Battery monitoring system

[Jim Corey]

 I want to add a battery monitoring system to my coach. I have four 6 V batteries charged with a progressive dynamics smart charger. Looking for suggestions on a brand of monitor preferably one that is easy to install. I do not have nor do I anticipate having any solar. I just want to be able to tell how much Battery I’m using and the remaining capacity in the batteries, as well as how the charging is going.

[Chad Heiser]

There are several good battery monitoring systems on the market, but if you are looking for a standalone, quality monitor that is easy to install the most commonly recommended unit is the trimetric by bogart engineering.  It comes in either a wall mount version or a flush mount version.  I have installed several of them and they work well.

[ss owens]

I'll +1 the Trimetric. I have not used others to really compare but I have been very pleased with the Trimetric I installed. The manual that comes with it makes it easy install and set up. The trickiest part for me was figuring out the wire runs.

[Jack Mayer]

I'm a big fan of the Trimetric as well. But I've pretty much switched to the Victronic at this point for standalone battery monitoring. Just an alternative.... However, if/when you have questions there are more people around that can answer on the trimetric.

One benefit - if you like it - to the Victron 712 Smart is that you can display it on your phone or computer via inbuilt bluetooth. It costs a little more, but does more.

[Jim Corey]

Thanks for the info. Nice to have a couple of possibilities.

[jcussen]

Have had the Trimetric and the Victron and agree Victron has better features. But on my present coach, I cannot get a shunt on the batteries, so tried the Smartgauge  .http://www.balmar.net/products/smartgauge-battery-monitor/     Can't really compare to shunt type, but after using for a couple of months appears fairly accurate.

[dewilso]

I’ve also switched to Victron, after installing and using 4 Trimetric, & 1 Xantrex. One thing about the Victron, as Kirk mentioned, you can monitor via Bluetooth on your phone. To add to Kirks though, you can use blue tooth on all of the Victron monitors, not only the 712. The REAL selling point for me was not having to pull any wires, just leave the gage by the shunt & use BT. I’d bet that they do away with the gage eventually.

[Jack Mayer]

1 hour ago, dewilso said:

I’ve also switched to Victron, after installing and using 4 Trimetric, & 1 Xantrex. One thing about the Victron, as Kirk mentioned, you can monitor via Bluetooth on your phone. To add to Kirks though, you can use blue tooth on all of the Victron monitors, not only the 712. The REAL selling point for me was not having to pull any wires, just leave the gage by the shunt & use BT. I’d bet that they do away with the gage eventually.

It was me, not Kirk. To add to what you said, yes, you can add the BT module to the older Victron battery monitors. But the Smart series has them built in...no add on necessary.