MT50 with Two Controllers

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somesom
somesom Registered Users Posts: 1 ✭
in Solar Beginners Corner #1
I have two solar systems feeding one 12v lithium 200a/h battery.  can I successfully use one MT50 to monitor the battery?
Mainly what I want to do is know the SOC (how much more power is left).  I think with one MT50 on one controller I will not know the power coming in from the other controller. so SOC will be unknown.  What or how do I monitor SOC?

I have 200 watts 24 volts solar into an Epever charge controller - times two (two identical panel/controller systems feeding into the battery).
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  • littleharbor2
    littleharbor2 Solar Expert Posts: 2,046 ✭✭✭✭✭
    #2
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    You need a shunt based monitor to count all current going into AND out of your battery. There's Bogart Trimetric, Victron and others. Without a shunt it's hard to judge the state of charge based on voltage alone.

    2.1 Kw Suntech 175 mono, Classic 200, Trace SW 4024 ( 15 years old  but brand new out of sealed factory box Jan. 2015), Bogart Tri-metric,  460 Ah. 24 volt LiFePo4 battery bank. Plenty of Baja Sea of Cortez sunshine.

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  • BB.
    BB. Super Moderators, Administrators Posts: 33,445 admin
    #3
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    As LittleHarbor says... Shunt based battery monitors--You can get some nice ones from our host:

    https://www.solar-electric.com/victron-energy-bmv-712-smart-battery-monitor.html

    And if you want to try something less expensive, there are a surprising number of battery monitors in Amazon and other places:

    https://www.amazon.com/battery-monitor/s?k=battery+monitor

    -Bill
    Near San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset
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