Digest for RE-wrenches at topica.com, issue 2237 [RE-wrenches]

[Dan Fink]

Hi Todd -- Great idea! I always made the assumption that setting the
discharge floor at 50% would somehow mess with the E-meter's programming
when it re-calculates capacity (and battery health) every time it fills
-- the Peukart math, etc. If my assumption was wrong, that's great news!

My own E-meter is really old, I don't believe it can be set to display
percentage, the manual doesn't mention it (but I'm going to dig it out
and read it again now, just to be sure!). Guess I should have followed
the product line evolution more carefully. Blanking the display does not
cure the RFI, only pulling the fuse does it.

The 'hidden' readings and 'lock' function saved my bacon once with an
install for an irresponsible 23-year-old customer who insisted he had
not abused his batteries and wanted a new set of 8 L-16s free of charge.
I brought his accountant to the site, unlocked the meter and we read the
ugly figures for deepest discharge and average depth of discharge. I was
off the hook--though I personally thought the electric toaster oven, big
screen TV, and Mr Coffee machine were dead giveaways for someone with
only 300 watts of solar input.

Thanks for the new E-meter info. 
DAN




> 
> When I set up an e-meter, I set the discharge floor at 50%. What this 
> does is make the bar graph indicator reflect the USABLE battery 
> capacity, not the TOTAL battery capacity. In the case where the 
> discharge floor is set to 50%, the first bar graph indicator goes off
> at 
> 10.5% of total battery capacity rather then the default setting which 
> shuts this off at 21%. With this setup, the red bar graph indicator 
> blinks at 60% SOC, which is the absolute maximum discharge I ever
> want 
> to see batteries be cycled.
> 
> Another programming change I make when setting up the meter is to 
> program the last of the four display items to "4P". This makes it
> read 
> the "state of charge as a detailed percentage". So with this setup,
> you 
> get volts, instantaneous amps, amp hours, and percentage of charge as 
> you toggle through the four visual indicators. Generally the colored
> bar 
> graph display works best, but my recent colorblind customers need the 
> numerical percentage of charge, which is avaliable.
> 
> Mounting is fast and easy. I use a 3" hole saw to open up a hole in
> the 
> wall where the wires feed to. I mount the e-meter on a double gang, 
> plastic blank plate with a 2" hole saw. Mounting e-meters takes me
> about 
> 10 minutes.
> 
> I have not experienced the RFI you mentioned. Have you tried not
> having 
> the numerical display on to see if this resolves the issue?
> 
> Todd
> 


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