Battery Monitor - Advice & Recommendations

[Peter B]

Apologies Baker - two people separated by a common language perhaps, but sorry about misunderstanding your meaning.

You Ok Delf. Now you're calling me Baker. Maybe a trip to Specsavers..?

 

[BruceK]

? Battery fetish..? Obsession sounds inadequate somehow..?

Why not, we`ve one member whose posts reveal an underpants/shorts fetish.

 

[Delfin]

You Ok Delf. Now you're calling me Baker. Maybe a trip to Specsavers..?

Hey, I got it right 50% of the time... Actually, I'm learning the "swishing finger" method of typing on the Android phone and it produces some remarkable misprints. I'm just happy I didn't call you Butthead.

 

[Codger2]

Delfin,
How could you take my comment so wrong..?

(Whew!) I understood what you meant, Pete but Delfin had me going for a minute or two.

 

[Wood]

Case in point.... <snip>

Here you manage to combine sleazy slander - the accusation that Balmar are such scum bags that they steal someone else's technology by reverse engineering, with a separate falsehood. <snip>


I'm breaking my own IGNORE rule here, I know, but I couldn't let your reckless and slimy accusation of high-handed theft by Balmar to go uncommented upon.

Just wow! Seems John's response to this was deleted, where he explained the propriety of reverse engineering and his previous comment that perhap's that is what Balmar did.



Just my opinion - but I think your comments are defamatory.

 

[Delfin]

Just wow! Seems John's response to this was deleted, where he explained the propriety of reverse engineering and his previous comment that perhap's that is what Balmar did.



Just my opinion - but I think your comments are defamatory.

In the context the term was used, the poster is referring to the process whereby you take someone else's intellectual product, deconstruct it, tweak it to avoid patent infringement, then release it as your own work. That is defamatory if it is false, which it is in this case, not my pointing it out.

Further, the poster attributes part of the process whereby Balmar compensates for errors in coulomb counting in their new product to someone else; again, another slander since it implies intellectual property theft. Anyone can express whatever opinion they like whenever they like. However, when ill informed opinions are presented as facts, or are inherently slanderous as in this case, they deserve to be noted as horse pucky.

 

[Wood]

In the context the poster posted he neither explicitly stated or implied Balmar did anything illegal or unethical.


You can say whatever you believe but it does not change the denotation of his statement.


I stand my my statement. In my opinion your comments are defamatory.

 

[sunchaser]

Wood
I read the now deleted post from jct. I’d agree that it was worth calling out.

 

[Delfin]

In the context the poster posted he neither explicitly stated or implied Balmar did anything illegal or unethical.

Originally Posted by john61ct
Although it has nothing to do with Merlin, it apparently does incorporates some of Gibbo's active impedance compensation tech, perhaps "reverse engineered" from his SmartGauge.

Words mean things, Wood. When you say that a new device incorporates the intellectual property of another party gained through reverse engineering, you are saying that the intellectual property was stolen. In this case, the intellectual property referred to wasn't even ole' Gibbo's in the first place - it was the IP of Balmar used to deal with coulomb counting that has nothing to do with Merlin's Smart Gauge so couldn't have been reverse engineered from that device in the first place.

I stand my my statement. In my opinion your comments are defamatory.

And I agree with you. They were derogatory, as intended, but also true, unlike the poster's comments about Balmar which were derogatory and false.

p.s. I mis-read "derogatory" for your word "defamatory". Since words mean things, no, I was not slandering the poster's "good reputation" by being defamatory. I was pointing out the falsity of almost everything he wrote in his post. It's hard to have a "good reputation" to defame when you make such statements, so I don't think I took anything away from the man.

 

[greysailor]

Don't get me wrong.....I enjoy a good pi$$ing contest as well as the next cowboy. I certainly don't intend to hurt the feelings of those who worship at the altar of High Tech, and this is probably more telling of my dinosaur status in life! ? Now don't get me wrong, I do love my integrated navigation electronics, but I also keep my lead line and sextant aboard and know how to use them.[emoji6]

But this old NPR (Nuclear Power Retiree) still monitors battery health aboard Salty with a digital voltmeter, hydrometer and thermometer. I guess 40 years of weekly/monthly/quarterly survelance testing/trending of individual cell voltage and specific gravity on battery banks the size of a boxcar, may have warped my thought process ?. Of course, being blessed with the spacious engine room of a DeFever, spending quality time with my house battery bank is not the chore some may have to endure[emoji6].

For what it's worth, I have a pretty good idea how many days we can hang on the hook and not draw our 1300AH house bank below 50%. So when my total bank voltmeter gets anywhere near 12.2V, I step into the engine room and verify that the SG of the Pilot Cell battery hasn't dropped below 1.190 (temperature corrected). The Pilot Cell (weakest 6V battery) is established during monthly battery testing, by trending the individual battery voltages and SG readings.

This dog may not hunt for some folk's power requirements/time spent at anchor.... But with my wife's obsession with hot showers in cooler temps, our normal generator run time (with 100Amp charger/inverter) has always maintained the bank at 60-75%, and we regularly spend a week at our favorite ancorages.

I guess my viewpoint is that if you install an adequate size house battery and charging capability, then you can spend more time catching redfish and drinking bourbon, and less time obsessing over 1/100th of an amp-hour! ??
KISS!

 

[Codger2]

But this old NPR (Nuclear Power Retiree) still monitors battery health aboard Salty with a digital voltmeter, hydrometer and thermometer.

For what it's worth, I have a pretty good idea how many days we can hang on the hook and not draw our 1300AH house bank below 50%. So when my total bank voltmeter gets anywhere near 12.2V, I step into the engine room and verify that the SG of the Pilot Cell battery hasn't dropped below 1.190 (temperature corrected).


I guess my viewpoint is that if you install an adequate size house battery and charging capability, then you can spend more time catching redfish and drinking bourbon, and less time obsessing over 1/100th of an amp-hour! &#55358;&#56623;&#55358;&#56611;
KISS!

This pretty much mirrors my philosophy on battery health & I agree that if/when I see 12.2v on the various SOC meters while walking through my boat, it's time to investigate it further. (Or turn the genny on!)

 

[FF]

"This pretty much mirrors my philosophy on battery health & I agree that if/when I see 12.2v on the various SOC meters while walking through my boat, it's time to investigate it further. (Or turn the genny on!)"


An SOC meter measures amps in and out , a volt meter shown is not a SOC device , and works poorly as one.

 

[sunchaser]

An SOC meter measures amps in and out , a volt meter shown is not a SOC device , and works poorly as one.

FF
You miss Codger's point. His setup works well for how he uses his boat. As you have often said, KISS.

 

[FF]

"You miss Codger's point. His setup works well for how he uses his boat. As you have often said, ,,,,,,,,,,KISS."

I agree that if he is able to make his system work for his needs that's great, for him.

But there seem to be hundreds of folks that read this board that might not have the experience to use voltage as any sort of indication on the house bank condition.

The use of a hydrometer is great , but too many boat assemblers make access to the batts a chore.

A genuine SOC meter (with even modest accuracy) can tell when its time to recharge, instead of killing the batts.

 

[DDW]

The Smartgage SOC meter is FAR simpler than the described regimen, if KISS is your goal.

 

[angus99]

In the context the poster posted he neither explicitly stated or implied Balmar did anything illegal or unethical.


You can say whatever you believe but it does not change the denotation of his statement.


I stand my my statement. In my opinion your comments are defamatory.

I think it’s pretty difficult to defame the unquestionably anonymous.

 

[Codger2]

An SOC meter measures amps in and out , a volt meter shown is not a SOC device , and works poorly as one.

Apparently I've not made my point clear!

(ie) If the OEM of the tires on your car states that the proper inflated pressure is 35psi and you notice that one tire looks low, you'll probably inflate it and investigate the leak!

As I walk through my boat & notice that the little volt meters (previous posts) are below 12.73v & 25.46 I then turn to my Maretron SOC program (on the fly bridge) to investigate "why." All the little volt meters do is alert me to the possibility of a problem in either my 12v or 24v systems.
Pretty much the same as looking at a low tire.

The Raymarine photo only shows a fraction of what the Marathon SOC gauge can show when I query through my DSM150. (SOC Computer)

 

[sunchaser]

Walt
Most of us get it, the pedantic don't. Nice setup and love all the fine work you've done on the OA.