TM-2030 Technical Manual

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1. Overview of TM-2030-RV and TM-2030-A battery system monitor
The TM 2030 is intended to keep you informed about 12V to 48V battery systems, such as ones found in
RV’s or off grid homes—which are regularly charged and discharged and use “deep cycle” batteries.
The TM2030 may also be used with the new, optional Bogart Engineering SC-2030 30 amp solar charger.
These two will together allow both flexible and accurate solar charging and comprehensive monitoring
of batteries.
How the TM-2030 can be useful to you;
The “amps” or “watts” display measures the rate of energy going in or out of your batteries so you can
check your charging systems, and also to see how much energy each of your appliances use to help you
conserve energy. The “% Full” display is the most accurate way to keep track of how charged or discharged
your batteries are until battery volts gets really low. When battery volts goes below 11.5 volts, (for 12 volt
systems) the “volts” display can warn that you are near discharge. The "volts" display also lets you discover
if your charger is charging to an optimum voltage, (also see data logging below) which is important for
maximizing your battery life. The “days since charged” display shows how recently the main battery
(system) was fully charged, so if it hasn’t been charged recently you can perform extra charging if necessary
to help maintain the capacity of your batteries. The TM-2030 also measure voltage only of a second battery
set, such as the motor starting battery, or even a solar panel input voltage if desired.
New to the TM-2030: an audible alarm can signal a low battery (to activate see p.4, sec 2.2.3) And a new
display shows Replaced Percentage (rPC): shows how much of the most recent discharge has been
replaced to your batteries during the next day's charging. Ideally this should reach 110% or even more.
Data logging for technical people to diagnose system problems: For each of the last 5 days the daily
maximum battery voltage level, and minimum charging amps is recorded as well as the percent of
overcharge achieved. Many battery companies say proper overcharge is important for battery maintenance.
It also logs for up to five of the most recent charge/discharge cycles: cycle length, charge efficiency,
minimum battery% full and minimum voltage level for each cycle. This is useful diagnostic information
which a technician can use to determine that your whole system is working properly.
Serial data output: For extreme techies only: The TM-2030 also has a serial 0-5V output with streaming “real
time” serial (ASCII) data that could be used to control other electronics. This is described on our website:
www.bogartengineering.com, under “support”, “application notes”, TriMetric 2025.
You may select 4 Operating Levels at which this meter will operate: Level L1, L2 , L3 or L4. It is factory set
to Level L1, the basic level suitable for most users and recommended for starting. Section 2 of this manual
describes the operation for level L1. L2 allows observing Data Logging. Levels L3 and l4 allow additional
functions described page 4: Who might want to use operational level L2 ,L3 or L4.
2. Basic instructions for Operating Level L1: Refer to figure 1 which covers basic
operation. It also has references for further information. Note that “% full” will display only 3 dashes until system
is fully charged for the first time.
2.1 More details on the five less used display items (which you may not need to know):
AH This is the measure of Amp hours from a full battery. See section 6.2: How the TriMetric keeps track of
battery % full for a description of how this is measured. This is just another way to look at the "% full" data. For
this number to be accurate you must set Program numbers P1, P2, P3 as described in separate instructions:
“Installer’s Instructions for TriMetric TM-2030.” If you use this meter at Level L3 then also P10 and P14 must be
correct. Continued page 4