looking to get a Trimetric TM-2025 meter soon?

lamplight
lamplight Solar Expert Posts: 368 ✭✭✭✭✭✭
I have a new TM-2025RV for my house.

before connecting your wires up , do not pay attention to the stickers or the orientation. its BACKWARDS when compared to the labelled inputs that are directly on the circuit board. or rather should i say its completely unclear which side is which.

now here's one for you, i setup mine backwards as i didnt see the labelled ports right on the unit but was going from the manual and the sticker on the inside. i come upstairs to see if theres power and i smell that awful burning electronics smell. needless to say i was pretty upset. talking with my son i figured, well we might as well try it the right way, i hooked it up last night and it appears to be working! go figure. i was able to program my values, and its accumulating data, and reporting what looks like correct realtime data as well. the only thing i havent seen yet is if it can determine battery full, which requires a full charge which i havent had yet.

anyhow if you get one of these look for the labelled ports directly on the circuit board. :confused:

Comments

  • lamplight
    lamplight Solar Expert Posts: 368 ✭✭✭✭✭✭
    Re: looking to get a Trimetric TM-2025 meter soon?

    it turns out that everything seems to be working except my AMPS ALWAYS says negative (but it IS the correct numbers for current OUT of the batteries). It just seem to recognize incoming current. Ive triple checked my wiring and its all good. i hope im not reading it wrong but it looks like the amps display would be positive (+) if more power was coming in than out, so theres an issue there. it recognizes my setpoint value and battery % full, etc.. ive written bogart engineering this am and havent heard anything back yet. it really is a confusing diagram. I showed my wife the manual and then the unit and asked her which wires would go where and she did the same thing i did.
  • BB.
    BB. Super Moderators, Administrators Posts: 33,431 admin
    Re: looking to get a Trimetric TM-2025 meter soon?

    Watch the xx% capacity display and see if it goes up or down when charging (I believe it should go up when charging as it is displaying state of charge--but I don't have a battery monitor--so don't trust me).

    Otherwise, just switching the two sense leads to shunt (power resistor) should reverse the sign on the current.

    -Bill
    Near San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset
  • lamplight
    lamplight Solar Expert Posts: 368 ✭✭✭✭✭✭
    Re: looking to get a Trimetric TM-2025 meter soon?

    thanks Bill
    the %capcacity is down to 97% today so its working on that direction correctly. yesterday was the first day it got a full charge with the meter on. the meter determines full charge via the setpoints i program in so when i came home yesterday it did say 100%. supposed to be rainy today so who knows. i am curious if will GRADUALLY increase or if i'll have to wait for it to reset to 100% .
    Otherwise, just switching the two sense leads to shunt (power resistor) should reverse the sign on the current.

    I see what you're saying but this won;t work because:
    A) ive got it wired correctly per the manual and
    B) it IS the correct outgoing amps of the meter; so...

    if i were to switch them it would be wrong completely. for example its showing (roughly) 3.5A OUT of the battery 24/7 with the inverter on and my web server computer running. that number doesn't change even when charging current is greater than 3.5 amps. but it does change appropriately as my loads change, so it is reporting every bit of output current correctly.

    i think i fried something. :(

    I haven't heard from Bogart but its rather annoying. maybe they'll at least fix the documentation diagrams, and maybe this thread will help others from making the same mistake.
  • lamplight
    lamplight Solar Expert Posts: 368 ✭✭✭✭✭✭
    Re: looking to get a Trimetric TM-2025 meter soon?

    well it did climb back up to 100% full on the battery , even before it met the charged criteria (absorb stage ending) which i would think is still normal. so even though its not getting a full charge cycle ending with absord stage finishing, it appears that at least the same # of amp hours went back in since it started counting.
    the sun finally came out and its absorbing now (http://florenceit.net:81/)

    the days since last charge reset to 0 when it hit 100% i also noticed. even though it hasnt finished absorbing.

    anyone who has any trimetric meters confirm this is normal behavior with theirs or not?

    Thanks for suggesting to check that Bill.
  • lamplight
    lamplight Solar Expert Posts: 368 ✭✭✭✭✭✭
    Re: looking to get a Trimetric TM-2025 meter soon?

    Did some further testing tonight and found that the 3.5 to 4.0 amp output that looked normal was in fact false. it dd respond to larger loads that looked close, but are definitely wrong when measured. unconnected everything on the battery negative terminal and measured amperage and it was only .016 amps with the tm-2025rv running, and .15 amps when i turned on the inverter (with no loads). the trimetric still reported 3.5 - 4.0 amps. ordered another one since bogart never answered my email from yesterday. it wasnt accusatory just suggestive that they rephrase the documentation, though i was hoping they'd offer to replace it. what a drag. :confused::cry:essentially playing close to $400 for mine.
  • BB.
    BB. Super Moderators, Administrators Posts: 33,431 admin
    Re: looking to get a Trimetric TM-2025 meter soon?

    Did you measure the voltage at the current shunt (200 mV scale or so) with DVM to see what you are really seeing? xxx mV per 100 amp or whatever?

    -Bill
    Near San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset
  • lamplight
    lamplight Solar Expert Posts: 368 ✭✭✭✭✭✭
    Re: looking to get a Trimetric TM-2025 meter soon?

    Bill,
    at what two contacts do you mean for measuring the voltage?

    i out the meter in series with the negative output between battery and shunt and measured amps.
    thanks, Matt
  • BB.
    BB. Super Moderators, Administrators Posts: 33,431 admin
    Re: looking to get a Trimetric TM-2025 meter soon?

    Oh... OK, you measured the current directly.

    I was asking about measuring the voltage across the shunt itself (the two small screws on the side of the shunt).

    If there is a broken wire/poor connection, it is possible for the Trimetric to incorrectly measure the exact voltage... And since the voltages are so small (millivolts or less for low current)--any connection/wiring issue can result in fairly large errors at low current levels.

    Some types of shunt / current meters may include a Zero Offset adjustment.

    -Bill
    Near San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset
  • lamplight
    lamplight Solar Expert Posts: 368 ✭✭✭✭✭✭
    Re: looking to get a Trimetric TM-2025 meter soon?

    thanks Bill


    measured B1 (battery side of shunt) against G1 and G2 (other side of the shunt) directly at the battery, it would read between 0 and .1 mv.

    measured it upstairs at the meter and it would read .3 and .6

    unhooked the wires from the meter and measured them there at the meter and they matched with downstairs at the battery. so the value changes only when plugged in. the unit must be shorting somewhere i guess. darn.
  • lamplight
    lamplight Solar Expert Posts: 368 ✭✭✭✭✭✭
    Re: looking to get a Trimetric TM-2025 meter soon?

    got my new one in and installed today. GREAT to see actual numbers for watts and amps, its been so long. if anyone wants the old one they can have it for the cost of shipping, could be used as a basic remote voltmeter. does seem to keep track of a couple things accurately as described above (days since last charge/EQ and the current battery voltage).