amps in amps out

[wpsalm]

advertised as fuel gauge for your batteries...have been seeing these things in the chandlers for a few years now. keeps track of amp hours being used and displays battery voltage and amps remaining....I like the idea, do they work ? or is it just another gadget..?

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[catmandoo]

yes . I have got one . Installed it last year . Fitted four shunts one for each battery . Can have instant acces to any battery's input or out put . By playing with switches I can see what load is doing what ie navigation lights , fridge instrumentation .Also what my two alternators are doing at any one time plus input of solar panel and wind gen when I get round to fitting one . Was surprised to see how much power nav lights pulled . I suppose I could have added up the wattage and divided by 12 for amps but system also lets me see what is happening when not intending to draw off power ie measure leakage

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[pvb]

Link 10...

About the best one is the Link 10, sometimes called E-Meter. Very clever, very accurate, very useful. For simplicity, I'd recommend just having a single shunt so that you can see the overall performance of your battery bank.

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[Ric]

One of the most useful things I've installed on my boat - don't know how I managed with out it.

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[Talbot]

Re: Link 10...

Do you have a link to this "Link 10" so I can have a look at it (tried a google search, but did not have enough details to be able to refine the search sufficiently)

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[tome]

Re: Link 10...

Couldn't find a link but found details of UK supplier

Enquiries: Merlin Equipment, Unit 1, Hithercroft Court, Lupton Road, Wallingford, Oxon OX10 9BT, UK. Tel: +44 (0)1491 824333; Fax: +44 (0)1491 824466

I think the comapny that makes them is called 'Heart' but my handbook is on the boat. It's an excellent piece of equipment, agree with all that's been posted.

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[pvb]

Certainly...

The Link 10 is made by Xantrex. You can <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.xantrex.com/products/product.asp?did=199>read about it here</A>. From the same page, you can also access user guides, which explain much more about charging efficiency, etc. The Link 10 is available in the UK from better chandlers and from battery power specialists.

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[tome]

Re: Certainly...

Interesting...

I have the Link20 and although it looks identical to the one on the site, the manufacturer is 'Heart' and certainly not Xantrex as shown.

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[halcyon]

Re: Link 10...

A question, as you never get as much current out of a battery as you put in through charging, as well as a self discharge function. Over a period of time this can become quite a large value, how does the Link 10 compensate ?



Brian

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[tome]

Re: Link 10...

You need to read the handbook to see how this works. It takes into account variables which affect the battery capacity (Peukerts exponent) depending on load levels, as the nominal capacity of the battery is calculated over a 20 hour discharge. It also resets every time the battery is fully charged so that incremental errors don't accumulate.

I've had one for the past season and found it very useful to tell me when I really need to charge, and whether bulbs (eg masthead) are working - you can see the current increase if a bulb hasn't blown without having to wander a long way down the pontoon to eyeball it.

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[pvb]

Heart...

Link 10 & 20 were originally developed, I think, by Cruising Equipment, who became part of Heart, I think. And Xantrex took over Heart (again, I think). My Link 10 is Heart-branded too.

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[pvb]

And...

And in addition to the Peukert calculation, the unit also uses in a "charge efficiency factor", which allows for the fact that if you take 10Ah out of the battery, you need to put something like 11Ah back in to recharge it.

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[MainlySteam]

Re: Heart...

<<<And Xantrex took over Heart (again, I think).>>>

They did.

John

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[halcyon]

Re: Link 10...

Thank you, think it is similar to the units around many years ago when I was designing fork trucks.

Brian

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[BlueSkyNick]

Pricing

These certainly look very useful but I don't see anything about prices on the site/

Anybody got a rough idea?

<hr width=100% size=1>Nostalgia is not what it used to be.

 

[bob_tyler]

Re: Pricing

I believe just over £200.

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[Budgie]

Re: Link 10

I have used a Link 10 for the past few years and I couldn't do without it. It does "just what it says on the tin", measuring ampere-hours in and ampere-hours out.

It was fairly easy to fit, the only problem being to ensure that I used a screened cable, and that cable runs did not pick up stray current.

I bought mine in the US, but you can find it on UK websites, or perhaps look at the US websites. A Google search gives a price of $230 (c. £130) +p/p at www.BoatUS.com.

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[steve6367]

Re: Link 10

Is there any problem with getting it shipped to the UK?

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