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threedogs
23rd April 2014, 12:09 PM
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/281259576548?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649
Looks like an interesting gadget to have to monitor whats going on with your panels,
I'm going to get one

the evil twin
23rd April 2014, 12:27 PM
I run that exact meter on all my Solar installations.

I'v used them now for over 2 years and yet to have one fail. Extremely handy little meter and I wouldn't be without them.

My only criticisms are that they have no mounting provision (velcro on the back works a treat) and the fly leads are a tad short.
I hard wire mine but they will adapt to Anderson or any other plug application equally well.

threedogs
23rd April 2014, 12:41 PM
@ Bob this might suit your needs ,

Bob
23rd April 2014, 12:47 PM
@ Bob this might suit your needs ,

My Redarc Solar Regulator has one like that attached.

43622

lucus30
23rd April 2014, 12:57 PM
Interesting... Beats using a multimeter ever time

oncedisturbed
23rd April 2014, 01:02 PM
What a top bit of kit, just bought 1 myself


Sent from my iPhone using Motorculture mobile app

threedogs
23rd April 2014, 01:12 PM
I have a 50amp Anderson on the bull bar to my AUX battery.
Now I can plug this unit in line with my Panel and see whats happening ,
don't you love gauges.

threedogs
23rd April 2014, 02:30 PM
this looks the same but with out the end plugs

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/LCD-Voltage-Power-Analyzer-Watt-Meter-Ammeter-Battery-Balance-Amp-RC-Charger-AU-/271290101743?pt=AU_Toys_Hobbies_Radio_Controlled_V ehicles&hash=item3f2a266fef

BigRAWesty
23rd April 2014, 02:54 PM
We use an exact same unit called a watts up meter for the rc..
150A rated for low to high (50v) usage..
Most common brand is turnigy, and more than half that price.. Just need plugs

Cuppa
23rd April 2014, 03:45 PM
They are good little meters provided those buying them recognise the meters’ limitations & have the understanding of how best to use them. They will tell you, depending upon where they are connected how many amps are coming in or going out .... in real time, as well as solar voltage &/or battery voltage in real time. This is useful info, but for those who want a meter to give a relatively accurate reading of a battery’s State of Charge an ammeter with a shunt is needed. The difference is that this will record amps in & amps out & with the capacity of the battery dialled in by the owner will calculate the battery’s SoC. There is no 100% accurate means of monitoring a battery because chemical reactions are affected by a number of variables, but such a monitor is the best anyone can do. However as I said, & for a lot less money, those little meters can be quite helpful once the user knows how & when to interpret the readouts with familiarity. They can also be bought far cheaper without the Anderson plugs attached. .... (Ah, I see TD has found those).

The cheapest battery monitor with a shunt that I am aware of is the one I have in my Patrol. They are available in Oz, but can be bought from the UK for less, including postage. I bought half a dozen as a group buy on another forum & got them for $140 each delivered about 18 months ago. (saved on postage & paid no VAT/GST) http://www.foxsonline.com/cgi-bin/sh000001.pl?REFPAGE=http%3a%2f%2fwww%2efoxsonline% 2ecom%2facatalog%2fsearch%2ehtml&WD=compact%20nasa%20bm1&PN=Nasa%2dBM1%2dCompact%2dBattery%2dMonitor%2dBM1C %2dGR%2ehtml%23aNNBM1C_2dGR#aNNBM1C_2dGR Not suggesting that everyone should have one, but I do think it worthwhile to counter some of the advertising I have seen, particularly aimed at unwary 4wd’ers, selling volt meters as battery monitors. (Advertisers who have no connection to any posters here I hasten to add.)

Cuppa

Ps. By coincidence I have written about the exact same thing to a forum member here via PM in the last day or two).

BigRAWesty
23rd April 2014, 07:59 PM
To follow up on the rc side of things, here is a site with popular cheapish units

https://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__471__157__Tools-Watt_Meter.html

sooty_10
24th April 2014, 09:39 AM
They are good little meters provided those buying them recognise the meters’ limitations & have the understanding of how best to use them. They will tell you, depending upon where they are connected how many amps are coming in or going out .... in real time, as well as solar voltage &/or battery voltage in real time. This is useful info, but for those who want a meter to give a relatively accurate reading of a battery’s State of Charge an ammeter with a shunt is needed. The difference is that this will record amps in & amps out & with the capacity of the battery dialled in by the owner will calculate the battery’s SoC. There is no 100% accurate means of monitoring a battery because chemical reactions are affected by a number of variables, but such a monitor is the best anyone can do. However as I said, & for a lot less money, those little meters can be quite helpful once the user knows how & when to interpret the readouts with familiarity. They can also be bought far cheaper without the Anderson plugs attached. .... (Ah, I see TD has found those).

The cheapest battery monitor with a shunt that I am aware of is the one I have in my Patrol. They are available in Oz, but can be bought from the UK for less, including postage. I bought half a dozen as a group buy on another forum & got them for $140 each delivered about 18 months ago. (saved on postage & paid no VAT/GST) http://www.foxsonline.com/cgi-bin/sh000001.pl?REFPAGE=http%3a%2f%2fwww%2efoxsonline% 2ecom%2facatalog%2fsearch%2ehtml&WD=compact%20nasa%20bm1&PN=Nasa%2dBM1%2dCompact%2dBattery%2dMonitor%2dBM1C %2dGR%2ehtml%23aNNBM1C_2dGR#aNNBM1C_2dGR Not suggesting that everyone should have one, but I do think it worthwhile to counter some of the advertising I have seen, particularly aimed at unwary 4wd’ers, selling volt meters as battery monitors. (Advertisers who have no connection to any posters here I hasten to add.)

Cuppa

Ps. By coincidence I have written about the exact same thing to a forum member here via PM in the last day or two).

Just had a look at those NASA marine units on fox's and they look pretty decent. Did a quick checkout to see what it was going to cost and came in at £168.91, postage was the killer at £115.71 as without VAT they are only £53.20.

Definitely a group buy item :)

sooty_10
24th April 2014, 09:41 AM
There is also these units which guys on the other forum have used before

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/GT-Power-LCD-RC-130A-Watt-Meter-Power-Analyzer-Ver-2-/310793428333?pt=AU_Toys_Hobbies_Radio_Controlled_V ehicles&hash=item485cbb5d6d

Not sure myself what the differences are between these and the blue ones as I haven't delved too deep in them, just watching with interest for when I get a solar setup.

kevin07
24th April 2014, 09:53 AM
Just had a look at those NASA marine units on fox's and they look pretty decent. Did a quick checkout to see what it was going to cost and came in at £168.91, postage was the killer at £115.71 as without VAT they are only £53.20.

Definitely a group buy item :)

my son is in England at the moment maybe something can be organised

the evil twin
24th April 2014, 10:12 AM
They are good little meters provided those buying them recognise the meters’ limitations & have the understanding of how best to use them. They will tell you, depending upon where they are connected how many amps are coming in or going out .... in real time, as well as solar voltage &/or battery voltage in real time. This is useful info, but for those who want a meter to give a relatively accurate reading of a battery’s State of Charge an ammeter with a shunt is needed. The difference is that this will record amps in & amps out & with the capacity of the battery dialled in by the owner will calculate the battery’s SoC. There is no 100% accurate means of monitoring a battery because chemical reactions are affected by a number of variables, but such a monitor is the best anyone can do. However as I said, & for a lot less money, those little meters can be quite helpful once the user knows how & when to interpret the readouts with familiarity. They can also be bought far cheaper without the Anderson plugs attached. .... (Ah, I see TD has found those).

The cheapest battery monitor with a shunt that I am aware of is the one I have in my Patrol. They are available in Oz, but can be bought from the UK for less, including postage. I bought half a dozen as a group buy on another forum & got them for $140 each delivered about 18 months ago. (saved on postage & paid no VAT/GST) http://www.foxsonline.com/cgi-bin/sh000001.pl?REFPAGE=http%3a%2f%2fwww%2efoxsonline% 2ecom%2facatalog%2fsearch%2ehtml&WD=compact%20nasa%20bm1&PN=Nasa%2dBM1%2dCompact%2dBattery%2dMonitor%2dBM1C %2dGR%2ehtml%23aNNBM1C_2dGR#aNNBM1C_2dGR Not suggesting that everyone should have one, but I do think it worthwhile to counter some of the advertising I have seen, particularly aimed at unwary 4wd’ers, selling volt meters as battery monitors. (Advertisers who have no connection to any posters here I hasten to add.)

Cuppa

Ps. By coincidence I have written about the exact same thing to a forum member here via PM in the last day or two).

Agree with most of what you say there Cobber but just to clarify a few things for others who may not quite get the gist.

There are two common ways to measure DC current flow for our purposes.
Inductance Coil and Current Shunt
Current shunt is simply a voltmeter measuring voltage drop across a very low resistance in the circuit and displaying it as current flow.
When you use Current Shunts you have two options for the meter, external and internal but apart from that they work exactly the same.
External is often preferred for high current applications and allows ease of interchangeability for ranging but internal is perfectly fine for low current fixed range use

Cuppa's link is for a device using an external shunt and the $20 meters in this thread use an internal shunt and both units are of very similar accuracy etc.

Not bagging the device in Cuppa's thread at all just saying both Meters use the same measurement technology but Cuppa's has some extra "smarts" for SOC calcs.

Inductance Coil is a "donut" around the cable and the advantage of that is you don't have to cut in to the cable so there are less joints to go high resstance or cause issues. Very handy for vehicles but usually more expensive in relation to Current Shunts

the evil twin
24th April 2014, 11:22 AM
To put it even more simply...

All examples in the thread so far are Current Shunt meters.
The cheaper options are marketed as a "Power Meter" the dearer is marketed as a "Battery Monitor".
The Battery Monitor has some extra algorithms in it to convert the voltage and current to determine State of Charge.
It's SOC accuracy is dependant on how close teh Battery is to the algorithms which are usually pretty good admittedly.

threedogs
24th April 2014, 01:23 PM
@ $15 it might be worth buying a couple.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/271325488471?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

Cuppa
25th April 2014, 11:46 AM
Just had a look at those NASA marine units on fox's and they look pretty decent. Did a quick checkout to see what it was going to cost and came in at £168.91, postage was the killer at £115.71 as without VAT they are only £53.20.

Definitely a group buy item :)

Not sure where that postage figure came from but it does sound very high. I don't have my laptop with me to check what i paid in postage, but it was certainly much much lower than that for 6 units combined. I recently bought a stereo amp from the uk & when looking had some very high postage costs quoted. The place I got it from were able to send it via international courier for about Aus$60 & the parcel would have been 3 or 4 times the size of 6 battery monitors & many more times the weight. (Not only that but from payment to delivery to my front door took just 4 days!). $$115 postage is ridiculous for an item as small & light as the monitor, & i'm guessing it must have been via the Uk's Royal mail?

threedogs
25th April 2014, 12:05 PM
I've just brought two for $14 each one I'll plug inline with
the camper battery the other inline with the Aux on the Patrol.
I get heaps of stuff from the UK and $115 sounds very high,
compared to USA the UK post is very reasonable IMO

sooty_10
25th April 2014, 05:44 PM
Not sure where that postage figure came from but it does sound very high. I don't have my laptop with me to check what i paid in postage, but it was certainly much much lower than that for 6 units combined. I recently bought a stereo amp from the uk & when looking had some very high postage costs quoted. The place I got it from were able to send it via international courier for about Aus$60 & the parcel would have been 3 or 4 times the size of 6 battery monitors & many more times the weight. (Not only that but from payment to delivery to my front door took just 4 days!). $$115 postage is ridiculous for an item as small & light as the monitor, & i'm guessing it must have been via the Uk's Royal mail?

I got the prices direct from foxsonline.com, there was no options for postage? But agreed it seems excessive for what it is. Here is the postage info from the checkout...... Parcelforce Int Sch-Zone11 (£115.71)

Tonks
18th May 2014, 06:33 AM
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/281259576548?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649
Looks like an interesting gadget to have to monitor whats going on with your panels,
I'm going to get one
Just got one myself,
Can any one tell me what the readings on the Meter are,
Plugged it in to the solar panel yesterday for a test run and i had readings of 5.25A, 7.0Wh, 0.55Ah they were on the source side & on the load side i had 13.38V, 57.2W,
Does it mean the solar panel is producing 5.25A & the battery has 13.38 volts, what do the other readings mean,
Cheers.

threedogs
18th May 2014, 07:47 AM
Was it just a panel hooked up to a battery, was it sunny??
Hope you didnt buy the one in the link as pricing is about $15 without plugs
see if I'm right you have a 100watt plus panel that was charging at 5.25ah
one is Energy as in watts per hr[ 7] then your Voltage 13.38
one is power in watts.
Click on the link below then and look at the PDF users guide
http://www.australiandirect.com.au/assets/files/wattmeter%20manualPDF.pdf

Tonks
18th May 2014, 08:15 AM
Was it just a panel hooked up to a battery, was it sunny??
Hope you didnt buy the one in the link as pricing is about $15 without plugs
see if I'm right you have a 100watt plus panel that was charging at 5.25ah
one is Energy as in watts per hr[ 7] then your Voltage 13.38
one is power in watts.
Click on the link below then and look at the PDF users guide
http://www.australiandirect.com.au/assets/files/wattmeter%20manualPDF.pdf
Thx 3D, i bought the one without plugs, heaps cheaper,
It was overcast & i have a 160watt panel.

threedogs
18th May 2014, 08:23 AM
Your panel was returning 5.25 AH not bad for a cloudy day,
then again a panel works all the time % except when its raining

BigRAWesty
18th May 2014, 08:30 AM
Just got one myself,
Can any one tell me what the readings on the Meter are,
Plugged it in to the solar panel yesterday for a test run and i had readings of 5.25A, 7.0Wh, 0.55Ah they were on the source side & on the load side i had 13.38V, 57.2W,
Does it mean the solar panel is producing 5.25A & the battery has 13.38 volts, what do the other readings mean,
Cheers.

Been a while but I'm pretty sure your charging at 5.25a and have used (put in) .55ah. Or 7w..
You panel is producing 13.38v
The 57.2w I think is what's left in the "battery " as these units are typically used in models from battery to motors

threedogs
18th May 2014, 08:46 AM
Heres a dumb question looking at the unit do the panels go to the LHS and battery to the RHS ??

BigRAWesty
18th May 2014, 10:55 AM
If you got the one you linked to the panel goes to the source side and car toothed load.

Not sure if it'll work backwards

threedogs
18th May 2014, 11:19 AM
Thanks after reading the PDF it sounded life threatening,
but what you say is what I was thinking, thanks