When the Zamp has been inside without solar overnight and on shore power, it appears to go through a power on reset cycle when put into sunshine. This starts out in bulk mode at 14+ volts. It apparently stops charging for some time to determine resting voltage which would account for the 12.7-12.9 reading. On taking it back into the shop on shore power, the IQ4 goes quickly into float voltage. Your readings make sense in my experience.radarcontact said:I think most of this, as far as #1 thru #4, looks OK (though #3 has me puzzled a little, because when your controller is saying FUL, the charge is below 13V...that's a little low for a float charge), but then your addendum has me thinking that your IOTA is overcharging the batteries once you plug them back in to shore power. Pretty confusing, though, because initially, when you first went to unplug it, it was reading float I believe (steady green light), and you said the voltage on the controller read 13.6V, perfect. Of course, we don't know what happened BEFORE you saw that....maybe the IOTA was over-bulk or -absorption charging for 5+ hours again, like it was when you plugged it in the last time. I think the IOTA is possibly faulty, but like many others have said here, a battery monitor would tell you when and where that voltage is going.
As an engineer I am probably not the best person to answer, being that measuring systems to understand their performance is in our DNA.Wallowa said:But with any battery monitor what is the ultimate purpose?
I can see if you find a severe loss of battery SOC that can't be recovered with your solar or 110/120 you may need to replace your batteries.
The need to monitor outgoing amps from the batteries escapes me . . .
Yes! This! Thanks!rando said:I have posted this before, but it should help guide you in the trade off between depth of discharge vs battery life:
Phil, I totally see your point. And as illustrated, there is a spectrum. One could be completely satisfied with sleeping in the back of a 1980's subaru with no modern conveniences, but obviously we've all chosen a camper, again with varying degrees of luxury (built in toilet, bucket with wag bags, no toilet, etc.).Wallowa said:All this is interesting and valuable information..
But with any battery monitor what is the ultimate purpose?
I can see if you find a severe loss of battery SOC that can't be recovered with your solar or 110/120 you may need to replace your batteries.
The need to monitor outgoing amps from the batteries escapes me; you use what is needed and don't mindlessly waste power. Whatever the essential power usage is seems to be a moot point. The salient issue is if the batteries can support that use. If not you need more battery reserve and/or a different charging system.
I get the need for gadgets, but only if they are needed. I also concur with no wireless [or hard wired for that matter] monitoring of the universe; enough of that in the urban life but for me it seriously detracts from the back country experience.
Neat aspect of our Hawk is that even without any batteries we can boon-dock in it....sleeping bags [no heat], water from gravity spigot [no water pump], lights from stick-on AA lights [no LED lights], vents/windows open without fans and still cooking with propane. Lots of work arounds.
Only battery that I truly need out camping is the one that starts my Tundra; and I have an XP1 to crank it into life if needed.
Just my opinions folks and from a base of primary ignorance so I could be wrong...
Phil
The inexpensive digital voltage display would not tell you much more than the ZAMP. Both are telling you what voltage the battery has, not what the SOC (State of Charge) is. The "battery monitor" gives a much better SOC reading, based on measuring amps in/out using a shunt. Recommended models on this forum tend to be the Trimetric TM2030 and the Victron BMV712scappoosebrad said:Wallowa...thanks for putting our "camper perks" into context--love your comments...but given we have this resource, how--at my limited level of knowledge--can I best use the solar systems we have?
Jim--I envy your engineering expertise...wish I had your level of comfort with all this stuff... I also agree with needing a "longer trip" to give a better performance sample--what can simplify monitoring on a long trip/outing?...so let me simplify with this question and request an "easy to understand" answer if you could: Is your battery monitor different than the reading on my Zamp ZS-30A controller digital reading? (right now it reads 13.4v/float)... How is this reading different than your "battery monitor" reading? How is this a "better" way to monitor? Would you recommend adding this component to assist the Zamp controller reading? would inserting an inexpensive digital voltage display monitor inserted in my 12v power socket work?
Thanks for any help you can offer?
It depends on what you want. There are a number of people on this forum and others that just use battery voltage as their figure of merit and try to hit a voltage target at the end of the day. They're happy with their battery life. One can buy another set of batteries for the cost of a battery monitor (~$300).scappoosebrad said:. . . but to get a more exacting read on the "state of your batteries", we would need to add the Trimetic component... So nothing short of that install can be used to measure "state of the battery" in your opinion?
+1JaSAn said:It depends on what you want. There are a number of people on this forum and others that just use battery voltage as their figure of merit and try to hit a voltage target at the end of the day. They're happy with their battery life. One can buy another set of batteries for the cost of a battery monitor (~$300).
But if you want to understand how your system is functioning then you need to also monitor loads on the battery, not just charging. A battery monitor is just a convenient package for this. There are cheaper shunt based amp counters but I don't know much about them.
jim
I did that for years with my first Volkswagens. No gauge, just a lever to flip and put you on auxiliary. First sputter, flip it ove and you had about 40 miles.Vic Harder said:+1
I guess I wonder how many of us would be content to drive our cars/trucks without a gas gauge. I mean, once you have run out of gas a few times, I guess you could use the trip odometer (which I do too) as a rough way to figure out when you are going to need to tank up. Or you could use a dipstick in the tank, but you can only use that when you are parked and not using the vehicle.
Wait, that sounds a lot like having to let the batteries rest before you can use a voltage gauge (dipstick).
I prefer to have some idea of what's going on in my car/truck's fuel tank, and also in my camper's batteries.
Wandering Sagebrush said:I did that for years with my first Volkswagens. No gauge, just a lever to flip and put you on auxiliary. First sputter, flip it ove and you had about 40 miles.
Maybe that’s why I don’t get too worried about the batteries. I’m happy with a simple voltmeter.
Boy, ain't that the truth! I only have so much RAM in my head and have to choose what information to save!Wallowa said:It is my opinion, and I could be wrong, that today too many are hyper-connected [my new word for the day] to too many information streams in a quest for total and absolute situational awareness. But with this sophisticated monitoring of everything comes vulnerability from inaccurate data and inaccurate assumptions; plus the addition of yet another system to monitor. Knowing when enough is enough is critical to peace of mind.