Link 10 Battery Monitor

[Rick]

I have been monitoring this and other threads regarding battery monitors, especially those of my design (some are indicated in the title line) yet have not necessarily made comments if previous threads/contributions have already addressed the issue(s).

Several others have been giving good troubleshooting advice and am glad to see that! There are many competent critical thinkers on this site!

To be sure some of our technical philosophies do not meet eye-to-eye yet this forum allows such independence unlike political correctness. I have never been able to change anyone's philosophy, no my knowledge, I can only contribute information which may appeal to one's nature to think critically in making a decision.

I love this forum!
rick

[btrayfors]

Rick,

Very glad to know you've been lurking :-)

Your technical knowledge and expertise is very highly valued here, irrespective of political or other "philosophies".

Hope to see more of your posts soon.

Bill

[Therapy]

Rick,

Could you come check my Link please?

Plenty of room with the kids off to college.

[windsaloft]

And Rick, while you are at it, tell me how the heck to hook my my windlass control wires to allow the Link to pick up the use. :=)

[Rick]

As long as the battery monitored by the Link serves your windlass the Link will monitor the energy usage by that load. As you can tell from other recent contributions of advice the windlass negative must be "fed" from the negative battery shunt. The most widely misapplied monitor wiring is due to "sneaker wires" which are negative connections directly connected to the battery supposedly being monitored which bypass the shunt wiring. NO wires should be connected to a monitored battery negative other that those serving the shunt and/or interconnects within a bank (no sources or loads bypass the shunt either).

[Rick]

I have read your questions in this thread....which ones remain unanswered? I'll attempt to do that, especially the difficult ones regarding just how to use a Link monitor (in conjunction with a high output charge source, i.e.; one which will output over 14.6V @10% or more of the so-called Amp-hour rated capacity of the bank) to ascertain just what is the quality of your bank before and after ageing.

[Bash]

Originally Posted by windsaloft

And Rick, while you are at it, tell me how the heck to hook my my windlass control wires to allow the Link to pick up the use. :=)

On many boats the windlass is wired to the start battery, not the house bank. (This is the way I have it hooked up on my boat.) This might be why your Link 10 isn't picking up that usage.

In my opinion, having the windlass not go to the house bank has greater benefit than knowing the load because you shouldn't ever be operating the windlass without the engine on and charging. Otherwise, your windlass brushes are in trouble.

So, your old friend not-Rick says, "Leave 'em be."

[Therapy]

Originally Posted by Rick

I have read your questions in this thread....which ones remain unanswered? I'll attempt to do that, especially the difficult ones regarding just how to use a Link monitor (in conjunction with a high output charge source, i.e.; one which will output over 14.6V @10% or more of the so-called Amp-hour rated capacity of the bank) to ascertain just what is the quality of your bank before and after ageing.

Thanks for that Rick.

I will have to muddle along a little before I can ask specifics.

I cannot get a wiring diagram for my boat from the person that did the after market upgrades. Batteries, Link, Windlass, Inverter, etc.

I will get to a diagram of sorts after I catch up with all the things that need fixing. Amazing that I can't (at least not yet) use the boat once without something breaking.

While I have training and experience (long past) in electronics and know DC fairly well, some of the new stuff like the manual and set-up info needed, I am still trying to figure out. For an old guy like me it is harder and harder to learn new and confusing stuff.

[Therapy]

Originally Posted by Bash

On many boats the windlass is wired to the start battery, not the house bank. (This is the way I have it hooked up on my boat.) This might be why your Link 10 isn't picking up that usage.

In my opinion, having the windlass not go to the house bank has greater benefit than knowing the load because you shouldn't ever be operating the windlass without the engine on and charging. Otherwise, your windlass brushes are in trouble.

So, your old friend not-Rick says, "Leave 'em be."

How so?

[Tootsie]

Originally Posted by AnchorageGuy

We have had the Link 10 for a few years and love it. Two items are not connected and that is the windlass, since it only runs when the engine is on, and the Icom SSB which sometimes has issues with the Link. But neither of these would make a big difference in our power usage. This is after all a monitoring system and we don't really need to know the numbers down to the .1 volts or AH. It gives us more than enough info to keep the systems up and the batteries happy. We do have it on two banks, it just takes a bit of extra wiring to make it all work. There is a Link system for two banks.

I wish to install a battery monitor but I am only interested in one function, and that is to see whether I am draining or charging the bank at the moment, and at which rate.

I would appreciate if someone had some good answers to the following questions based on the above needs;
1. Do I really need to connect all the power consuming appliances to the monitor?
2. Is the Link 10 an overkill for my simple needs, and if yes, what is the alternative?

[Cheechako]

You just need a digital ammeter or volt/ammeter and shunt. Options start at $6. although I'd suggest you buy better.

[btrayfors]

Good questions.

There are several ways to go:

(1) use a clamp-on DC ammeter to measure current going into or out of the battery bank in question;

(2) fit a permanent DC ammeter to measure current into or out of the battery; or

(3) use a multi-function digital battery monitor, and only pay attention to it's ampere measuring function.

Option (1) will work fine, but you have to hand-hold the meter every time you want a reading.

Option (2) will work fine, too, but a good meter like the Blue Sea Systems -500A-0A-500A meter is costly (MSRP about $250).

Option (3) is probably your best bet. You can buy a multi-function battery monitor like the Victron BMV-600 for about $150. It will do what you want, and lots more, too.

Yes, you have to route all the wires so that all loads go thru the shunt which provides input to the meter. This is usually done on the negative side of the battery.

Bill

[Tootsie]

Hmm, maybe I am slow, but I don't quite get it:
I will need a fixed instrument easily viewed whenever I need to see if I am making more power than I am using.
It makes sense to me that the power which all the users in combination are pulling from the battery bank, can be monitored at the battery poles. I mean, this is where they are pulling the power from. So why do I need to connect all the users to the monitoring instrument too? After all, I don't bother about each user, I only want to see the balance. Then I can discover after some time that: "Oh, I need another solar panel"
In my mind, the same goes for the charging.
All the charged power goes via the battery poles, into the bank.
So I am figuring it should be possible to buy an instrument connected to the battery poles, making it possible to read off whether the bank is being discharged or charged....
Am I wrong?

[smac999]

yes... you can either buy an ammeter gauge with shunt. or a battery monitor like a link lite (link 10 is long gone). battery monitor gives you way more info. every boat should have one.

[sparrowhawk1]

Originally Posted by Tootsie

Hmm, maybe I am slow, but I don't quite get it:
I will need a fixed instrument easily viewed whenever I need to see if I am making more power than I am using.
It makes sense to me that the power which all the users in combination are pulling from the battery bank, can be monitored at the battery poles. I mean, this is where they are pulling the power from. So why do I need to connect all the users to the monitoring instrument too? After all, I don't bother about each user, I only want to see the balance. Then I can discover after some time that: "Oh, I need another solar panel"
In my mind, the same goes for the charging.
All the charged power goes via the battery poles, into the bank.
So I am figuring it should be possible to buy an instrument connected to the battery poles, making it possible to read off whether the bank is being discharged or charged....
Am I wrong?

You got it right. Some boats have more than one lead going to the negative post. You just put the shunt in between it (or them) and the negative battery post