Battery Monitoring -- How I Done It --

[JasonW]

Hi @Dellmassive

I was originally looking at a basic voltmeter to monitor volts

The Voltmeter and BM2 are very comparable with less than 50mV difference... BM2 accuracy is pretty good and has settable % alarms for battery SOC in the App

 

[Dellmassive]

The Voltmeter and BM2 are very comparable with less than 50mV difference... BM2 accuracy is pretty good and has settable % alarms for battery SOC in the App

View attachment 96000

View attachment 96001

Nice charger =]

 

[JasonW]

Thanks @Dellmassive, yeah certainly a quality bit of kit Noco 10...

Charging profile overnight..

 

[Loz]

I just bought myself one as a Christmas pressie

 

[Dellmassive]

I just bought myself one as a Christmas pressie

NOCO 10A ?

 

[Loz]

My 100w solar just not cutting it on these dark and overcast days this week.

 

[Loz]

NOCO 10A ?

Yup

 

[Dellmassive]

My 100w solar just not cutting it on these dark and overcast days this week.
View attachment 96049

same here . . .

The solar shed died mid november . . .




...

So i had to plug in the CTEK MX5 (5A smart) . . . and just left it connected . . . . till the sun comes back that is =]

battery bank now 100% 24/7

 

[Dellmassive]

Yup

good man =]

...


i love my NOCO charger, in fact I've got it here right next to me . . . (G15000 15A)






but if you like monitoring the charge on your phone APP . . . . . then you cant beat the Victron Blue Smart range.

Love the Victron chargers too . . . which is also have next to me.

(12/15A Bluesmart . . . . and 12/30/1 Bluesmart)

 

[Sniggib]

Can I just confirm, when connecting a monitor to a battery bank I just connect the one monitor to one battery, rather than across the bank. I'll be pulling my positive from one battery and then negative from the second.

Cheers

 

[Dellmassive]

You can connect to any battery in the bank.... provided they are connected together...

The BM2s draw next to no current, so they will report the voltage fairly accurately..


So, start, or end of the chain..... or across one battery.... the result should be the same.

 

[Sniggib]

That's great thanks.

I'll put it across my first battery then as it's easier to get to!

Thanks again

 

[Sniggib]

Hi all and @Dellmassive

So I've just gone to connect monitor, but got confused.

I have 2 leisure batteries wired in parallel as per the below pic


Positive on right and negative on left.

I've taken my positive in from bottom right and negative out from top left.

When I've run my multimeter across each battery separately I got no volts on charge. When i run the multimeter across the bank o.e. bottom right to top left I get 15V (engine on so charging).

I had intended on putting my battery monitor across the first battery, but now it seems this might not register a charge as per the multimeter?

Help much appreciated!

Cheers,

 

[Loz]

That doesn't make any sense.
If they are in parallel then they act as a single battery.
You should be able to meter each battery and see the same.
Can you provide a drawing of how you have connected that lot together?

 

[Sniggib]

Thanks Loz.

I'll double check it now with the multi as it didn't make sense to me either.

My wiring diagram

(Only 3 wires from first battery positive as no fridge yet).

 

[Dellmassive]

What @Loz said...

Double check your conections.(and fuses)

Both batteries POS together. (Fused if reqd)

Both batteries NEG to chassis. (Via each other is fine)

Battery monitor BM2 across any battery POS/NEG

 

[Sniggib]

Thanks both, seems to be the multimeter playing up. Both batteries have read 15v, on charge.

Oddly the multimeter keeps either instantly going to 15v or solely climbing to 15v. Very odd.

Thanks for the help!

 

[Pete C]

That battery clamp bar on the “top” battery worries me. Is that it’s usual position ?

Pete

 

[Sniggib]

That battery clamp bar on the “top” battery worries me. Is that it’s usual position ?

Pete

Hi Pete, yes that's its usual position.

What is your concern? Location? Have I used it wrongly? I am able to change it if needed.

Cheers

 

[Pete C]

That sort of clamp usually runs along the long (top) edge of the battery, with the J bolts at an angle pulling the clamp and battery into position. If the nuts came loose with it like that, then it could short the battery terminals.
Will see if I can find a picture somewhere.

Pete