![]() I am entirely LED equipped so leaving all lights on doesn’t draw much power, so, I have to use things like fans, incandescent lights, and a small inverter. Believe it or not, this takes a great deal of effort. I’ve drawn the house batteries down to the 80% level overnight. It is fun to run various electrical components after dark and be able to see the amperage being drawn and the battery ‘percent full’ change. I have thoroughly enjoyed playing with this new tool. ![]() It is certainly not difficult – just read the manual. Configuring the monitor requires a read or two of manual as everything is done with just two buttons. The monitor is very capable is this mode only. Initially, it is setup to provide just the basics and only requires setting three values. The Trimetric monitor has a bunch of features. These two add-on’s would allow the charge controller to do a better job by having an accurate sense of the battery voltage and temperature. Of course, while I was at it… I also ran a battery voltage sense cable and battery temperature cable to the MorningStar MPPT solar charge controller. I ordered a 50′ cable and just barely had enough. This required a run from the battery bank in the very front of Shaneeda, to the rear axle, up thru the floor, and then forward to my “electric panel” location. I wanted to follow the existing electrical wiring and not punch a new hole anywhere. The cable from the shunt to the Trimetric monitor is a not so easy – at least in my case. For this, I had to make one very short length of cable. You simply need a place to mount the shunt and the correct cables to connect it to the battery. In my case, I needed to install a 500 amp shunt at the battery bank and then run the cables. ![]() Installing the Trimetric Battery Monitor is pretty simple but that doesn’t mean that some effort is not required. I decided that knowing exactly what was going on with my 12 volt electrical system would be very beneficial, provide a great deal of peace of mind, and would be well worth the two-hundred dollars that the Trimetric battery monitor costs. However one does run the risk of damaging the batteries (over-depleting) and is constantly wondering what state things are in. As a result of that experiment, I began to understand how nice/convenient it would be to know what is happening with your battery bank. Why? Well, that is the question I had prior to spending ten days boondocking with solar only. So, I followed their lead and purchased one too. When the two units are used together, it increases the performance of the charge controller and can adjust the output to a level that is better suited to your batteries current state of charge.While researching solar power on the Internet, one cannot miss the many references to the Trimetric Battery Monitor. The main difference between this model and the older TM-2025-RV is that the TM-2030-RV is capable of working in tandem with the new Bogart Engineering SC-2030 PWM solar charge controller. The TM-2030 also can measure the voltage only of a second battery set, such as the starting battery, or solar voltage input to a charge controller. The monitor will also tell you the number of days since the main battery system was fully charged, so if it hasnt been charged recently you can perform extra charging if necessary to help maintain the capacity of your batteries. It will let you discover if your charging systems are charging to the proper voltage, which is important for maximizing your battery life. The Trimetric will help you keep track of how charged or discharged your batteries are. This is a big help when youre trying to conserve energy. It measures the rate of energy going in or out of your batteries so you can check your charging systems and see how much energy each of your appliances use. The TM 2030 is intended to help maintain battery systems for 12V to 48V deep cycle batteries, such as ones found in RVs or off grid homes, which are regularly charged and discharged. The TM-2030-RV comes with its own enclosure designed to be surface mounted to a wall, so it does not need an additional mounting enclosure. Trimetric TM-2030-RV Deep Cycle Battery Monitor System NOTE: Requires either a 100 amp or 500 amp shunt.
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