Hi All,
I thought I'd post some thoughts of my Xantrex XBM battery monitor. After years of fiddling with the older and buggy Link 10's I decided to buy a Xantrex XBM battery monitor. (See http://www.xantrex.com/web/id/96/p/1/pt/7/product.asp )
This monitor was relatively easy to install and is easy to operate although set up is slightly confusing if you don't understand it. The Xantrex Battery Monitor uses unique microprocessor technology to provide battery status information for your battery bank but it is not without its flaws.. A simple display shows volts, amps, amp hours consumed. It also attempts to calculate for operating time remaining. It also displays a "fuel gauge" for your batteries which attempts to predict SOC.
One fun feature of any Ah counter is to set it to amp draw and see what different items consume in amperage. I know my stereo and VHF combined draw about 4.5A, my chart plotter about .8A and my anchor light 1A.
Ah counters are great devices that give tons of useful information but like any "calculator" they relay on accurate input. To determine my batteries Ah capacity I ran a discharge test to 10.5V at the 20 hour discharge rate. I noted the time the batteries ran for and then calculated the Ah capacity removed. I used a bank of resistor and light bulbs on switches to keep the discharge current as even as I could. It was interesting to note that my "brand new" batteries were only delivering approx 87.5% of their rating.
If I had used the face vale Ah rating then my XBM would be incorrect in its counting. It is critically important to properly program an Ah counter. You need the Peukerts constant, Ah capacity and a charge efficiency at a bare minimum.
While the XBM is a lot less "buggy" than the older Link 10's it still miscalculates if not reset to 100% when the batteries are full. Being on a mooring this means you'll need solar or another means to bring the batteries to 100% for a re-set. The longer you go between re-sets with an Ah counter the more out of sync it becomes with the batteries.
These are great tools but the SOC accuracy can not be counted on unless you do your homework. So far I am impressed with the Xantrex XBM. The Victron 502 is the identical battery monitor and both are made by TBS Electronics in the Netherlands though the Victron is hard to find in the US...
I thought I'd post some thoughts of my Xantrex XBM battery monitor. After years of fiddling with the older and buggy Link 10's I decided to buy a Xantrex XBM battery monitor. (See http://www.xantrex.com/web/id/96/p/1/pt/7/product.asp )
This monitor was relatively easy to install and is easy to operate although set up is slightly confusing if you don't understand it. The Xantrex Battery Monitor uses unique microprocessor technology to provide battery status information for your battery bank but it is not without its flaws.. A simple display shows volts, amps, amp hours consumed. It also attempts to calculate for operating time remaining. It also displays a "fuel gauge" for your batteries which attempts to predict SOC.
One fun feature of any Ah counter is to set it to amp draw and see what different items consume in amperage. I know my stereo and VHF combined draw about 4.5A, my chart plotter about .8A and my anchor light 1A.
Ah counters are great devices that give tons of useful information but like any "calculator" they relay on accurate input. To determine my batteries Ah capacity I ran a discharge test to 10.5V at the 20 hour discharge rate. I noted the time the batteries ran for and then calculated the Ah capacity removed. I used a bank of resistor and light bulbs on switches to keep the discharge current as even as I could. It was interesting to note that my "brand new" batteries were only delivering approx 87.5% of their rating.
If I had used the face vale Ah rating then my XBM would be incorrect in its counting. It is critically important to properly program an Ah counter. You need the Peukerts constant, Ah capacity and a charge efficiency at a bare minimum.
While the XBM is a lot less "buggy" than the older Link 10's it still miscalculates if not reset to 100% when the batteries are full. Being on a mooring this means you'll need solar or another means to bring the batteries to 100% for a re-set. The longer you go between re-sets with an Ah counter the more out of sync it becomes with the batteries.
These are great tools but the SOC accuracy can not be counted on unless you do your homework. So far I am impressed with the Xantrex XBM. The Victron 502 is the identical battery monitor and both are made by TBS Electronics in the Netherlands though the Victron is hard to find in the US...
