The water pump running for two minutes will already lower the voltage significantly, to the point where it is not a reliable indicator of the state of charge anymore. This means no charging or discharging for at least 6 hours or so. The voltage only depends partly on the state of charge when it is measured at rest. The voltage method fails most of the time because the voltage of the lead-acid chemistry depends on many factors: partly the state of charge, temperature, acid concentration, battery load, acid stratification, battery internal resistance, battery age, and so on. A lead-acid battery state of charge is notoriously difficult to estimate. The whole thing works by measuring the voltage.
This is what lights up those indicator LEDs. You see, when you pushed the little button, some very low-tech electronics measured the voltage of the battery and compared it with some pre-established thresholds. Did the battery charge so fast? Of course not. Immediately press the battery indicator button and you will see that the indicated charge level will be 75% or even 100%, if not immediately, within a few minutes for sure. Try this: discharge the battery with some loads and then plug your RV into AC power.
Not only this is a crude way to evaluate your battery but is also almost completely useless. You probably noticed that the possible values are 0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% so not much resolution at all. Most RVs offer a simple push button that will light a few LEDs giving an approximation of how much charge is left in the battery. Most RV manufacturers didn’t put much effort into solving this issue either. Couple this with the fact that the energy one can extract from a battery depends on the load, temperature, age of the battery and even the previous charge cycle makes it a pretty tough problem. Unlike a water tank, there is no way to visually inspect the amount of power a battery can still deliver. They provide electricity until they don’t anymore. It can be a flooded lead-acid one, a newer AGM model, or maybe even a high-tech lithium battery but they all have something in common. Back to the RV though! Boondocking is attractive but it comes with three problems: electricity, water, and sewer.Īt the center of your RV’s electrical system is a battery. You could find a hotel room for cheaper than that but granted, that wouldn’t be a nice one. I personally have seen rates in the three digits, per night.
Rv battery monitor full#
Could it be the spirit of adventure and self-reliance that drives us boondocking? Maybe because it makes more financial sense? You bought yourself an RV thinking about how much money you are going to save just to find out that some RV campgrounds that have full hookups can get pricey. There is something attractive about the boonies.
You can treat the electricity and water at such a campground as infinite resources for any camping purposes but a lot of times the most fun places to go are off the grid. Why would you ever go camping without knowing how much power you have left in your batteries? Sure, RV camping with full hookups has its advantages. Would you ever drive a car that didn’t have a fuel gauge? Most likely not, and if you did anyway you would probably be a bit nervous about it.
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