Steve said: snipped > I have noticed there is a love-in on the SmartGauge range on this list > at the moment (I REALLY hope someone is on commission ;D ) but given it > monitors less information I fail to see how it can be more accurate in > its guesses than the Victron, as has been suggested. Personally I'd > rather have as much real information as possible and do my own guessing.
Quite simply Steve as they often say 'As a satisfied customer'. The difference between an SG and the other products is that the SG learns and gets *more accurate* on remaining charge percentage, whereas the others get progressively *less accurate*, as time goes on (as you yourself have admitted). I had one of the other types (and its name escapes me for the moment) on Albion until I sold her and I could reset it every so often to correct for the increasing inaccuracy of its read-out.....but why should you have to do that? Also, I could do it because I am technically competent (but I claim no expertise); what about those who understand little of the principles of operation of anything electrical/mechanical? Yes, the SG doesn't do amps but, to be honest, what do amps tell you other than that your alternator is charging or not at that moment in time? If you are technically competent you can use it to guesstimate the state of charge but it is only a very rough guesstimate. More useful for your average boater is the percentage state of charge of your batteries from which you can decide whether to run your engine, stay another day without running your engine etc........and the greater the accuracy of that read-out the better your decisions can be. In the immortal words of Aleksandr the Meerkat from the Compare the Market.com ad........Simples! ;-) Roger
