![]() A battery’s voltage varies significantly due to temperature, size, discharge rate, age, how recently it was discharged, etc.Batteries lose capacity over time which the battery monitor cannot accurately account for.The battery monitor works by using voltage and current entering and leaving the battery. But, battery monitors are pretty close and are (way) better than nothing.Ī battery monitor is often compared to the gas gauge in your car, but that is not a good analogy. ![]() In short, their figures are inaccurate due to variability in how batteries function. The thing is, battery monitoring is not an exact science. ![]() i.e., if solar panels are generating +10A of current, and you are consuming (-6A) of current, the monitor displays positive 4A of current. The battery monitor shows us the “net” Amp current at any time. The shunt’s small data wire provides that data to the monitor display screen. The shunt is typically wired to the positive and negative terminals on the battery. We’ve got the higher end Victron BMV700.Īll current in or out of the battery goes through the shunt and gets measured. Alas, when we designed our solar system this product wasn’t on the market. If you’re going to be running any devices that potentially draw more than 1,000 watts, go for AiLi’s 350A version. ![]() But if the shunt ever fails, you’ll have to rewire things because you can draw from your batteries. If nothing breaks and you can deal with these issues, you’ll be pretty stoked to pay so little. Super short 2′ ft cable means you have to splice on additional cable to put the monitor display more than 2′ ft from the batteries.Hole for mounting is non-standard an unusual 2-1/8″ hole saw.The shunt housing is plastic which can crack when torquing the connections Bad instructions, and no technical specs.Display backlight stays lit whenever current going in or out, which can be hours at a time.It’s pretty lacking on all other fronts though. It gives us the basics: the battery’s state of charge (it’s remaining power), and how many amps are going in or out of the batteries. The AiLi battery monitor is the kind of knock-off we are all familiar with: basically functional, but suspiciously cheap. We will also give you our favorite battery monitors for different budgets. In this post we will review what a battery monitor does, whether you need one, and details to look for when comparing battery monitors. It’s also very likely to extend the life of your batteries. A battery monitor, especially a good one, makes using your battery power easier to understand and track. Not in the way that you need solar panels and cabling. Things to Look for in a Battery Monitor.Favorite High-End Battery Monitor (we’ve got this one):.Cheap Battery Monitor that will work and is better than nothing:.Our Recommendation for basically every electrical system:.Best Battery Monitors for Van and RV Solar System.By displaying the charge percentage, battery monitors help keep you informed about your battery’s state of charge so that you know what actions you need to take. That’s why battery monitors are important. That’s why manufacturers of laptops and phones, whose devices uses lithium batteries, recommend to not charge their devices to 100% to prolong their usable life.īut because standard 12v batteries do not come with a percentage charge display, it is too easy to ignore a battery’s current charge. These batteries do not like the be overcharged and kept at 100% for long periods of time. Lithium batteries are similar but in the opposite sense. That’s why it is recommended not to discharge an AGM battery past 50% The more you discharge AGM batteries, the fewer charge cycles and lifespan that battery has. Oftentimes, prematurely dead batteries occur because the user unknowingly over-discharged their AGM batteries. And many times, these batteries have died prematurely. If you have been doing van life long enough, you have almost certainly meet other camper van travelers who have had to deal with dead batteries.
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