Morningstar RM1 Vs Trimetric vs?

Shadowcatcher

How much is ENOUGH
In trying to wade through specs and manufacturers, hmmm whats a nice word, Oh cant think of one, but you get the idea.
The RM1 in conjunction with the Morningstar SunSaver MPPT monitors Battery min,max voltage, current amp-hours. Load current amp hours, temp at battery and logs for 30 days (down loadable. This plugs into the controller so easy install.
In trying to decipher what the Trimetric does, the advantage seems to be in precision, but I don't see it gets me more bang for the buck, or not enough.

BB.

Re: Morningstar RM1 Vs Trimetric vs?

I am not sure the RM-1 is the same as a true Battery Monitor...

If it does monitor load current--I believe that is only the LVD terminal at the solar charge controller (usually somewhere around 8-10 amp limit or so)...

For the most part, as far as I can tell, the RM-1 only can relate to information available from the charge controller itself.

A battery monitor installs a shunt at the battery and measures all current into/out of the battery bank---Logging the Amp*Hours/Watt*Hour and can estimate the current state of charge of the battery bank (in AH or %)--if programmed correctly.

-Bill

icarus

Re: Morningstar RM1 Vs Trimetric vs?

Trimetric does a pretty good job of monitoring overall battery/Pv performance.

Current voltage, current, cumulative ah in/out, total watt/ah used over the life of the battery set, Highest battery voltage, lowest battery voltage plus a bunch more I can't remember off hand. I think it is a great value for money.

Tony

SteveK

Re: Morningstar RM1 Vs Trimetric vs?

There is the Victron BMV-600/602 that does a good job but does not output data in watts. Haven't really missed watts as AH is usually the game here.

dmiller

Re: Morningstar RM1 Vs Trimetric vs?

I think you probably want the newer TS-RM-2.
It's the faceplate of you charger. In an RV you will want it.

Dont put you panel in series on an RV.

Solar Guppy

Re: Morningstar RM1 Vs Trimetric vs?

dmiller wrote: »

I think you probably want the newer TS-RM-2.
It's the faceplate of you charger. In an RV you will want it.

Dont put you panel in series on an RV.

TS-RM-2 is for the Tristar only, the poster is asking about the SunSaver Mppt

And since this is a true mppt controller, series is the preferred connection as you can use smaller gauge wire.

The SunSaver Mppt remote will only give you performance of charge values, it doesn't monitor the loads on the battery like a Trimetric does

westyd1982

Re: Morningstar RM1 Vs Trimetric vs?

I have a SunSaver MPPT and a RM-1 I used for a year before I switched to computer monitoring using the MSC. With the RM-1, you can monitor the charging info, the battery status and voltage, and the load info for any loads connected to the SunSaver MPPT's load terminals (up to 15A - no inverters). The RM-1 is quite adequate as a DC system monitor. If you are using an inverter directly connected to the battery, you can still watch the battery voltage to have a sense of the system status.

bdosborn

Re: Morningstar RM1 Vs Trimetric vs?

I have both meters in my RV and the Trimetric is hands down my favorite. I can look at battery capacity remaining, amp-hrs used, battery and PV voltage at a glance. It keeps track of how much energy I'm using as well as how much is remaining. Its perfect for boondocking. The Sunsaver meter is certainly fun as I like to watch how much energy I'm harvesting from the PV panels but the Trimetric is more useful. You could probably keep track of your battery status using the Sunsaver but it would be some work - you'd have to keep track of the amp-hrs coming in from the solar panel and subtract that from the amp-hrs the load is using. The Trimetric does all that for you. Also, the 10 amp limit on the Sunsaver load terminals is too small for my trailer, I run the inverter through the Trimetric.

Bruce