Help! I Am Trying to Wire Up a Kings Battery Monitor

[MRGB63]

My solar setup is designed for use independent of the vehicle, and the solar panel is the battery's only charging source - there is no battery charger in the circuit. Otherwise it's a 250W solar panel through a Kings solar controller (there's one on the panel too, but I am a sucker for a sales guy telling me that more protection is always better), into a Kings 12V control box with the battery monitor bolted to the outside.

I have a Kings battery monitor which I want to use to monitor charging input and current output. My problem is that all the wiring diagrams for the product assume that it is part of a dual battery system on a vehicle and has a charger.

The monitor has three positive cables and a negative - red, green, yellow and, of course, black. The yellow positive lead is supposed to be connected to the charger.

Kings/4WDSupacentre are providing conflicting advice. The man in the store says that just taping up the yellow lead and leaving it unconnected is fine. The company's help desk say the yellow lead "must be connected to the load", but I can't get anything more specific out of them. Funnily enough the solar controller does have a pair of terminals labelled "load" which it would be relatively easy to connect, positive to yellow lead, negative to the same terminal post the monitor's negative lead is attached to, but it would mean making up another extension lead etc.

Does this question make sense to anyone

 

[MRGB63]

Oh, and did I mention I am up against the clock because naturally I have left this till the last minute and am heading off in four days?

 

[Warby]

Fair warning.. I haven't got one of these and I'm not an auto-sparky, I'm just looking at the instructions on the 4wd supacentre website...

The "load" side is for current heading out, to monitor usage - So in your case it would seem that this should connect to your 12V control box. If I'm reading the instructions correctly, you would connect the green cable on the monitor to the positive connection of your 12V control box.

In your case, the "charger" is your solar panel, so connect the charger connection of the monitor (yellow) to the positive output from your solar controller.

Red and black to your battery..

Unless I'm misunderstanding something... "Charger" in the Kings manual is just "Input" while "Load" is "Output" .. so, connect accordingly.

 

[MRGB63]

But the solar panel is already in the circuit, connected to the battery. They sent me a wiring diagram, but effectively the only battery in my system that exists is the "auxiliary battery" pictured, which is already wired up. The solar panel (via a controller) is wired to that battery. Are we saying I need to connect a positive lead from between the solar panel and the battery to the monitor?

The battery is wired directly into the control box already.

I have also attached my hand-drawn diagram of the system and a photo of how the control box is wired at the moment.

Fair warning.. I haven't got one of these and I'm not an auto-sparky, I'm just looking at the instructions on the 4wd supacentre website...

The "load" side is for current heading out, to monitor usage - So in your case it would seem that this should connect to your 12V control box. If I'm reading the instructions correctly, you would connect the green cable on the monitor to the positive connection of your 12V control box.

In your case, the "charger" is your solar panel, so connect the charger connection of the monitor (yellow) to the positive output from your solar controller.

Red and black to your battery..

Unless I'm misunderstanding something... "Charger" in the Kings manual is just "Input" while "Load" is "Output" .. so, connect accordingly.

 

[Warby]

Yeah, the battery monitor needs to sit "in" that circuit..

What it's doing is monitoring 3 things:
1) Input voltage (from the charger in the kings diagram - which is substituted with the solar controller in your arrangement)
2) Auxilliary battery charge (your battery - just ignore the "aux" bit)
3) Output voltage (the "load" - what is being drawn down from the battery. In your case, this is via the control box).

So.. excuse my very crude drawing made in excel here haha... But as I understand it, this is what you need to do....

1) Solar panel connects to PWM as normal.
2) PWM positive output connects to charger input (yellow) of battery monitor
3) PWM negative output connects to battery negative
4) Battery monitor negative output connects to battery negative
5) Battery monitor battery positive (red) connects to battery positive
6) Battery monitor load positive (green) connects to 12V control box input positive
7) 12V control box negative connects to battery negative

 

[Dominash]

There can be a problem with the battery because you are using an old one. You can try to recondition it. You can find different methods on batterytools.net. You will need just protective gear because you will work with acids, a toothbrush, a screwdriver, a funnel, two large buckets, a voltmeter, and a battery charger. A lot of people said. that reconditioned batteries are not working well but this is not true. It works a little bit worse than newly bought batteries. The most important is to do the work correctly and to think about your security.

 

[Les PK Ranger]

My solar setup is designed for use independent of the vehicle, and the solar panel is the battery's only charging source - there is no battery charger in the circuit. Otherwise it's a 250W solar panel through a Kings solar controller (there's one on the panel too, but I am a sucker for a sales guy telling me that more protection is always better), into a Kings 12V control box with the battery monitor bolted to the outside.

..
Should be so so simple :/
The Kings diagram seems so ordinary.

Ok, what controller did the sales guy talk you into, this one ?

Home Page - Adventure Kings

www.4wdsupacentre.com.au

I'm guessing this is the case, as it is MPPT, and will handle your 250w fine.
The panel you have, is it from 4WDSC too ?
If so, do you have a link to it ?

If it has an inbuilt solar controller, it is probably a PWM type, and nothing wrong with that, just it might not have as much digital readout like the larger ones.
If it really has a controller on the panel you'd cut that off, and just go straight into the MPPT controller.

The above controller linked has the little diagrams above the connections (most do), very simple . . . connect your solar panel to the little grid solar + and - , and your battery* to the output + and - .
Fuse the + input with an inline blade fuse (comes in an inline holder SCA for example), say 20amps.

Run your fridge and other led lighting accessories off the battery with some sort of blade fuse box like this in a convienient location . . .

Narva 12 Way Prewired Fuse Box

Narva 12 Way Prewired Fuse Box

www.supercheapauto.com.au

I've never used the the Load connections, just too hard and unstable in my view, always ran my electric needs off the (2nd) battery.

Run appropriate size wiring to avoid voltage drop if a ways from the battery concerned, and suitable fuses for whatever you're feeding off that,
maybe 5amp for some led lighting strips, whatever for your fridge specs, 10amp for a portable 12v oven ciggy outlet, etc etc.

* you don't say if you are using your main battery or have rigged up a 2nd battery.
2nd battery is obviously better / safer for touring and power use.
If you wanted / needed to later, you could hook up a VSR and good dual core from the main batttery to a 2nd battery so you really solve all your power needs well.

The solar to a main battery should be ok if only running a small fridge and some lighting, a bit of phone charging etc.
I'd monitor it closely at camps though if not driving daily.

 

[Triton14]

My solar setup is designed for use independent of the vehicle, and the solar panel is the battery's only charging source - there is no battery charger in the circuit. Otherwise it's a 250W solar panel through a Kings solar controller (there's one on the panel too, but I am a sucker for a sales guy telling me that more protection is always better), into a Kings 12V control box with the battery monitor bolted to the outside.

I have a Kings battery monitor which I want to use to monitor charging input and current output. My problem is that all the wiring diagrams for the product assume that it is part of a dual battery system on a vehicle and has a charger.

The monitor has three positive cables and a negative - red, green, yellow and, of course, black. The yellow positive lead is supposed to be connected to the charger.

Kings/4WDSupacentre are providing conflicting advice. The man in the store says that just taping up the yellow lead and leaving it unconnected is fine. The company's help desk say the yellow lead "must be connected to the load", but I can't get anything more specific out of them. Funnily enough the solar controller does have a pair of terminals labelled "load" which it would be relatively easy to connect, positive to yellow lead, negative to the same terminal post the monitor's negative lead is attached to, but it would mean making up another extension lead etc.

Does this question make sense to anyone

They actually show you how to install it in one of their video tutorial which is on the page you buy the item!

Kings 12V Battery Monitor | Easy DIY Install | Adjustable Low-Voltage Cut off | LCD Display

Easily keep an eye on & control the power coming in & out of your auxiliary battery with a Kings 12V Battery Monitor. Prevent battery damage & over discharge with a built-in battery cut off. Also features an over current cut-off that you can choose.

www.4wdsupacentre.com.au

Seems pretty self explanatory to me.

 

[Les PK Ranger]

..
Confused.
I know the thread title is kings battery monitor, but the op references . . .

Otherwise it's a 250W solar panel through a Kings solar controller (there's one on the panel too, but I am a sucker for a sales guy telling me that more protection is always better),

I was thinking the controller was more or less the said battery monitor, and then not sure what it is mentioned . . .

into a Kings 12V control box with the battery monitor bolted to the outside.

Is the '12v control box' the solar controller ?

Not even sure where a battery monitor shown in the link above might be needed even, unless something is desired up on the dash.

 

[Triton14]

He states in the video the yellow wire is connected to either Solar controller or in the case of the video the dc-dc charger