Magnum Energy ME & MS Series Battery Monitor Kit (ME-BMK)

Very nice way to monitor batter power, as either a percentage of capacity or directly as amp-hours. I discovered, however, that I tend not to look at it... ever. Because the Magnum 2812 charger that I used it with does such a good job, that this is simply icing on the cake. Again, NOT their fault. If you're going to be doing a lot of boondocking, I can see where this will be a very important tool to watch conditions and know when either you have problems with your batteries or power consumption. But in "normal" (i.e., not boondocking much) use, it's probably overkill.

I installed this on a RV so my comments are specific to that application. I recently installed a residential refrigerator and now find myself using the inverter constantly when not "plugged in". Never really used the inverter much before but now find myself constantly concerned about my batteries and their level of charge. This is the solution, think "battery fuel gauge" with extras. Installation is straight forward with good instructions. Several items are not included and some have lowered their rating because of this. With each installation different I find that not reasonable. Plan your installation, the manual is available online but you also need to read your inverter manual to insure compatibility and understand how this works. Map your installation to calculate wire lengths needed. Additional items I needed to install this in an RV. Wire to make connections to both the positive and the negative battery terminals. Used 10 gauge because I had it on hand but 12 would work fine. Connectors for the wire and a "in line" fuse holder with 2 amp fuse. I used red wire and black wire to make it neat and easy for someone to understand if needed. You will need a battery cable with the appropriate ends to "insert" the shunt on the negative (ground) battery cable. Don't go cheap on this, buy a good copper cable the same size that is currently in use with the right sized ends installed. Good source here on Amazon. Lastly I recommend some plastic wire loom to protect all wires run including the twisted pair cable and communication cable. Most difficult part was running the communication cable from the inverter under the bed to the battery bank in the basement.

faulty??? returned to sender who do not have a replacement for months

Great product! Unfortunately could not give a higher score simply because it was very difficult for me fit big body and big hands in the places I needed for a clean installation. Shame they can't combine this with the convenience of bluetooth for monitoring like Victron does.

This unit is a must have with the current Magnum controller. Before all I could really see was the volts and AC flow at a very high level. With this kit, I am able to see all the current running in and out of the battery bank. The controller will give a basic % of battery charge for a quick look, but also break down the exact amount of amp hours being used, put back in and total amount since the start of the installation, to give you a better understanding how used the batteries are.

This worked great when it worked. But at just three years old, it failed, giving incorrect voltage and current readings (and thus SOC). Magnum (Sensata) tech support was no help. I had to buy a new unit at full price to get my system working again.

Great item for monitoring you system. Goes well with other magnum products.

This was a nice addition to my MS2012 Inverter / Charger. It works in conjunction with the ME-RC50 or ME-ARC50 remote panels and displays the Rate of Charge (ROC) in either percent of capacity or amp-hours. After reading online RV forums talk about these ROC units I felt compelled to install one, and I am glad that I did because it gives a better understanding of the battery status.