Enough pressure, coupled with ample volume, creates the formula for sustained work. Lots of pressure does not equal the ability to create more work.
Even though the pressure at the bottom of Grand Lake is more than four times greater. In terms of the ability to create work, Lake Havasu has ten times the ability to create work than Grand Lake.
To create sustained work you need both pressure and volume. = Thirty-nine pounds-per-square-inch pressure at the bottom. Lake Havasu, on the Colorado River, (in Arizona) is 90 feet deep and holds more than six hundred thousand acre-feet. = One hundred sixty-nine pounds-per-square-inch pressure at the bottom. Grand Lake, on the Colorado River, (in Colorado) is 389 feet deep and holds sixty-eight thousand acre-feet. Volume, not pressure measures the ability to sustain work You need to know the voltage, current, and capacity. This is a very important measurement but still is not the whole story. Amperage = Current = Work in processĪmperage is the measurement of current flow, like water in a river - how much current is flowing. Subtract the energy consumed to determine the energy remaining.
Capacity minus current, measured over time, is how to measure how much of the capacity has been used. Bigger battery banks have more volume and thus can sustain current for a longer period. The more volume the longer you can sustain work. The measurement of volume, like water backed up behind a dam, is the starting point. Voltage (pressure) is only one measurement that affects performance. Pressure alone does not do anything, except sit there, until you have current. Higher voltage means more pressure and more potential to create work. The deeper the water, the higher the pressure.
Volts are like measuring the depth of the water behind a dam. How Electricity “Works” Volts = Pressure = Potential to create work This is accurate but is only done as a maintenance measurement. The only method that can work, only on flooded lead-acid batteries, is to measure the specific gravity of the electrolyte. I have tried to live without a battery monitor and tried to use a voltmeter as a substitute this doesn’t work.
I even saw pictures of a “professional” solar install last week without fuses. So perhaps I am just dreaming that they would have a monitor.Ī good monitor is more important than another battery and more important than any other item in your electrical system, with the one exception of fuses.
Some RVs don’t even have a manual shutoff switch. Voltmeters don’t tell even half the story. If you are lucky - you will have a voltmeter. Two weeks ago I met a guy that killed eight batteries (two sets) all in one year - all because he didn’t have a battery monitor and never recharged them fully. This should be on every RV from the factory and I don’t know of any RVs that have this critical component. The most important part of an RV solar install isn’t the panels, controller, or battery, it is the battery monitor.Įvery RV, with a battery, needs a battery monitor. The battery monitor is the missing critical part.