144 replies to this topic

[MuleHawk]

This thread and running into Paul Thutt in Lake Louise has convinced me I need the trimetric and he pointed me in the right direction to have it installed when we get to Oregon. We are now in BC and it has been overcast virtually every day all day and I'm getting paranoid.

With my roof mounted 100w and my portable 120w I'm currently only able to pull in 3-3.5a this morning. Driving around helps obviously but I have no clue what I'm actually putting in. Damn this crappy weather! Looks like rain for the next week too. Maybe I should just open my wallet and get a campsite with hook ups to top the batteries off but around here those run $50-75CD a night! Ouch! I'd rather pay the $0 a night we are paying on Crown Land.


www.mulehawk.com

[DrJ]

3-3.5 amps for that much solar isn't very great.

Must be lots of clouds or shade.

 

After 2 different campers with a Trimetric, I'd have to say it would be hard to live without it.

It's hard to realize just how helpful it is if you have never had one before.

 

In my personal opinion if you have solar and a compressor fridge, you need something to monitor the batteries. Trimetric is probably the best thing on the market to do it at this point.

[MuleHawk]

The weather here in BC has been awful. Steady cloud cover/rain but I had hoped driving around going to different places would be enough to keep everything charged up, says I'm at 12.9v on my Zamp controller and tested the batteries the other day and both are fine. Maybe I'm just overly paranoid.


www.mulehawk.com

[longhorn1]

MuleHawk, we have a 2014 Grandby, with 100W solar on the roof, 80L compressor fridge, and I use a CPAP MACHINE during the night. We have never had an issue. We camped in Great Smoky Mountains with overcast, shade, and plenty of rain and no issues. Had to use the furnace several days. We also drove to see the sites. We have the Zamp controller and it displays the AMPS. In 2015 we purchased a portable 80W Zamp w/out controller per FWC and Zamp since the rear plug is wired to the Zamp controller. So many concerns about draw and usage. I'm not sure what the Trimetric will provide that the Zamp controller doesn't. I'm not an electric wiz. I just go camping and try not to put negative thoughts in my head. This site is so great but some of the posts are way over my head. So as an old geezer I just camp and have fun. You kids look like you are having a ball. Be safe. jd

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Edited by longhorn1, 13 July 2016 - 09:19 PM.

[Stalking Light]

The Zamp shows only the amps coming from the panel and not the load from other devices on the system whereas the Trimetric shows the net amps charging or discharging the batteries. That's the basic difference and why I got the trimetric so I could see what kind of load each item was putting on the system.

 

For example, my Zamp controller would show positive amps coming from the solar panel but the Trimetric shows a net negative when the fridge is on. That's how I figured out I needed more solar just to keep up with my fridge in the summer not to mention laptop and cell booster use, etc.

[DrJ]

Charlie is right on.

 

This isn't a perfect example but not having a trimetric is like driving a truck without knowing how much gas you have - no fuel gauge.

 

You have a monitor that measures how much gas is going out at any time (volts and amps) but no idea how much is left in the tank (the % of charge of your battery or amp hours). 

 

A system without the monitor can work great if you can estimate how much power things take and how well your batteries are being charged. 

 

But one day you could run out of gas (power) and have no idea that it is just about to happen. 

 

I was amazed how much information I learned from how much power my fridge takes to the problems with my battery separator to charging from the truck etc...

 

If this hasn't happened to you before, then you probably are doing a great job estimating your power needs and have a good setup.

Edited by DrJ, 13 July 2016 - 09:20 PM.

[longhorn1]

Dr & Charlie. I've probably had a bit of luck, but we are very careful. The Trimetric sounds like something I should consider. I wouldn't feel comfortable trying to install. I have no skills in that department.

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[MuleHawk]

I guess my concerns are that we are on the road full time and our fridge is always on. It hasn't been turned off for a month and a half. The camper is essentially our home for the next year so having everything working properly and reliably is huge for us. Spending money on campsites(we both quit our jobs) with hook ups isn't in our budget so the solar and truck charging capabilities are what we rely on. I see upgrades like the trimetric as an investment in peace of mind.


www.mulehawk.com

[longhorn1]

I think you maybe right. I'm going to look into one myself. jd

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Edited by longhorn1, 14 July 2016 - 01:39 AM.

[alano]

I chose not to get a Trimetric and spent the money saved on another solar panel figuring that on a small system overkill beats information. I put 200W of flexible panels on the roof and had so much trouble with them that I bought a 100 W rigid panel and mounted on the roof such that I can take it down and use it as a portable when desired. Even that didn't work when the flexible panels were essentially useless and the trip so hot that 100W wouldn't cut it so I turned off the fridge and we iceboxed it the rest of the trip to save the batteries. I swung warranty replacements and then the recall happened so that I'm now running 200W of rigid panels and everything works great.

 

I don't feel I need the extra information that a Trimetric provides especially now that the system works well but I can't help but wonder if my flexible panel torture might have been shorter if I'd had one. Maybe that's where their greatest use lies: helping you determine if you have a problem and where it might be located since it measures both input and output to the batteries. Of course I now carry a clamp-on ammeter so I can get a spot check of current flowing out of the batteries or flowing in from the truck (not while driving down the road though).

 

Don't get me wrong, I'm not against Trimetrics but I think most pop-up solar users could spend the same money on an extra panel and be pretty happy.

 

Regardless of instrumentation, clouds and heat are a bad combination since the fridge runs more and the panels produce less.

 

Alan