Low cost Wifi Battery Monitor

[billharr]

Saw this on a motorcycle forum on which I am a moderator. $21.95 is in this is a neat toy/tool I need to have category. Now that I am retired my truck only moves when going on a trip. I do have the solar set up with a switch to charge both the camper and truck batteries. I have a Bluetooth monitor on the camper batteries, but not the truck. Note this is Wifi and not Bluetooth.

 

[byrdlover]

Curious which Bluetooth monitor you're using on your camper batteries.

 

[Old Crow]

Saw this on a motorcycle forum on which I am a moderator. $21.95 is in this is a neat toy/tool I need to have category. Now that I am retired my truck only moves when going on a trip. I do have the solar set up with a switch to charge both the camper and truck batteries. I have a Bluetooth monitor on the camper batteries, but not the truck. Note this is Wifi and not Bluetooth.

I happen to have some (not so good) experience with one of those.

I bought it on a whim at my local auto store more than a year ago and was disappointed it wouldn't work with the router in my home. Unless there's been a change, it doesn't work on a dual-band network. It requires a 2.4 GHz-only net. I researched splitting my network into multiple nets and it looked like that could be done but decided I didn't want to start messing around with router configuration stuff when I was just curious about the device.

(Just found this in the FAQ)....

5. Does the Wireless Battery Monitor use the 2.4GHz or 5GHz bands?

802.11 b/g/n 2.4GHz

Also - I remember connecting it briefly point-to-point (i.e.,. device to iPad) but the display was odd.... I don't quite remember but something was cut off on the display and I remember thinking 'Really?'. Please understand, though, that I didn't spend any time trying to troubleshoot that.


I see the FAQ also says...

9. I don’t have Wi-Fi at my home; can I still use the Wireless Battery Monitor?

Yes, you can connect point-to-point to the Wireless Battery Monitor.

• It is highly recommended that there is a Wi-Fi network for the Wireless Battery Monitor to connect to.
• There will be limited benefits if the Wireless Battery Monitor is not connected to a Wi-Fi network.

Anyone interested in it may want to give Deltran tech support a call to discuss how you intend to connect and use it, whether it should work with your network, and whether the current model is still the one with those answers in the FAQ. If I remember correctly, I confirmed with Tech Support that it had to be a 2.4 GHz-only network.

Also- if anyone has had a different experience with one of these and is happy with it, please post.

Edited to add-
PS- The router I was unable to get it to connect to was Apple's Airport Extreme.

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[rando]

Victron has a newish product : https://www.victronenergy.com/accessories/smart-battery-sense

That is a bluetooth battery temperature/voltage monitor that is not too expensive (~$35). If you are already part of the victron ecosystem, it integrates well into their app. I have one on my starting battery - it also works as outdoor thermometer once the engine has cooled down.

 

[billharr]

Curious which Bluetooth monitor you're using on your camper batteries.

Vitron Connect Smart MTTP solar controller.

 

[Old Crow]

I see I missed this in my post yesterday --- it's #30 in the Battery Tender's Wireless FAQ and directly addresses the issue I mentioned above.....


30. I have a single SSID for both 2.4 and 5 GHz bands on my router. Will I be able to use the Wireless Battery Monitor?

Currently, if you have a single SSID (wireless network name) the Wireless Battery Monitor will not be able to connect to it. If possible, have a dedicated SSID for the 2.4 GHz band and 5 GHz band.

[SIZE=1.125em]Also-- I found some screen shots I took at the time on my iPad's camera roll. They show the error I was getting.... [/SIZE]

(This one just shows it saying it needs a 2.4 GHz connection)



(This one shows it starting to try to connect)



(And this one the error after a fairly long period of trying to connect)



(I added the gray rectangles to cover my SSID (and give me practice doing that))

Offhand, it doesn't make a lot of sense to me why this limitation exists so I called Deltran Tech Support a few minutes ago. The regular customer service agent had no clue but put me through to their wireless-monitor specialist.... Luke.

He confirmed that it will not work on a dual-band SSID. He noted that it may be possible to get it working it you were able to temporarily have the phone or tablet connect via 2.4 GHz. (Or, of course, set up a separate 2.4 GHz SSID for it to connect to).

He said it has to do with the way the app was written. But they do have a new app-development guy and work has started on updating the app to work on a dual-band SSID.

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