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If you use a multimeter can you do it with everything still connected to the battery or do you have to remove?You can only really get a true indication of your battery state of charge either by using a multi-meter directly across your battery terminals or a shunt with all of the negatives of your circuits going through it.
If you use a multimeter can you do it with everything still connected to the battery or do you have to remove?
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The only way to check battery charge condition is with a voltage meter.Hi all
If you don't trust the onboard control panel readings for the state of your batteries, then whats the best and most accurate way of telling how much is left in your battery?
The only way to check battery charge condition is with a voltage meter.
As above take an accurate reading with a multimeter off charge and check your voltage meter readings. If you remember the discrepancy it will become a good gauge to refer to.
A test meter will only register the battery's voltage. A battery can show a good no-load voltage on test but be more or less knackered. A discharge test is necessary to determine the health/available capacity of a battery.whats the best and most accurate way of telling how much is left in your battery?
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What is a shunt reading to assess the state of charge if not the voltage?Rubbish, a shunt will give you the state for charge whether the battery be in a state of charging or discharging at any time were as multi-meter will only give you a semi accurate reading when the battery is at rest.
I use one of those and also charge my vehicle and hab batteries by plugging the charger in to the same permanently live cig lighter socket which saves having to access the batteries.I've got one of these...
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Good enough as a double check of the control panel readout.
What is a shunt reading to assess the state of charge if not the voltage?
I did say to a reading of charge.
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A shunt may give you a voltage reading but it does not use voltage to calculate the % state of charge.What is a shunt reading to assess the state of charge if not the voltage?
I did say to a reading of charge.
Helpful as a rough guide on a good battery but not how a shunt works.Just like this?View attachment 738163
A shunt measures current at intervals of about a second. It can see current in or out of the battery. It adds up those amps to work out how many amp-hours you've used.What is a shunt reading to assess the state of charge if not the voltage?
I did say to a reading of charge.
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I don't have a shunt in place...................yet, but I did fit a Victron Smart Battery Sense, which I access via the App on my phone. The readings are about half a volt less than those on the panel.I do however now have a Victron smart shunt fitted and view that on the app on my phone.
It also lets you test the cranking amps and indicates if the battery is charging etc, have a look at the spec on Amazon for a better idea of what it does. Once fitted you just leave it in place and access the information via an app on your phone.It does only tell you voltage though, no?
Battery charging is a chemical reaction, driven by the electric charge pushed in by the charger. The lead sulfate produced by discharging is gradually turned back into lead and lead oxide at the plates. Each bit of lead sulfate requires a definite amount of charge to turn it back into lead/lead oxide. If you measure the charge going into the battery, that tells you how much the reaction has completed.Just like this?