Renogy 500A Battery Monitor with Shunt

Works great!Be sure to connect all negative device and chassis ground wires to P- side of the shunt. Only the battery negative wires should connect to the B- side.Only complaint is the flashing backlight whenever the battery is charging, including float mode when the trickle charge is active. The backlight can be turned off completely. There are arrows that point up or down depending on whether charging or discharging. The mounting style is cheap and uses simple tabs that snap into the opening.The shunt is rated 75mV @500A. I have another Amp meter (made for a 75mV @500A external shunt) attached to the same shunt, instead of installing a 2nd shunt which would cause more voltage drop. Attaching a parallel Amp meter will ONLY work if it's designed to use an ... MoreWorks great!Be sure to connect all negative device and chassis ground wires to P- side of the shunt. Only the battery negative wires should connect to the B- side.Only complaint is the flashing backlight whenever the battery is charging, including float mode when the trickle charge is active. The backlight can be turned off completely. There are arrows that point up or down depending on whether charging or discharging. The mounting style is cheap and uses simple tabs that snap into the opening.The shunt is rated 75mV @500A. I have another Amp meter (made for a 75mV @500A external shunt) attached to the same shunt, instead of installing a 2nd shunt which would cause more voltage drop. Attaching a parallel Amp meter will ONLY work if it's designed to use an external shunt rated for 75mV @500A. I protected the shunt inside heavy clear heat shrink.Be sure to set the High V - full voltage, to the absorption setting of the charger. I'm using this meter with Qty 5, 13V 100Ah LiFePO4 batteries. The batteries are fully charged almost exactly when the battery voltage reaches the absorption setting of 14.4V and the meter resets to 100% (if not already displaying 100% during the charge cycle).

A great way to track Amp Hours available!

For what it’s worth, I set my user inputs slightly different from what is called out in the manual. I have three Trojan Solar SAGM 12 Volt 135 Amp hour batteries connected in parallel thus giving an available 405Ah. Since I only want to use 50% of the Ah for battery longevity, I assumed a capacity of 202.5Ah. So, I entered CAP=202.5 Ah, High V=14.4 Volts (max absorption per Trojan), Low V=12.1 Volts (50% Volts under load per Trojan vs. 12.2V no-load), and Alarm=0.0Ah. Although I have not used 50% yet, by setting it up this way, the calculated/displayed hours of remaining available safe power displayed is closer to reality vs setting CAP= 405Ah and Alarm=202.5Ah.

Don't buy

Worst product I've ever purchased. Missing parts in the box, no manual, no wires, and no shunt mount. This may have destroyed my 2 batteries by never sounding alarm or showing accurately even though I recalibrated this over a dozen times. went from 393ah and 97% charged at 93 watt draw to 0ah 0% charge in 3 minutes. Renogy support is aweful and unable to return past return policy. I had to spend $50 additional to purchase cables and shunt mount. Renogy support not helpful. I purchased the 200ah Renogy AGM batteries, now they are most likely 2 $400 paperweights. Don't bother with this product.

Great performance and looks good

I purchased this in association with the purchase of a AGM battery for my travel trailer. This battery monitor displays all the information needed to ensure your battery is operating at peak performance and also to protect it from damage from over, or under charging. You can tell at a glance the condition of your battery and its discharge rate and/or charging status. Compact size but the LCD has large bright display and easy to read. A feature of this display that I don’t particularly like but have come to easily accept is when the battery is being charged, for some reason they designed the display to pulsate from bright to dim then back to bright again. This continues for as long as the battery is charging. The only other thing I found is I wish the outer edges of ... MoreI purchased this in association with the purchase of a AGM battery for my travel trailer. This battery monitor displays all the information needed to ensure your battery is operating at peak performance and also to protect it from damage from over, or under charging. You can tell at a glance the condition of your battery and its discharge rate and/or charging status. Compact size but the LCD has large bright display and easy to read. A feature of this display that I don’t particularly like but have come to easily accept is when the battery is being charged, for some reason they designed the display to pulsate from bright to dim then back to bright again. This continues for as long as the battery is charging. The only other thing I found is I wish the outer edges of the monitor itself had a larger “lip” around it. Meaning that when you cut out the hole in the place you want to mount it, you must be very precise on cutting the dimension of the part of the monitor that will recess into the hole. If you are a little sloppy in cutting the hole the outer edges of the monitor aren’t big enough to cover the sloppiness of the cut. Other than those two items I mentioned, this monitor and associated shunt is quality built. Not that I have it installed I’m every pleased with its performance. It also looks good mounted next to the other switches and stuff that I have in the trailer.

If you are a DIYer that is putting in a solar system using more than 2 batteries then putting in ...

If you are a DIYer that is putting in a solar system using more than 2 batteries then putting in a shunt with a monitor should be considered because the cost of the batteries for your system is a very expensive part of it. You want to be able to monitor it easily and accurately, and this device does just that. It comes with an LED interface battery monitor screen, a 500A shunt, and a good length of shielded wire. This unit is sold by Renogy which is a very reputable company to deal with. They have a tech dept. that I have used more than once and they will go through step by step any issues to assist you. I put in this shunt and monitor with the assist of using their You Tube video on the internet. The only problem I had was that in the video they did not use the ... MoreIf you are a DIYer that is putting in a solar system using more than 2 batteries then putting in a shunt with a monitor should be considered because the cost of the batteries for your system is a very expensive part of it. You want to be able to monitor it easily and accurately, and this device does just that. It comes with an LED interface battery monitor screen, a 500A shunt, and a good length of shielded wire. This unit is sold by Renogy which is a very reputable company to deal with. They have a tech dept. that I have used more than once and they will go through step by step any issues to assist you. I put in this shunt and monitor with the assist of using their You Tube video on the internet. The only problem I had was that in the video they did not use the same mppt unit I had, it was a different model. I called them and they explained how to adapt it to my model.You need the cable wires to connect the shunt to the invertor, battery and mppt unit, so be prepared for that. After installation, it operates very ncely. (Be sure to follow the step by step instructions for all your preset settings on the LED monitor).

Prepare to call them during install.

I've been testing and characterizing this monitor for a few weeks. It's a bit of a challenge understanding how it functions. I'm an electronics engineer for 30 years and very comfortable with this. The instructions were abominaly hard to understand even to someone who has made a living on designing electronics. The instructions look like they were translated from Chinese (or some foreign language). Did Renogy even proof read it? I called Renogy to verify where the solar panel needed to be connected. As programming the module progressed, I had to download the data sheet which helped but still woefully unclear about how the buttons worked, like Attn:. Is that Attention or Attenuation? Again I had to call Renogy to understand its usage, and to clarify their video wich ... MoreI've been testing and characterizing this monitor for a few weeks. It's a bit of a challenge understanding how it functions. I'm an electronics engineer for 30 years and very comfortable with this. The instructions were abominaly hard to understand even to someone who has made a living on designing electronics. The instructions look like they were translated from Chinese (or some foreign language). Did Renogy even proof read it? I called Renogy to verify where the solar panel needed to be connected. As programming the module progressed, I had to download the data sheet which helped but still woefully unclear about how the buttons worked, like Attn:. Is that Attention or Attenuation? Again I had to call Renogy to understand its usage, and to clarify their video wich left me wondering what holding the up arrow did.Also, their spec call out a 1% accuracy. 1% of 500A is 5A. I need to keep my load under 3A, so that's on reason I had to characterize this Monitor. Luckily, it seems to be more accurate than 1%.

Renogy 500A Programmable Battery Monitor with Alarm is a super mid-level capacity monitor that EV...

Renogy 500A Programmable Battery Monitor with Alarm is a super mid-level capacity monitor that EVERY battery bank needs. The Renogy battery monitor is an excellent addition to any solar system large or small. It will eliminate guesswork about battery charge and usage draw and immediately start to pay for itself improving overall performance and life of your battery bank. All batteries have a low threshold of draw before the life of the battery is impacted. This Renogy unit is able to monitor the amperage flowing in/out of the battery bank and will give an accurate state of charge displayed on the LCD screen. There's a high and low voltage programmable alarm and overall volt range of 10v-120V up to 500A and fully compatible with 12V AGM, lithium sealed and gel, ... MoreRenogy 500A Programmable Battery Monitor with Alarm is a super mid-level capacity monitor that EVERY battery bank needs. The Renogy battery monitor is an excellent addition to any solar system large or small. It will eliminate guesswork about battery charge and usage draw and immediately start to pay for itself improving overall performance and life of your battery bank. All batteries have a low threshold of draw before the life of the battery is impacted. This Renogy unit is able to monitor the amperage flowing in/out of the battery bank and will give an accurate state of charge displayed on the LCD screen. There's a high and low voltage programmable alarm and overall volt range of 10v-120V up to 500A and fully compatible with 12V AGM, lithium sealed and gel, flooded batteries. The monitor display is large and clearly visible to read and is easy to hook up to your batteries. With clear understandable instructions - even a the beginner can get this installed. And the Home Depot price for the Renogy 500A Programmable Alarm Battery Monitor makes it a no brainer. I replaced a smaller amp monitor that didn't have programmable alarm feature and am glad I did. Depending on your set up you may find the 10ft insulated cord a little short so yo may have to re-position your components like I did but it was no big deal. Note that if you keep your battery bank outdoors in a shed like I do, you may want to rig up a small enclosure to protect the monitor.

Some good, some cheap

The shunt itself is mostly great. Beefy bolts and plastic body for the negative connection. The battery positive wire/connection is a complete joke. It's a tiny 20 gauge wire that is 2 feet long with a cheap circle connection on one end and a soldered end on the other. The connections on the shunt for battery positive are so tiny, I had to cut off the soldered end and run the straight wire. Also, be sure to have a tiny screw driver used for glasses repair just to connect battery positive to the shunt. Please fix these stupid issues as most people won't even have the micro screw driver to connect this wire. Use some sturdier parts, I feel like I'm going to break that wire everytime I'm working around the positive terminal.

Very happy - great way to monitor RV batteries

I bought this to make sure I had a better handle on my RV battery usage and charging. The display provides everything I need - especially the Amp hours used, which also shows how my recharging is going. I just took my first trip out with this and drew my 2 lithium batteries down to 80 percent, and then with 250 watts of solar panels and good sun, they were back up to 100 percent in less than 5 hours. I'd never have known this or the charging rates without this meter.The only improvement I'd like to see is better control over the backlight. You can turn it off, but you can't just dim it, and the pulsing light while charging is an annoyance, so I just turn the backlight off. It would also be nice if this could be surface mounted to avoid cutting holes in cabinets, ... MoreI bought this to make sure I had a better handle on my RV battery usage and charging. The display provides everything I need - especially the Amp hours used, which also shows how my recharging is going. I just took my first trip out with this and drew my 2 lithium batteries down to 80 percent, and then with 250 watts of solar panels and good sun, they were back up to 100 percent in less than 5 hours. I'd never have known this or the charging rates without this meter.The only improvement I'd like to see is better control over the backlight. You can turn it off, but you can't just dim it, and the pulsing light while charging is an annoyance, so I just turn the backlight off. It would also be nice if this could be surface mounted to avoid cutting holes in cabinets, but I'm sure I will come up with something once I decide where to permanently mount it.

Working very well

As far as I tell it's working perfectly, my only draw back is the backlight. When designing this you should have just off , on, and brightness. It's annoying when reading it while system is being charged with it flashing. Sure it can be turned off. But you shouldn't have to. There is plenty of other indicators that the system is changing, the +amps and the directional Ah symbol of charge and discharge. Other then that , it's helping me with knowing my charge and discharge rate even when I am using power from my system. Rv system 300 watt currently, but increasing it soon., battery type 3 8D lead acid also going to increase.