I have an older (2003) on-board battery charger/Inverter that uses a somewhat crude Xantrex monitor. It is good at telling you how the charger / inverter is performing but not about DC usage or charging from external sources (ie. alternator). I was going to add a few Amp meters to the system and re-wire a few things to determine the charge and drain rates of boat battery banks. I even bought a fancy digital amp meter and shunt to see exactly what the alternator is putting out and exactly where it is going (that is how much is going to each bank).
However, the newer monitors by xantrex (and others) appear to be even better. I am now thinking of just adding one of these which can monitor both banks and display charging/discharing rates
The reason I am doing this is I upgraded my alternator to a high output and somewhat smarter unit by balmar that has a very nice external regulator that can adjust the charging profile to that required by any battery. (I needed a AGM profile) Most alternators are dumb and just dump a charge at a constant voltage witch will reduce the life of modern battery's. Anyway I want to see exactly what this is putting out and where exactly it is going as well as how many hours of juice I have left.
Have any of you guys tried these monitors?
Battery Chargers | LinkLITE Battery Monitor | Xantrex
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