How to make sure you have enough battery

[avanti]

I can't imagine not having a good battery monitor. Not only do you get the state of your system at a glance, but you also have a very powerful tool for gaining insight into the precise effects of every electrical device in your vehicle. How much capacity did that cup of coffee at the rest area cost us? How fast is my battery charging on this crappy campground power? How much solar am I getting under this tree? Did I leave something small on over night? All of these things are immediately revealed with a monitor--no learning curve required. Without one, you are in the dark and just guessing.

If I had to pick one thing to add to a "vanilla" van, it would be a proper power monitor.

[Max58]

Where do i wire in a bartery monitir if my batteries are under the hood? We have a 2008 Roadtrek Sprinter.

[Bud]

Originally Posted by avanti

I can't imagine not having a good battery monitor. Not only do you get the state of your system at a glance, but you also have a very powerful tool for gaining insight into the precise effects of every electrical device in your vehicle. How much capacity did that cup of coffee at the rest area cost us? How fast is my battery charging on this crappy campground power? How much solar am I getting under this tree? Did I leave something small on over night? All of these things are immediately revealed with a monitor--no learning curve required. Without one, you are in the dark and just guessing.

If I had to pick one thing to add to a "vanilla" van, it would be a proper power monitor.

avanti, since I spend more time 'monitoring' the crap roadtrek absorption refer installation than Walmart batteries, I would want a compressor refer, not battery monitor. Then I would want a quiet generator, not battery monitor. Then I would want my cake and eat too, need to figure out what that would be.

I did not feel so good about my battery situation until I started reading avanti/booster.... posts, so a sincere thank you to all.

Bud

[Knit]

Originally Posted by Max58

Where do i wire in a bartery monitir if my batteries are under the hood? We have a 2008 Roadtrek Sprinter.

I have the Victron 702 monitor where the shunt doesn’t appear to be waterproof. So I wanted to mount it inside.

On my 2013 Roadtrek Sprinter I found that right near the batteries under the hood there was a bundle of wires passing through the firewall. On the inside, the bundle came in above the pedals on the driver side.

So I mounted the shunt inside the firewall next to where the bundle went through. The took the negative side battery wire that used to go to chassis ground and passed it through the firewall to the shunt. I then bought a 18 inch battery cable the same gauge as the original one, connected on end on the shunt and passed it back through the firewall bundle to the chassis ground. I put a little plastic cover over the shut to protect it.

I then put the display up in the overhead cabinet facing the house part of the RV and ran the wire behind the dash and up the pillar to the display.

I haven’t had any problems with this install so far, but if I did I could restore the battery negative straight to the chassis ground in a few minutes.

Picture of top of battery negative pole. You can see wire running down towards the firewall. Added a blade type battery disconnect also.
IMG_0208.jpg
Picture of chassis ground. The wire at the top comes from the shunt.
IMG_0209.jpg
Picture of the shunt cover to side of pedals.
IMG_0220.jpg
Picture of display mounted in cabinet.
IMG_0218.jpg

[Knit]

The 2nd picture in my above post is the wrong picture. That’s a fuse on the positive side.

[Knit]

Corrected picture of chassis ground
IMG_0221.jpg