Quick connect/disconnect for Trimetric 2025 monitor

Tom Cleary

Hello Everyone,

I need to ask for help, my apologies for asking again for your time. So far I have been unable to find a solution and my project has stalled as a result. I have emailed several parts manufacturers and asked an electrician friend, and surfed the internet looking for a solution, but so far have not found one. Any help would be appreciated.

The problem is this: I have a Trimetric 2025 monitor that works great, and I am happy for all the data, but I need to modify it slightly to feature a quick connect and disconnect for its wires so I can assemble and dissassemble my solar device quickly when camping.

As mentioned in my last post, I installed a hatch in my camper van. The hatch effectively separates the small Trimetric shunt on the outside of the van from the Trimetric monitor box on the inside of the van. Wiring connects the outside shunt by passing through the van hatch to the Trimetric box on the inside. The Trimetric device wiring consists of four wires 5 feet in length.

With a quick connect/disconnect device I could assemble and disassemble the solar device quickly when camping. Can anyone suggest a quick connect/disconnect solution?

Anderson makes an inexpensive connect/disconnect device ($20 including shipping) for the purpose (link below):

http://www.andersonpower.com/products/spec-solar.html

The part is cheap, but Anderson charges $170 for a specialized crimping tool to use it. It might be possible to solder the connection instead of crimping it, but the company does not supply directions for that purpose. I don't mind experimenting with the product if that's the best answer to the problem, but I can't help but wonder if someone knows of something else out there that might work.

Thanks very much in advance for any suggestions,

Best,
Tom Cleary

BB.

Re: Quick connect/disconnect for Trimetric 2025 monitor

Note that Battery Monitors typically do not do well when disconnecting their battery connections... They lose the present state of battery charge and you need to reset them to 100% (or whatever) is the actual state of charge of the battery (or run a full charging cycle to reset the 100% state of charge in the controller).

Here is some information using a less expensive crimp tool:

http://www.electricbike.com/crimp-anderson/

Here is a $40 crimp tool for Power Pole connectors:

http://www.westmountainradio.com/product_info.php?products_id=PWRcrimp

Many people simply solder the connections, being careful to not get solder on the contact surfaces... An issue with solder connects is that they make wires less resistance to flexing (solder wicks up wire and makes a fulcrum) and if the connector overheats, the solder melts and drops the wires loose (short circuit potential).

Industry wise--A good crimp is the accepted standard over solder connections. Although, I have soldered my fair share of cables over the years too.

-Bill

Tom Cleary

Re: Quick connect/disconnect for Trimetric 2025 monitor

Hello Bill,
Regarding the crimper recommendations, thanks very much, it turns out a friend of mine has one of the crimpers you mentioned. I showed him the link from your post and he will loan me a pair of the crimpers. I went ahead and purchased the Anderson quick connect/disconnect in the link:

http://www.andersonpower.com/products/spec-solar.html

and am waiting for it to arrive. I will keep you posted as to progress after I install the device.

I don't understand what you meant in your first sentence about having to reset the monitor after it has been disconnected to bring it back to the correct setting. It sounds like I will need to reset the monitor after each disconnect. It sounded like the easiest way to do that would be to recharge the battery with the monitor attached. That sounds challenging, maybe not as easy to do as I thought, maybe not as simple as attaching and re-attaching a quick connect. I understand what you are saying anyway, will have to see what happens I guess. Thanks again for the suggestions. Best,
Tom

Cariboocoot

Re: Quick connect/disconnect for Trimetric 2025 monitor

Tom Cleary wrote: »

I don't understand what you meant in your first sentence about having to reset the monitor after it has been disconnected to bring it back to the correct setting. It sounds like I will need to reset the monitor after each disconnect. It sounded like the easiest way to do that would be to recharge the battery with the monitor attached. That sounds challenging, maybe not as easy to do as I thought, maybe not as simple as attaching and re-attaching a quick connect. I understand what you are saying anyway, will have to see what happens I guess. Thanks again for the suggestions. Best,
Tom

Yep. Disconnect the battery power to the Trimetric and it loses its memory. Reconnect and everything has to be reconfigured, including 'aligning' battery's actual SOC with the Trimetric's data. If you reconnect a battery with 80% SOC and tell the monitor it's 100% it's all wrong.

Any chance you could construct the battery bank to keep the monitor with it so that it will be at least somewhat accurate? Even so remember the monitor will not keep track of self-discharge so if left long enough it will again be out of sync.

Tom Cleary

Re: Quick connect/disconnect for Trimetric 2025 monitor

Hello Bill and Cariboocoot,

Thanks for the good advice, it placed another (and completely different) perspective on the matter.

If I understand correctly, when the battery power to the Trimetric is disconnected, it loses it reading. When it is reconnected it needs a new reading, which means tuning into the battery's SOC again with the Trimetric's data. Unless the Trimetric is connected to the batteries permanently, every new connection means a new reading and a new tuning.

Yes, this means it is time for a change of plan, it would be better to keep the Trimetric monitor with the battery bank. This change means the monitor will be outside instead of inside, and will be less accessible, but that is preferable to having bad data or retuning the Trimetric with every fresh hookup.

One thing I don't understand -- you said the "monitor will not keep track of self-discharge so if left long enough it will again be out of sync." By "self-discharge" are you talking about the normal discharge rate of a battery bank that does not have any load on it?

Thanks again, this thread has changed my approach, and I am glad for the information.

Tom Cleary

Cariboocoot

Re: Quick connect/disconnect for Trimetric 2025 monitor

Yes; self-discharge is the power the battery loses just sitting. It's not much, but it adds up over time and the older the battery is the faster the rate. Flooded cells lose power faster than AGM's.

The Trimetric can communicate with a computer via serial port, if that is any help. You might have a serial connection to hook up so you can have the monitor with the batteries and read what's going on remotely that way.

Tom Cleary

Re: Quick connect/disconnect for Trimetric 2025 monitor

Thanks for the information, it seems there is an option for monitoring the Trimetric remotely after all, that is, to use a serial port. I will check into that. I don't have a serial port on my laptop, but maybe I could use a serial port/usb port conversion. Does anyone have any suggestions concerning this type of monitoring? Thanks, Tom Cleary

zoneblue

Re: Quick connect/disconnect for Trimetric 2025 monitor

You can use a serial to usb converter, fairly common piece of kit. I didnt know trimetric had serial. I know pentametric has both serial and Ethernet options.