[RE-wrenches] Amp hr meters

[jay peltz]

Hi Mac,

Answers to 
#2, XW has only a volt meter. Its not set up for an amp hr meter add on.  Outback is set up for amp hr with Flex net.  Magnum is set up with their battery cap meter add on.

#3 yes they need to be reprogramed for aging. All take different programing protocols.

jay

peltz power


On Oct 10, 2011, at 9:21 AM, Dan Fink wrote:

> Mac;
> 
> I'll give it a shot here.
> 
> 1) Yes. EVERYTHING that might consume or produce energy needs to be connected thru the shunt off the main negative battery terminal for the amp-hour meter (watt-hour meter, these days) to work correctly;
> 	1a)  I am just getting familiar with the Outback Mate and Flexnet DC stuff, as we mostly deal with much smaller systems and just use a trimetric, BUT if you program the Mate correctly, it appears you can tell it exactly what that functions of multiple shunts in the system are.....as in, one shunt is wind power in, one is PV in, one is inverter use, maybe one for DC loads, and the meter then knows what to tally as gain and what as use. just not enough experience here with this fancy-pants monitoring networking stuff. I like the trimeteric.
> 
> 2) Don't know.
> 
> 3) Your first step after installing an amp-hour (w-h) meter is to charge the battery bank full and into float, so the meter learns an initial "zero" and starts working correctly (counting down from full). And set the charge controller(s) and the meter so that working together they will trigger this meter "zero" setpoint. So if you install one on a system with an old battery bank it will "learn" that setpoint for the old batteries right away.
> 	3a) As far as how much these meters can actually "learn" I am skeptical. But if you see big discrepancies -- large tallys of positive amp-hours for example, or large negative readings when the batteries show "full"....you can adjust the Peukert coefficient on the meter to be more accurate for the aged battery bank. As far as how this affects the "learning" ability, changes all that, I just don't know.
> 
> So, as far as 3a) be aware of it, and maybe tweak the meter settings if amp-hour readings are consistantly above or below zero. Many off-grid folks only dream of positive amp-hour numbers. LOL
> 
> Anyway, that's how I would approach it.
> 
> Dan Fink
> Executive Director;
> Buckville Energy Consulting
> Buckville Publications LLC
> NABCEP / IREC / ISPQ accredited Continuing Education Providers
> http://www.buckville.com/
> info at buckville.com
> 970.672.4342 (voicemail)
> 970.373.1311 (fax)
> 
> 
> 
> mac Lewis wrote:
>> Hello wrenches,
>> I am a "greenie" and am curious to know more about amp hr meters.  I've gone on quite a few service calls on existing systems in the area, and I've never seen one on any of the systems around here.  With that being said, I know on some of the new inverter/chargers incorporate these in their devices, Apollo Inverters for example.  My questions are:
>> 1.  Is the sole purpose to measure energy into and out of the batteries?
>> 2.  On modern inverters such as the XW, is the SOC meter on the control panel based on Amphrs or is it simply a voltmeter?
>> 3.  Does an Amphr meter need to be calibrated to older batteries to account for the increase in internal losses?  If so, how?
>> Thanks in advance.  I really appreciate tapping into this amazing knowledge base.
>> -- 
>> Mac Lewis
>> *
>> "Yo solo sé que no sé nada."  -Sócrates
>> *
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> _______________________________________________
>> List sponsored by Home Power magazine
>> List Address: RE-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org
>> Options & settings:
>> http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org
>> List-Archive: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org
>> List rules & etiquette:
>> www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm
>> Check out participant bios:
>> www.members.re-wrenches.org
> _______________________________________________
> List sponsored by Home Power magazine
> 
> List Address: RE-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org
> 
> Options & settings:
> http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org
> 
> List-Archive: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org
> 
> List rules & etiquette:
> www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm
> 
> Check out participant bios:
> www.members.re-wrenches.org
>