DC 0-90V 0-30A Voltage Current Capacity Power Combo Meter Battery Charge Discharge Monitor

I installed this meter in my travel trailer with a 100W solar panel. I've taken it on a few trips and I really like this meter, especially for the price. I think it does all that I need and can't see why I would spend $150-$300 for one of the better known power meters. Installation took some work, but no more than for any similar power meter. I use this meter all the time and never look at the display of the solar controller. I always know how much power I have in my battery and what charge/discharge is happening.Cons: The current meter has a light that indicates if it is charging (off means it is discharging), but does not indicate positive or negative, so you kind of need to look to determine if the current is flowing in or out of battery. Most of the time, you will know (i.e. the sun is out and the panel is pumping 4 or 5 Amps into the battery). I had to extend the wires of the current and voltage sensor, but home depot has shielded twisted pair that seemed to work just fine. The wiring diagrams provided with the unit have a couple of issues: 1) wiring the meter as indicated gives a resulting meter reading that does not include the meter power consumption - it's pretty small, so not a big deal. 2) The ground for the meter is electrically connected to one side of the current sense resistor on the sensing board - this isn't clearly explained anywhere, so you could hook it up and have all of the current pass through sensor board and you would get 0 Amps on the meter and maybe even fry the circuit board trace. Just follow the wiring diagrams and you'll be fine.Pros: I always have a really good idea how much power is in my battery - just like a gas gauge for your battery. I can easily tell how much current is coming or going from the battery - much more useful than the display on the solar charge controller which only tells you about the current from the solar panel. This functionality should be included as an option in all charge controllers IMO. I can figure out how much current all of the appliances in my rig consume.

Would not measure current out of the box. I have connected it as described in the instructions for a "two wire system" ( which really takes four wires ). It reads voltage fine and is very close to my voltmeter. However, when I use an 8 Ohm load ( 1.5A on 12V ), I get 000.0 on the current display. My own ammeter reads 1.46A . I went through the settings, and the current "multiplier" was set to 20 rather than the "default" of 200 mentioned in the instructions. After changing that to 200, I see no difference. I am an analog design engineer, so I think I hooked it up correctly. I also noted that the shunt was bent ( definitely not from shipping - the packaging was good ). However I cannot see how that could make much difference. If anything, I would think it might increase the resistance of the shunt and make the current reading too high. The shunt is labeled "200A / 75mV " so it looks like the correct shunt.EDIT: I did a factory reset, and now it appears to be working. However, the current multiplier had to be set to 18 ( the value after reset was 20, so I think the instructions are wrong when they say the default is 200 ) to match my current meter. Perhaps the bent shunt indeed has too much resistance.ALSO: From my measurements, this device cannot measure negative current. I see no claim for that by the seller, but I expected it would based on the other products they sell. As I wanted to use this as a battery monitor, I see now that I bought the wrong product, so I have just ordered the one designed for that use, not sure how I missed that.

The media could not be loaded. When I first hooked it up, I had difficulty figuring out how to calibrate it. Following the supplied directions brought confusing results. Figuring it out on my own, I discovered the key was to zero the Amps with the shunt wires connected. (not disconnected as the instructions said) Of course taking care to actually have the current load at zero! Then adjusting the 100A (or so) calibration, scaled the correct readings to the current measured by the shunt. So there are 2 points to calibrate, zero, and the "as many as you can get" Amps.With a little wood working, I made my own holder, and now I can monitor the battery levels like never before.Very happy customer, so I would recommend this meter.Top button toggles between Volts and Watts, and a timer I have not used.Bottom button toggles between Amps, AmpHours remaining, and Percent of full.It updates 5 times per second, so you can see inrush current going to a heavy motor powered by the inverter. I'm sure it is not as precise as a true rms clamp meter (thousands per second), but it is very adequate for the non-technical needs.This draws 0.087A DC with the display off, and 0.184A with the display on.The wire gauge necessary for measuring the shunt is not specified, but I find that 24 gauge is not adequate. (so don't use phone line cords). 18AWG works very nice.I made a video of this product in action, showing how the buttons step through the different display modes. The buttons click so your finger knows you pressed it. Then I show turning on some loads. The Amp readings jump around while the charge controller is pulsing, that is how chargers work. At night the voltage and amp use are very steady.

Accurate and easy to read used on a solar system gives all the info you need

Item came as described . Worked as it should, did what it should. Kind of cheap looking and felt the same way. Hooked it up and its just what I needed . No problem wiring or setting it up . Just found it a bit hard to see in sunlight and wish the display was a bit bigger . Its a great little item , would buy another . It is worth what they are asking . The "cant see it " thing is my problem . Eyes are not like they use to be .. lol

I am going to use it for my rv solar system. I can't install it until it the snow melts around my trailer. I hope it works as described.Update after 6 months use! Great for my needs. So far I've added 2 more batteries, and the update to the unit was easy and quick. It seems to be accurate as well. The readings are very similar to my solar charge controller. The only downfall is being hard wired. To run it to my living area is about a 15' +/- run of 6 wires. Another $40.

I tried programming the meter a number of times , only works correct for a few hours . Was trying to use the meter to monitor the batteries in RV the information give by this meter was unreliable. This meter would be ok as child's school project but just not good enough when you really need to know want is going on.

If the inverter/charger in your off grid power system didn't come with a display, you absolutely need something like this to monitor battery condition, or you will destroy your batteries by cycling them too deep. One star off because some of the setup deviates a bit from the instruction sheet.