How to Monitor Your Solar Powered System

Digital AmmeterThe battery is the main component of your power station. Monitoring means knowing the state of charge in your battery. You can choose a voltmeter or use a purpose built monitoring system.

Using a 12 volt battery full of charge let’s say … 120 amp/hours.

If we measure the voltage of fully charged 12 volt battery with nothing connected it should be around 12.6 volts.

If we connect a reasonable load to the battery the voltage will drop to around 12.1 but the battery is still full of charge at this point.

If we connect a charging source to the battery, for example an 80 watt solar panel, the voltage will rise to about 15 – 16 volts.

If the battery was flat we might see the following:

  • No load: 12 volts
  • With load: 11.0 volts
  • Charge connected: 13 volts

One thought on “How to Monitor Your Solar Powered System

  1. shelby wilkinson

    How to choose the correct blocking diode for a 12 volt solar pannel, charging a 12 volt battery.

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