Instruments to Monitor Batteries?

[Hyprdrv]

and that Link-10 is what I have and it's not working correctly. Charley I read the website you gave me and it was informative. Very detailed on the Ah issues and made sense with the problems I'm experiencing.From what I can tell the SmartGauge reads each of the individual batteries and averages them in the string? The only down side I can see is it's LED screen. The LCD display like the NASA-BM1 or my Simrad gauges would have had me very interested. I'm just turned off by the LED. I've had some issues with the sun and reading LED's. It said 12 and 24 volt systems but showed the 3 batteries in series on there wiring diagram. I'm dealing with a 144v system. I'll Email them a couple questions. Thanks!

Steve in Solomons MD

[camaraderie]

HYP...I just read the smartguage site and it is for 12V banks only.

CharlieJ...I also think that they greatly overstate the issues with shunt based amp guages as I have experienced none of the issues they claim "shortly" affect the guages. Yes...you have to reset them...yes you have to enter the right Peukerts data etc. but if you follow the owners manual they work damned well. I know nothing about the Smart Guage Algorythms but given the # of software updates they have had...it seems like keeping up with ALL the latest batteries and specific data is a chore for them. I would be reluctant to trust my battery bank to a formula that does not rely on actual measurement of amps in and out and only tells me that it is 70% charged...but does not inform me that the 70% charged is compared to a battry that is only 60% capable as a new one of holding a charge....or 42% of ORIGINAL capacity rather than 70% of current capacity.
I can be convinced...but I'd sure like some actual unbiased testing on this side of the pond to confirm that the device works as advertised with a variety of different battery brands and types found here in the States.

[CharlieJ]

Cam-
I hear you. What concerns me most is the discussion on SmartGuage regarding charge efficiency. I have had more than a passing experience with the shunt based monitors having installed my first one (Cruising Equipment AmpHr 2+) on my own boat 20 years ago. Reading what was written on the SmartGuage site led me to rethink some battery system failures that I think happened prematurely. Entering the Peukert exponent is trivial; tracking how the battery condition changes with age is far from trivial. The implication with the shunt based monitors is that the Peukert exponent is a constant and that the variabiliy caused by battery aging is corrected by the built in charge effieciency factor. As I said, I have witnessed some battery system failures that I could not explain but an erroneous charge efficiency factor could explain.

Rick (Mr. Battery): Weigh in any time!!