Installed this at the beginning of the season and calibrated it to 100% charge and set it to GEL battery type, as the house was fully charged at the slip all week. My first few trips off the dock were short, so the batts never discharged below 80%.
Being away for the weekend more often now, I see discharge levels down in the 50s after a couple of days. But only twice at that level of discharge.
My odd experience, however, has to do with recharging, which may have nothing to do with the gauge.
Previously, all I had to identify charge was the Xantrex remote panel, which has three idiot lights for Bulk, Absorb and Float.
Now, I'm checking the new toy all the time, to see actual voltage and charge percentage.
The SmartGuage was not showing much increase in charge level, after running the generator for an hour or two. Previously, that would be about all I felt I needed to recharge a full days usage. It's been showing an increase of maybe 10% of capacity on a 400ah house bank. This is concerning, because I use more than that per day and I wouldn't think I would need to run the generator for more than two hours per day to keep up.
Then I noticed something on the original idiot gauges. They marched their way up from bulk to float, but the SmartGuage still said the bank was only 84% charged. Float should be 98-99, if I understand this correctly.
Could it be that the SmartGuage hasn't "learned" the house parameters yet? Remember, I've also considered that the idiot lights are wrong too.
Final symptom..... When plugged into the dock, I measure 115volts at the AC receptacles. When running the generator, I only measure 106 volts. However, in both scenarios, the SmartGuage seems out of synch with the idiot lights.
Being away for the weekend more often now, I see discharge levels down in the 50s after a couple of days. But only twice at that level of discharge.
My odd experience, however, has to do with recharging, which may have nothing to do with the gauge.
Previously, all I had to identify charge was the Xantrex remote panel, which has three idiot lights for Bulk, Absorb and Float.
Now, I'm checking the new toy all the time, to see actual voltage and charge percentage.
The SmartGuage was not showing much increase in charge level, after running the generator for an hour or two. Previously, that would be about all I felt I needed to recharge a full days usage. It's been showing an increase of maybe 10% of capacity on a 400ah house bank. This is concerning, because I use more than that per day and I wouldn't think I would need to run the generator for more than two hours per day to keep up.
Then I noticed something on the original idiot gauges. They marched their way up from bulk to float, but the SmartGuage still said the bank was only 84% charged. Float should be 98-99, if I understand this correctly.
Could it be that the SmartGuage hasn't "learned" the house parameters yet? Remember, I've also considered that the idiot lights are wrong too.
Final symptom..... When plugged into the dock, I measure 115volts at the AC receptacles. When running the generator, I only measure 106 volts. However, in both scenarios, the SmartGuage seems out of synch with the idiot lights.