Country Coach Owners Forum

Fred, how can you get to sleep at night with all that knowledge > swimming around in your head???? > Can you advise me on something reasonable to monitor the amount of > amps or volts or whatever I need to watch that are being used at

Hi Folks,

There has been many good approaches to monitoring volts and amps in > previous posts. To sumarize: for 120vac, small meters from RV

can be plugged into 120 vac outlets in the coach or at the shore

outlets to measure both voltage and frequency. To measure the

output with its potentially different waveshape, a true rms meter

required which also can be purchased in RV stores at a reasonable > price. I use a Fluke handheld oscilloscope which gives all the > features of measurement but is expensive.
For 12 vdc: Digital volt meters are available from these same RV

stores. I installed $50 digital meters to monitor house and chassis > batteries. As for current measurement, one approach is to add a > monitor sold by and used in conjunction with the inverter. Higher > coach lines have these built in for both ac and dc monitoring. Now

the do it your selfer, what I did was to avoid dc shunts and used

effect pickups which measure both dc and ac current - no direct > connection is required. I installed two of these devices to measure > both dc current going into and out of the inverter and current

into and out of the house battery bank. The devices are connected

programmable meter which displays these currents. The convention is > setup so that a "-" sign in front of the selected current display > indicates a discharge and "no sign" indicates current is flowing

into the source (battery bank). The hall effect devices cost about

Bill,

Read post #8041. This has helped me keep track of my battery > condition & keep track of usage. As you turn on lights or

you can watch your amp usage go up and monitor your battery

>

Works for me.............
Steve

Intrigue #10673

[quote author=Bill Harris"

> Fred, how can you get to sleep at night with all that knowledge > > swimming around in your head???? > > Can you advise me on something reasonable to monitor the amount

amps or volts or whatever I need to watch that are being used at > one

> time??? If I am plugged into 20 or 30 amps, how do I watch the

Fred, how can you get to sleep at night with all that knowledge
swimming around in your head???? > Can you advise me on something reasonable to monitor the amount of > amps or volts or whatever I need to watch that are being used at

Bill

I replace my Heart ON/OFF switch with a full function remote

panel from Xantrex. No additional wiring. Useds the existing RJ-

control cable that is connected to the back of the ON/OFF switch.
Look at photo in my folder 'KC4FWS'. Works great for me.

Jim Hughes

2000 Allure #30511

[quote author=Bill Harris"

> Fred, how can you get to sleep at night with all that knowledge > > swimming around in your head???? > > Can you advise me on something reasonable to monitor the amount

amps or volts or whatever I need to watch that are being used at > one

> time??? If I am plugged into 20 or 30 amps, how do I watch the

I have the RC/7GS panel now. Would this just piggyback on this by > plugging into it somewhere???? I was going to call Xantrex today

see what they said.
Bill Harris

[quote author=Jim Hughes"

> Bill
>

> I replace my Heart ON/OFF switch with a full function remote > control

> panel from Xantrex. No additional wiring. Useds the existing RJ- > 45

> control cable that is connected to the back of the ON/OFF

Look at photo in my folder 'KC4FWS'. Works great for me.
>

> Jim Hughes

> 2000 Allure #30511
>
>
>

[quote author=Bill Harris"
>]
> > Fred, how can you get to sleep at night with all that knowledge > > > swimming around in your head???? > > > Can you advise me on something reasonable to monitor the amount > of

> > amps or volts or whatever I need to watch that are being used