How to Monitor Your Solar Powered System

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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

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