how discern the charging voltage going into my leasure batteries from my solar panal and while driving

[roadwarrior]

i know it goes up while charging but how can i find out what its charging at ?
i have a bluetooth sensor straddling the 2 batteries and so i know the voltage of the battery but how do i find out what its been charged at ? i have just fitted two new yuasa EFB'S so i really interested in charging them properly

 

[Revolvor]

Get either a Victron SmartShunt or BMV 712

 

[ctc]

I use a cheap Chinese meter that plugs into the 12v socket. Mine has two sockets on the dash, one wired to the vehicle battery and one to the leisure batteries.

 

[Revolvor]

I use a cheap Chinese meter that plugs into the 12v socket. Mine has two sockets on the dash, one wired to the vehicle battery and one to the leisure batteries.

That is only telling you what the voltages are, not the charging current. The SmartShunt acts like a"fuel gauge" so you know how much energy is in the batteries.

 

[pappajohn]

Whatever the charge amps are you have no say in the matter.
The batteries will take what they need UP TO the maximum the solar and split charge can supply.

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[autorouter]

i know it goes up while charging but how can i find out what its charging at ?
i have a bluetooth sensor straddling the 2 batteries and so i know the voltage of the battery but how do i find out what its been charged at ? i have just fitted two new yuasa EFB'S so i really interested in charging them properly

Not sure what the question is, but if you fit a Victron SmartShunt or BMV battery monitor it will keep a record of the voltages over time, so you can view the voltage history over the previous day, week, month etc.

The SmartShunt and some of the BMVs will send data to a Bluetooth app on your smartphone. The Smartshunt has no display, and is ideal if you prefer to use the phone as a display. The BMVs with a '1' in the middle have Bluetooth too, ie the BMV 710. 711 and 712.

All these devices will measure the current (amps) flowing into and out of the battery, and will keep track of the charge flowing into and out of the battery so you know how much charge is available. This is a much better way of monitoring the battery state than just looking at the voltage.

For example, suppose you have 200Ah of battery, fully charged. If you take out 5 amps for 4 hours, that's 20Ah of charge. So the batteries will be at the 90% level. This will be true no matter what the voltage is - either raised to 14V or so if being actively charged, or lowered because there's a load. A SmartShunt or BMV will tell you the state of charge regardless of voltage variations.

 

[TheBig1]

you would need to fit a shunt in the solar supply to measure that. Fit one to the battery and it will give total charge being put in by the alternator and the solar combined

 

[ctc]

That is only telling you what the voltages are, not the charging current. The SmartShunt acts like a"fuel gauge" so you know how much energy is in the batteries.

I thought he just wanted to know what his alternator was delivering.

 

[Revolvor]

I thought he just wanted to know what his alternator was delivering.

The SmartShunt will tell him that as well.

 

[roadwarrior]

i bought a little battery monitor and connected it between the batteries it tells me off grid on my drive my batteries are 13.8v and solar charging currently at 14.16 and full.
I will leave shunts to the grown ups i think.
As always thank you everyone.

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[berni109]

As an alternative have a look at KG110F coulomb meter made by junctec. Ebay from China. Got it's own display or for even less ditch the display and use bluetooth on your phone. Plenty of YouTube reviews.
I have one of their previous offerings WITHOUT bluetooth and it works fine for me. You can have the old one for £10 plus p&p. Just ordered the newer bluetooth version.

So with one of these meters or what has previously been suggested you can see what voltage and how many amps are going into the battery. Drive somewhere at night so there is no solar for the alternator charging or parkup in the sunshine and read the solar.