Has anyone installed the Outback Flexnet DC battery monitor with a Mate controller for the Outback inverter?
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Has anyone installed the Outback Flexnet DC battery monitor with a Mate controller for the Outback inverter?
Not sure why you'd need it. The Mate monitors almost everything and has multiple display choices to show what it's monitoring. Outback makes lots of monitoring equipment for large windpower battery systems too, but they're not useful on a boat.
Concur - the Mate is all you would ever need on a boat. FWIW, I had the Outback 3232 installed/operating for over a year before I bought the mate but now can't imagine not having the Mate. IMHO, they should just be purchased at the same time.
If it is anything like other battery monitors like my Magnum and the Brand X Link, it will have a heavy duty shunt in-line which gives you a very accurate view of amperes being consumed and total amp-hours out, with battery state of charge shown as a % of capacity. I am very glad to have mine as we use our inverter a lot.
My understanding is the Mate alone does not calculate battery % of charge or amphours remaining or amphours charging/discharging. I was spoiled with that information on a Xantrex Link 1000 (12 volt) on my last boat.
You are correct, the mate does not do that. But battery voltage tells you the state of charge. I agree it's nice to have a display essentially say that you have (say) 70% of charge left but reading the voltage at 32.8 (32V system) tells you the same thing though it requires that you have a chart or remember the various voltage/charge numbers.
The following doesn't view as the spreadsheet but the info is there:
State of Charge
Volts per Cell
32V System Total Volts
100%
2.12
33.92
90%
2.08
33.28
80%
2.07
33.12
70%
2.05
32.80
60%
2.03
32.48
50%
2.01
32.16
40%
1.98
31.68
30%
1.96
31.36
20%
1.93
30.88
10%
1.89
30.24
0
1.75
28.00
JCRLAW installed the FlexNet and reported that it really worked out great. He's not on here too often so try sending him an email.
I have installed the inverter, mate, and flex net. They work great and show me the percent of remaining power, ect.
I really like monitoring the system draw while at anchor.
Tom
1980 Converitable 50
Redondo Beach, Ca