Hi folks,
I just bought a Xantrex Link 10 meter off eBay, and while in transit, I decided to look through the online owner's manual. It comes with a 500A / 50mV shunt -- I didn't give it much thought when I bought it, but a relative with many years as an electrical engineer pointed out that the shunt won't be sending very much voltage when under a typical Trailmanor load.
The TM has a 30A fuse, so certainly the load will never be more than that. But I'm thinking a more typical load is 5-10A. Basically a few lights and intermittent use of the heater. So even during a 10A load, the shunt will only be sending 1mV to the Link 10, and 500uV (0.5mV) when there's a 5A load. That's a very minute amount of energy, easily influenced by interference from nearby sources or even a ground loop.
Granted, the instructions say to use twisted pair wire for the shunt feed, and I also plan on using shielded twisted pair for extra protection. But that doesn't seem to significantly offset the very low voltage for the meter to accurately detect.
I called the manufacturer, Xantrex, and they said it is within the accuracy specs listed in the manual for the specified current range, which in my case, is 0-40A. But they didn't offer any explanation as to why.
Certainly, using a different shunt could remedy this problem, but doing so will offset the meter readings. I could use a 100A / 100mV shunt, and then simply divide the amps displayed by 10, but I'm trying to make simplify my life, not make it more complex. If beer clouds my vision, I may not even see the decimal.
Any thoughts on the subject? Are the Link 10 owners out there finding that their meter is accurate?
For those who are interested, the specs are on page 59 (second to last page) of the Link 10 manual here:
http://www.xantrex.com/web/id/72/docserve.asp
Short of making any changes to the install ahead of time, I'll probably just end up installing and comparing the current reading with a multimeter.
Dave
Accuracy of Link 10 battery monitor questioned
Threaded Mode
