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Another newbie question. The user manual for the TriStar TS-RM-2 does not give me the basic information I need. Nor does a 15-minute search of the web provide information basic enough for the likes of me.
I have 3 solar panels totaling about 700 watts and two oldish 6V deep-cycle batteries, a TriStar charge controller and meter, and a 2,000W inverter.
My question has to do with making practical sense of the scientific information the meter is giving me. In other words, news I can use.
The first screen on the meter reads as follows: 13.2V 19C 10.9A 143W MPPT.
It is a very overcast day so I'm not getting much energy out of my panels.
I'm assuming the 13.2V has to do with the state of my battery: It is pushing out 13.2V. This is good because it is not 11.5 or greater than 15.0. Other than "this is good," I don't know much more about this figure.
19C is telling me, I think, the temperature of my batteries, which will affect their functioning.
10.9A. I have no idea what this is telling me. Is it telling me something about the panels, the batteries, or both? Does it tell me whether I can run my vacuum cleaner tonight?
143W. I think this is telling me something about how much electricity the panels are sending to the batteries, but I really don't know.
I don't know what MPPT means, but I think it must have something to do with the state of the batteries, because sometimes I see "FLOAT" or "ABSORB" there.
Now, I have the vague sense that Watts = Volts X Amps. I sort of know that volts are supposed to be like water pressure (whatever that means), amp is a unit of current or charge/time, and watt is a unit of power. But none of this tells me what I most want to know, in practical terms:
How charged are my batteries and how much longer will they last if I try to use them at night?
Am I low and do I need to conserve energy until morning?
How much electrical energy are my solar panels sending to my batteries at a given moment?
These are really the only things I want to know. And I don't know how to derive this information from this meter.
Can you help?
Thanks,
Paul
I have 3 solar panels totaling about 700 watts and two oldish 6V deep-cycle batteries, a TriStar charge controller and meter, and a 2,000W inverter.
My question has to do with making practical sense of the scientific information the meter is giving me. In other words, news I can use.
The first screen on the meter reads as follows: 13.2V 19C 10.9A 143W MPPT.
It is a very overcast day so I'm not getting much energy out of my panels.
I'm assuming the 13.2V has to do with the state of my battery: It is pushing out 13.2V. This is good because it is not 11.5 or greater than 15.0. Other than "this is good," I don't know much more about this figure.
19C is telling me, I think, the temperature of my batteries, which will affect their functioning.
10.9A. I have no idea what this is telling me. Is it telling me something about the panels, the batteries, or both? Does it tell me whether I can run my vacuum cleaner tonight?
143W. I think this is telling me something about how much electricity the panels are sending to the batteries, but I really don't know.
I don't know what MPPT means, but I think it must have something to do with the state of the batteries, because sometimes I see "FLOAT" or "ABSORB" there.
Now, I have the vague sense that Watts = Volts X Amps. I sort of know that volts are supposed to be like water pressure (whatever that means), amp is a unit of current or charge/time, and watt is a unit of power. But none of this tells me what I most want to know, in practical terms:
How charged are my batteries and how much longer will they last if I try to use them at night?
Am I low and do I need to conserve energy until morning?
How much electrical energy are my solar panels sending to my batteries at a given moment?
These are really the only things I want to know. And I don't know how to derive this information from this meter.
Can you help?
Thanks,
Paul
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