not had a problem with it, i may switch that monitor to the mid grade one you demonstrated. I also put an on / off switch (same one you show) to turn the monitors off, for 2 reasons: 1) to stop the small draw when not in use, and 2) to stop the monitor glow when i am sleeping at night as 4 of them does light up a dark room. much thanks again.
Just the info and instructions I was looking for. I didn't realize this type of monitor was a one way only, but the switch idea is great and I will be using it like per your instructions to monitor my battery on my small 200 watt solar setup that I am building for the first time. Thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience, it is very much appreciated for noobs like me.
Do you see what the brand is? He forgot to put the links in description. Th thank you, best wishes
Absolutely brilliant with the switch, just wired up my lawn tractor.
WOW!!! I don't know why your video came up, maybe because I'm an RV owner. That's TH-cam for you. But DANG!!! I really like the way you explain things. You are absolutely a genius when it comes to this stuff. I want to thank you. I should get a battery monitor battery, as I don't have one. Come to think of it, I will get one. I have two, both batteries are like 8 years old. I'm almost sure I will need to replace them very soon. This will be a good time to get a battery monitor on a new set of batteries. Once again, thanks and you just got a new prescriber to your channel.
So I installed the DROK monitor as I mentioned in a previous comment and ended up purchasing another. I have wired them across the same shunt so I can measure incoming and outgoing power at the same time. What two monitors gives me versus the DPDT switch solution you mention (and I previously considered) was now I get to see aggregate power consumption and charging as opposed to momentary. If I reset both Power meters at the same time, I can see over the course of a day or weekend just how much power I'm "making up" versus consuming.
One other thing I noticed is that the consumption meter only factors in consumption OVER AND ABOVE whatever is being charged by solar or other means. Which is to say, if I have a 10 amp load and my solar is putting 8 amps in, the consumption meter shows NET consumption of 2 amps, not the 10 amp load. I suppose this is a result of the solar energy in the circuit being more "available" than the current that would need to travel across the shunt to the load. Essentially, following the path of least resistance.
Thank you so much for sharing.
Nice hook up, thanks for sharing.
I use these on my solar panel projects and my RV.
You can use them anywhere there is a 12VDC current.
Love the video. I highly recommend windscreen toll tags to save messing about with tickets and payment cards at the toll booths.
Not Sponsored? You must not be sponsored, because this is an incredible video instructing the common layman how to hook up sophisticated monitoring for very small amount of $$$. I loved this video, and commend you for giving us people on a tight budget, a chance to hook up great power and voltage monitoring at affordable prices. This is an example of helping our common man, or neighbor, on how to wire things up, like the big boys do, but on a very tight budget. Hooking up a switch to allow the viewer to see both power out versus power in is a lot of help.
Nice job Jerod. Not only with the information but the time in presenting the information in the mockup and the diagrams you have appear on the screen. Always enjoy your videos. Thank you!
Thank you!
Thank you. We just invested in Twelve, 1200Ah AGM batteries to begin creating our house system. My wife and I are just playing with it (Panels, Charge Controller, Inverter, .....) using just one of the batteries just in case we screw up and kill the one.
We started by charging the one battery with our panels through our configured CC and then disconnecting the battery and bringing it into our house. We then connected the inverter (2000W Modified Sine Wave) to the battery. So just the inverter and battery and a calibrated Fluke Multimeter monitoring Battery Voltage at the battery terminals where the inverter was connected. We then plugged our Entertainment System (Giant Flat Screen, .....DVD, Channel Box, ..... Surround Sound Amp, .....) directly to the inverter AC out. We continually watched about 3.75 hours of Movies and such and monitored our battery voltage very carefully starting from 13.2 resting Voltage. Within the 3.75 hours, the underload voltage of our battery dropped to 12.46 Volts and we freaked and disconnected it. After 30 minutes of resting, the battery voltage at the terminals with inverter disconnected was 12.84 Volts. By the battery manual, this indicates a fully charged battery.(??)
We were confused until we watched some other TH-cams, but it all came together watching yours and have now ordered 2 of the inexpensive shunt monitors through your link and will play with those until we purchase the BMV you recommend. We think with the shunt monitor we will be able to correctly (safely) use much more of our battery capacity than we did cutting off at 3.46 loaded volts by monitoring Watt-Hours used as a percentage of fully charged Watt-Hours.
**** Is monitoring the "before and during" Watt-Hours with the above monitor a safe and reliable method of monitoring the capacity (usage) of our batteries? We want to get the maximum cycle life from our batteries and so only want to discharge them about 20% per discharge cycle.****
Thank You!!!
Thanks!! My new RV supposedly has a Bluetooth monitoring system. But I need something that actually works so I can monitor my battery / solar when boondocking. The Drok unit looks like a great option.
Okay , so I'm an idiot and followed the diagram on the back but.... But....... I found it much more explanatory when you showed that 10 second connection from the battery to the shunt on the table .... Thanks !
To measure charge and draw simultaneously would it work if you just bought and hooked up 2 monitors ?
I use the Power Mon from Thornwave Labs. I drive up to stored RV, open app on phone, scan, and get percent charge of batteries. Simple to install.
As a retired electrical engineer - Kudos to you!
Great video. Energy monitoring and management are difficult concepts to explain, this demo will answer alot of basic questions for ppl. I have all three of the meter types you showed here, they all work great and serve their purpose. My next project is to install one on my engine alternator output and set up the field current wire to a relay so I can disable the alternator when my solar is putting out enough to run the chassis while on the road (old GM CS series alternator). Handy little devices
Great video, that said, I believe I would fuse the positive side between the monitor and the battery, near the battery to protect in case of a short. Just a thought, I guess it comes to mind since when we travel in our Class A (we used to snow bird but had to take a couple of years off due to illness in the family) we usually spend nights while en-route at truck stops, parked between semi's. My daughter, who lives with us, is on the Ambulance Squad as an EMT. She had to respond at 5:00 AM to a truck fire at the local grocery store/fuel stop at the junction of the two highways that transect our little village. A trucker had been asleep in his sleeper when his heater apparently shorted out, caught the truck on fire, and they had to remove his chard body from the remains of his tractor. Not a pretty sight, but you take the job and you deal with what comes, much as I did when I too worked as an EMT while on the Police Force for 24 years. Fuses can, and do save lives, especially in a rig where you intend to spend time sleeping.
Good story!
I couldn't agree with you more. On my camper trailer I have 4 X 190watt 24 volt panels in a series / parallel configuration ( 48volt 380watt ) feeding a 50/100 victron MPPT controller with a victron remote monitor and a victron 100 amp load controller set at 11 volts cutout . This feeds 6 X 240 AH 2 volt Narada Lead Carbon Batteries in series ( 12 volts ). The controller gave me the ability to set the charge voltage at 13.8 , the float at 13.5 and limit the input to 40amps as per manufacturers specs. The panels lose sun at 3pm and sunup on the panels is around 7am at which time the battery bank is usually around 12.5 volts no load. I put a basic shunt and display unit in ( Identical to the one you showed ) on the load side and have found it so easy to glance at as I go past that I am also going to put one on the input side. While the Victron display is excellent it requires stopping and scrolling through to check. While although it is currently parked it is running a 150 ltr ( 6.5 cubic feet) 240 volt ac freezer and a 50 ltr 12 volt dc fridge, even though we are in late winter the controller switches over to float at around 8am. The panels were purchased second hand from a dealer at 1/3 new price , are less than 2 years old and come with a 10 year guarantee. For any one wondering about the lead carbon batteries, they treat the negative plates with carbon to reduce the sulfation that occurs when in Partial State Of Charge ( POSC ) as is normal with a solar powered system . Set up as I have them they have a life expectancy of 25 years.
My question on this meter is: I installed one on my 2x 200amp/h lithium battery 24v system, but which settings would i choose being that those readers are set for 100amp batteries? (1,2,3,4,5 batteries, but all 100amp) My meter shows 100% all the time. Gotta be wrong!
Hi Jared, thanks for all wonderful informative videos, we are going to build our camper van , we are wondering that the need of bus bar ( either neg and pos ) is necessary for hooking up power inverter to house battery as we plan to have Renogy DC DC charger with Bigbattery Lithium while we drive? Very confuse about how lithium battery is be able to feed Inverter while charging at same time as battery only has 1 neg and 1 pos post, there is no such input or output posts😅😇.
Great presentation, have been using a Blueseas M2 for 3 years and its having problems, Blueseas tech are giving support but its good to know what is out there.
I believe the terminals on the switch you used would accept crimp-on 1/4 inch female spade connectors, save having to solder. There is also one that fits smaller spade termonals.
As to power for the battery monitor, do you have to connect directly to the battery or just a full time 12 volt power source?
I bought 2 of them from Amazon, they work pretty good, just a shake off of being 100% accurate
Bought the cheapest monitor for my camper batteries, thanks for video!
Looking for one for my trolling motor.
I never knew that shunts could meter in both directions; I thought in DC, voltage always travels plus (positive hot polarity) to minus (negative ground).
Clear and easy instruction on install and switch schematic for dual operation. The second one with Hall effect sensor is definitely a better option. But the aili is by far #1 and much, much less expensive than the $200 alternative 👍 thank you.
Hall effect sensor have been shown to be LESS accurate than shunt based solutions at detecting current. Surprised me.
7:20 ok so it will only give either in or out current of the battery at one time.
But will it still keep track of the total charge %, or what happens when you charge and draw from the battery at the same time ? Will it loose track of the charge state then ?
Can I add 2 meters ??? I would like to put the Droc near the inside control panel, and the less expensive one in the battery tray. Can the shunts just be installed in series near the battery and then run the smaller gauge wires to the meters? OR, if I get 2 of the same Droc meters, can they both be hooked up to the same shunt, but their own respective hall-effect probe?
Yes you should be able to extend it and you can install two meters on one shunt. One showing the in and one the out.
Hi, do you know if it will keep its parameters if the power is not connected? "Shunt still connected"I was hoping to put it on a switch, and turn it on when I want to read it, will it work? or will I need to tell it the size if the battery again ?
Best RV channel I have seen. You are a great teacher, very good at this. Excellent explanation of things. You should get paid for this.
Super info, I like the 2nd option which would nice and simple for my house batteries. What would you recommend for monitoring the starter battery on a gas Class A RV? I’ve been fighting a battery drain on my engine starter battery and I need to determine the size of the drain so I can track it down.
When I first wired it up to test it everything worked fine. After setting into a hole and permanantly setting up the wiring the voltage is reading high 50's low 60's where it use to read around 12.7 or so. What changed and how do I change it back.
I purchased two of the cheap monitors a couple years ago and have one coming in from the solar panels and another heading out from my battery. It’s not the most elegant solution but it works well. I can see how much is going in and goi g out at the same time without switching back between screens so that is pretty nice.
I have just found this video and found it really useful. The switch reverse’s the direction of the current but is it possible to wire two monitors, with one set of wires reversed to view in and out direction simultaneously, onto the same shunt.
Thank you! You did an awesome job with explaining what the numbers one the monitors mean and how to calculate them. I learned so much and I only had to watch it once to understand it! lol
Glad it helped
Thanks. This is the best of DIY; actually showing people how to do it themselves without mistakes.
Well i do have a 300a juntec shunt battery monitor. It does show 100% battery charge already at 13.6v and according to victron mppt charge controller the battery will still take 15ah untill its full. So whatever these Monitors show is only a rough estimate. If you realy want to know exact Ah and Watts used then you better buy a victron 702 or 712.
I agree the BMV 712 is much better and very accurate and is why it is my favorite monitor. These budget monitors are for those that don't won't to spend close to $200 but want a better system than a voltage tester. Thanks for watching!
This could possibly be the best most informative clearest well explained video ever produced and put on the net AAA+++
Thank you
How does a Kodiak Inverter work with what you described
Thank you, great video. How do I know if I need 100a shunt or more?
Gatdangit, Jared Gillis! Once again, another one of your videos came in clutch! Super appreciative! Clever trick with the double polled/double throw switch. Maybe one day we'll see you on the road. Jared Gillis, THE RV GOD WITH ALL OF THE ANSWERS!
Could we put in 2 monitors 1 for charging and 1 for power out?
And can we buy a larger shunt?
Ours is 5000watt inverter c/w 8,
6 volt golf cart battery’s
Thanks for the detailed video. I got everything setup and running except for setting up the Energy. How do you set up the energy? I have two 100ah AGM batteries. Thanks in advance.
Thanks for this.
I've been gathering a supply of portable power stations and putting them to use but I'm ready to start building a more permanent system and moving into building a battery bank. This will certainly make it easier to get going.
Can multiple meters( to measure watts coming and going and charge rates) use the same shunt at the same time?
yes i cannot see why not, each meter would not "know" another device was there.
@@JackButlerVideos Thats good to know, I have already installed them,lol
This so great. I really need to monitor my battery as I mostly boondocks, but am not ready to go to the Victron. However, I don't understand where you put all this stuff--is inside the battery box or do you need to get wires inside the RV somehow? Would love to see an installation video. Thanks for your super helpful and thorough videos!
The first meter/monitor shunt at 100 amps is a big limit. Shunts are rated that ive used from 60 to 500 amps, but you can't put that much load continuously. A 500 amp for instance might be good for 350 continuous, which is a lot. But that 100 amp might be really only good for 50 to 60 amps.
I saw the version of this thing with 200 Amps shunt, but I'm not sure, if the concept of using shunt for current measurement is applicable to high-current setups... I can't say for sure about the shunt for the power meter from the video, but usually such shunts have voltage drop of 75 mV / 0.075V. For applications with little currents, it's not gonna be a problem. But for currents with tens of Amps, let alone hundreds of, this will definitely generate a lot of heat!
Let's say, we're taking 50 Amps from the battery. Then, P = U x I = 0.075 x 50A = 3.75W. OK, it's not too much... But for 100 Amps it's already 7.5W, and for 200A - 15W! Of course, if take 100A case, when you're consuming 12V x 100A = 1200W, 7.5W is negligible addition for you... I agree, but the heating may be the problem! Therefore, my overall verdict is to use only the meters with hall counter for high-current applications, and for low-current ones (up to 20Amps in total), I'd suggest using the version of meters with integrated shunt. At least, it seems way easier to use: less wires, better accuracy (in theory). And usually low-current versions of power meters go with integrated shunt. In particular, I saw such version for the meter from video, and for many similar meters like that.
Hi,
Great video! I bought everything using your links a while back and finally got around to trying out your analysis.
I was able to successfully read Voltage, Current, Power & Energy flowing out of my test battery. However, when I plugged in a battery charger (charging a 33Ah AGM battery at 2 Amps) and flipped the switch in the opposite direction, it only displayed the voltage.
Do you have any idea why this might be happening? Is there something I'm missing or doing wrong?
Thanks!
Today I installed two AC power monitors and they both work perfect. One on the 30am and one on the 20amp. However when I attempted the DC I didn't get it correct. Not sure what I'm missing but all the videos and instructions only talk about a battery. In the RV I have a battery but also have an inverter (if t hat is the correct term) going from the AC to the DC. Now I just can't figure out where to put this shunt so it displays the load as everything running on DC. Back to the research.
Best explanation in utube. Thanks for getting me to the right unit with the right capabilities!!!!!
Jerry,
The Drok looks like a nice solution, "except" for a major flaw. It's hall effect sensor comes with a very short cable..!! Not enough to do anything with, unless you plan to strap the display directly to your house batteries, or other... They need to supply a long shielded optional cable so one can mount this inside the RV and still have the sensor outside on the battery set....
This is great info, thank you! We are looking for a way to add a power meter to the inside of our teardrop. We only have the 2 main lines coming in from the external battery. Can these be wired without running any additional wires to the battery? Just drawing power from our fuse box? Thank you!
Thank you for your great explanation. We are switching our single battery to lithium. I gather option 2 & 3 are best options?
Could we put in 2 monitors 1 for charging and 1 for power out?
And can we buy a larger shunt?
Our inverter is 5000 watt
Just watched your battier video was was think the $250 option was a bit much for my 03 Rialta, then you posted a video of the exact three cheaper battery monitors I was looking at, it's like your the Alexa of RVing you always know what I need. Thanks.
Thanks. Your a Wizz kid. Being 71 yrs old I had to watch the end for the switch setup to get it. Ha. Probably have to watch is a few times more to get this monitor in.
Can you tell me a little more about the wires you need? I see 2/0 and 2 gauge wire that costs a lot of money some places, like they're "specialty wires". I also see 2 or 4 gauge battery terminal wire that costs a lot less. And the skinny wire to give power to the monitor, what size are those? Is it the solid core stiff wire or the braided flexible wire that has strands in it?
Very good information. Being unfamiliar with things electric, I am left confused about the switch wires going to monitor. The monitor schematic has a shielded wire with a connector at the shunt and the other end has a connector that slips into the monitor. How do the switch wires connect to the monitor?
Very helpful! My system is quite simple and has only one PV panel. So I'm clear, if I install the "sampler" all negative lines (input from solar and load) go through the shunt and the $40 meter will tell me current into battery and out, yes?
Hi bought the budget battery monitor with the shunt to monitor power going out but not getting any readings for current/amps or power/watts tried swapping cables around but still no readings is it me or do you think it could be faulty, very useful video by the way which is why i bought this device many thanks John
you can easy order 5 of them, after around 12 month of use the display was showing incorrect voltages. So i changed it and now it is good since a couple of weeks. But I ordered 2 more just to make sure. If I can see a major difference between Inverter, charger and monitor system in Voltage, I check my battery bank by hand and mostly it is the monitor. could be a difference of 0.2 to 0.8 volt sometimes more. Its cheap, yes but you still need to monitor by hand ...
can you install one of these as well as a kill switch on the batteries?
Can u show the double throw switch wiring thanks
I bought the Aiili monitor and it worked great for a few months, then it lost the ability to show battery level. It kept going to zero. I looked on line and it appears this is a common problem. It still shows amps in and out, and voltage. I will have to upgrade to a better monitor now.
Good stuff and very succinct explanations of things. I would only add one word of caution. When working with electricity of any kind, please remove ALL jewelry. That ring on your finger could cause you to lose that finger (or worse) if you touch the wrong thing with it. I've seen it happen. I worked in the avionic and defense industry as both a radar and system engineer and safety is absolutely paramount when working with electricity. Aside from that, great stuff!! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for the heads up! I switched to a silicone ring a few years ago because of the risk of losing a finger
Keep the videos coming, lots of good information. I am exploring expanding my 100watt factory installed solar arrangement and want to add 300more watt solar panels and two 12v 100amp lithium batteries to my 2022 Winnebago 2108FBS trailer
Looking to figure out how much power is being consumed by the 12v side of my service so I can size a battery bank and solar.
This would give me that information correct?
Question?? If my battery is out of the trailer, can I still leave the trailer plugged in to shore power, or will this damage the fridge. Will this damage anything else on the trailer. Or is it best to Disconnect from shore power all together.
I wonder if you could use a larger shunt with the cheaper meter. like add a 200 amp shunt and use it for the entire rv and not just one device.
Hi Jared. Thanks for your videos. I am converting to a 6 volt golf cart battery system. We camp mostly on weekends 6-7 times per year. Can’t justify lithium just yet. I was considering the the drok hall monitor system. Do you think it is ok just to install that temporarily on the weekends we camp. It seems simple to install. I would leave the display right by the battery box. This way i would have a quick read out with out testing with a volt meter. Thanks
I’ve learned a lot watching your channel and will be exploring one of these options. Just in the process of wiring up a small portable solar setup on our new trailer so it seems like the perfect time to add a monitor to the shopping list. Thanks Jared!
I have a battery lighting emergency system at home with the 1st meter to monitor battery but i also have a batt charger connected to it but going directly to battery bypassing meter. Do you have a circuit diagram of how i can connect the charger also to operate through the meter so i can also monitor the charging process and see the amps and watthrs going into battery. Thanks. ALL YOUR VIDEOS ARE EXCELLENT and you are a natural. Wish i had had you as my teacher in college. MAN YOU ARE GOOD !!! Keep up the good work.
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I have a setup to install like the budget friendly first one you showed. Like the one you spotlighted, the shunt is not really protected and does not have a base. How is it installed on the system? Does it have to be protected? I know it’s on the negative side of things but I’m concerned about it moving around and not being protected in my circuit build. I cannot find any info about this online. I appreciate any help you can give me.
With a solar install, doesn't a decent MPPT solar charge controller give you that information? Or do these monitors measure differently?
I knew what a shunt does. I watched this video to see how you mounted it so it doesn’t bounce around. The shunt has no mounting holes or tabs to attach it to something. I watched the video until the end and was disappointed that you didn’t address this important issue.
BTW, Trimetric battery monitors are superior to Victron and they cost a bit less because the company doesn’t pay promoters to feature them.
Loved the video great details to. 👍 Just needed to know where the switch wires go to.
@All about RV's I have 8 batteries in my home setup. Do think the Aili voltmeter is a good option for my setup?