Battery Fuel Gauge [RE-wrenches]

Todd Cory, Mt. Shasta Energy Services toddcory at finestplanet.com
Fri Nov 3 11:06:16 PST 2006


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



danbob at otherpower.com wrote:
> 
> I usually recommend the TriMetric or Pentametric from Bogart over the
> Emeter to customers. The reasons:
> -the E-Meter has only 4 LEDs in the bar graph, when the first one goes
> out, that's 25% discharge and it's time to start the generator. 
> -the E-meter takes a big hole saw and creativity to install neatly.
> -the 4th function on the E-meter when it's cycling through its screen
> display is 'time remaining until 50% discharge' -- I never recommend 50%
> discharge.
> -I have the E-meter, and it puts out a big burst of RFI once a second as
> it samples. The harmonics interfere greatly with my fire department
> radio, on our main fire frequency. I have to walk 200 feet from the
> house to get rid of it.
> 
> For customers that do have the E-meters, I'll tell them to leave it on
> amp-hours and start the genset when it shows -25%. I much prefer meters
> that show state of charge as a detailed percentage.
> 
> DAN FINK
> http://www.otherpower.com/
> 
> 


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