Tress
Virginia
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Without getting into all the details of my electrical system; lets just say my Link 10 batt monitor is getting some pretty strange readings. Everything seems fine accept the amp output reading, or in other words what im using for power. When everything is off, or even when anything is on the amps on the batt monitor are jumping up and down by .5 amps all the time. Basically the reading, whatever it is constantly jumps back and fourth a half amp, for example from 3 to 3.5 and back and fourth. My first reaction was that there was a bad connection somewhere so i pulled every fuse on the circuit individually to see if something was drawing, but nothing changed. I unplugged the solar charge controller to see if maybe it was causing it, nothing. I turned off the fridge and still nothing. My last resort is to disconnect everything from the batts; including the batts and then re-connect only the batts and batt monitor to see if it stays steady, and then re-connect everything one by one to see what is causing the fluctuating, but i just wanted to see if anyone had any suggestions before i go down that road. Sorry bout the novel, hope all is well otherwise....
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stevelv
FullTimers at Last!
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Joined: 05/24/2006
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It's probably not related but I have a faulty florescent lamp in the bedroom (110v) that when it's switched on it makes all of the electrical control panel (110v and 12v) go crazy - when I switch it off everything returns to normal - I'll get around to changing it one day but as we never use it, it's not a priority.
RV Park Finder
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2002 Beaver Santiam 38DST + Banks + 99 Jeep GC
DH,DW,Jake and Indie
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Tress
Virginia
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I guess its possible the wiring to the batt monitor is experiencing some interference from the other wires its close to, i cant think of the technical term for it right now but im pretty sure its why the monitor requires twisted pair wire. However i did use twisted pair wire so i don't think thats it but its possible i guess.
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wa8yxm
Wherever I happen to park
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This is part guess, part knowledge..
First the guess. If it's wrong, forget the rest of this post
I'm guessing that the Link 10 shows 0.5, 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 and so on..
It can not show, for example, 3.2 amps {end guess}
If so what you are seeing is "last digit bobble" at exactly 3.25 amps one sample will show come out 3.0 (rounded down) and the next 3.5 (Rounded up)
Nothin adds excitment like something that is none of your business
John is Near Kenwood TS-2000 housed in a 2005 Damon Intruder 377
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Tress
Virginia
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Thanks for the guess, unfortunately it reads everything between, from 7.2 to 7.5 to 7.8 although it does seem to jump incrementally, but not consistent, it can jump 2 tenths or it can jump 7 tenths there is no rhyme or reason, and more importantly it was pretty stead for a while, this is a recent phenom. The only things i have installed since the problem has started is the fridge and fan though, oh and stereo but i have totally disconnected those and it still does it, thanks for playing though  I suppose your guess is still a possibility, perhaps with so many things connected at once its never sure exactlyh how much is going out versus how much is going in, then again in that case it should theoreticalluy stop when everything is off including solar charge......
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landyacht318
Near a large body of water
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Joined: 07/11/2007
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I am not familiar with the link 10 battery monitor, but if that were to happen to mine I would suspect that one of my devices was intermittantly finding a path to the battery ground that bypassed the shunt.
The only thing that should connect to the battery negative are the wires from the battery side of the shunt.
I don't know if the shunt is internal to a link 10. Perhaps a contact polishing is in order.
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Tress
Virginia
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The link 10 does have a shunt but its all wired right, ill look it over again but im pretty sure it all goes through the shunt. On top of that it seems almost too intermittent to be a contact issue, usually when you are getting intermittent contact it changes every time it moves, usually if you stay still for a few moments the connection will hold one way or the other. Either way ill look that over again, do you think that if there was something drawing power that dint go through the monitor it the other main reading such as amp hour and time used would be all voer the map too?
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Hurricaner
Hurricane Utah
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Joined: 02/17/2007
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When was the last time you cleaned all your battery connections, including the shunt?
Sam
Sam & Kari
Hurricane, Utah
2004 34' Damon Challenger 315
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Tress
Virginia
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Everything was installed around 2 maybe 3 weeks ago, there should be no contact issues, they're still shiny clean, and everything seem to be nice and tight. And beyond that everything worked well the first time it was connected, and im really not sure what happened but its something very recent. Perhaps Xantrex customer service will pick up the phone some time this year, but i wont keep my fingers crossed
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Tress
Virginia
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Well after trouble shooting with Xantrex for a while mi went ahead and discoonected everything too see where the issue was and low and behold i think its actualy the monitor, i know i know i assumed it was something i was doing wrong and am still not sure but no matter whats connected to the monitor it jumps back and fourth, the only time it ever holds steady is when it and only it are connected to the monitor and only then does it hold, but at that point its not measuring anything aside from the voltage in my batts. But beyond that if you hook anything up it starts its jumping around again, so does this sound like a defective monitor or is there still something im missing. The only reason im still not 100% sure that its the monitor is because it holds steady when nothing else is connected. So the next step is to send it back and hope they find the same issue, let me know if anyone has any suggestions, thanks!
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