Installation Guide

1-2 975-0691-01-01 Revision B
Introduction
The Conext Battery Monitor is a meter for 24 V & 48 volt batteries designed for
use in off-grid power systems as a wall/panel/DIN-rail mount device in stationary
renewable energy applications. It features a local display to selectively show the
voltage, current, consumed amp-hours, remaining capacity and remaining hours.
The Battery Monitor connects with other Xanbus devices such as Inverters, Solar
Charge Controllers, and an Automatic Gen Start & System Control Panel through
Xanbus ports to provide accurate information about the state of the connected
battery. The Battery Monitor is wired to the battery through two connections, an
analog signal port and BTS (Battery Temperature Sensor).
The Battery Monitor is configurable for specific system or application functions
such as battery capacity and charging efficiency. It can monitor any battery
system which has a voltage from approximately 18 to 64 volts, and can track
energy consumption and remaining battery capacity.
The Battery Monitor operates using the included shunt board. Higher capacity
shunts are required for multi-cluster systems. See “Recommended High
Capacity Shunts” on page 5 for details.
Benefits of Monitoring the Battery
Batteries are used in a wide variety of applications, but regardless of the
application their fundamental purpose is to store energy for later use. Therefore,
it is critical to be aware of how much energy is stored in the battery at any given
time. Battery knowledge and good monitoring are also essential to maximizing
battery life. The lifetime of batteries is dependent on many factors and can be
reduced due to under-charging, over-charging, over-discharging, overly rapid
discharging and high ambient temperatures, among other reasons. An advanced
battery monitor provides important feedback about the status of the batteries and
thereby helps extend their lifetime.
While the main function of the Battery Monitor is to display the battery’s status, it
also offers other useful features. The readout of battery voltage, current and
temperature (when installed with the battery temperature sensor) offer precise
real-time measurements which can be used by other Xanbus devices. The ability
to log, store, and retrieve historical data over time using a USB connection
provides insight into historical trends. Mid-point sensing, a technique which is
used to detect unbalanced battery strings, allows for a deeper understanding of
the state of health of battery banks. These are just a few of the features of the
Battery Monitor which are explained in more detail in the following sections of this
manual.
For explanation of further advanced functionality of the Battery Monitor, such as
how the State-of-charge, Charge Efficiency Factor, and Time Remaining
functions are calculated and displayed by the device, see “Theory of Operation”
on page 4–44 in Chapter 4, “Monitoring”.