+USNERDOC Thanks Doc! Like I say, most of our good ideas come from customers... the DC Head Unit came from a lot of discussions, internally and with customers, and it just sort of gelled over time. We are already using the prototypes here in the shop as we build gear... it is working out great as a tool to observe and confirm power as we are building machines on the bench, and to confirm charge / discharge behavior. BTW, I just got the Gear Corral - very nice, and very high quality construction. Well done.
That is an awesome looking device I will have to look into one of those soon. Would work nice for my portable radio station I use for public service events
+Commsprepper Thanks Hank! Think about the applications for some of your small solar needs, as well as when you are running your radio / modem / etc in the field... ;-)
Awesome! I've wanted to start building my own portable 12v solar battery pack as an alternative to Goal Zero but never figured out a way to attractively monitor the battery. This LCD will do the trick! Can you monitor solar input as well? I'm thinking 12V battery and solar controller wired together and into the input of the head unit. Would this monitor charge and usage that way?
+Laurence Yes it would, as long as you run the output of the solar controller into the input of the Head Unit... AND run one of the power pole outputs to the battery you are charging. It would serve that purpose very well, because it would display the incoming voltage from your controller, while also displaying the accumulated watt-hours that were sent to the battery.
+N0AGI Applying power to the front Anderson is fine. Electrically it is the same as applying power to the rear 'Power In' port, since it is a direct connection between the two. You can also apply power to the distribution block in the rear... the meter will simply see the battery as a load. In this manner, you could apply a charging voltage to the 'power in' port, and attach a battery to the distribution block, and use the meter to see power moving into the battery.
