Types Since The Doc is struggling to travel, he is doing more research on insulated crimp terminals.
There are 3 broad types of insulated crimp terminals, including:
Vinyl style, which are often partially insulated;
Nylon style, which can be fully insulated when they are a blade shape. So, when the male and female parts are mated, all the metal parts are covered with Nylon. Nylon is a premium quality insulation material resistant to petrol, hydraulic fluids and oil; and
Heatshrink. As the name suggests after you crimp the terminal, you then use a heat gun to heat shrink the insulation onto the terminal and wire. Heatshrink terminals have good dielectric strength (it is a good insulator) and gives a hermetic seal (preventing dust and water ingress). Often used in marine environments or under a car’s bonnet.
The three styles can be plugged into each other, if they are the same size.
Heat shrink terminals are the most expensive to buy, around AUD1.00 each verse AUD36 cents for a vinyl crimp (June 2026).
Tip: do not try and heat shrink a nylon or vinyl covered insulated terminal; they will melt.
Metal type The better-quality terminals are tin-plated copper. Cheaper terminals, with lower electrical conductivity, are tin-plated brass.
Cheaper terminals are tin-plated brass. Tin-plated copper terminals seem to come in three broad categories; first those sold on eBay, Amazon and Autoparts stores which are often quite thin and more likely to deform when crimped.
Second automotive grade terminals from bigger name companies like NARVA or IONNIC (who sell even better quality terminals than NARVA).
Lastly, military grade terminals which are expensive to buy, but are of a very high quality. These terminals have more copper and a thicker tin plating.
Features Besides being made of tin-plated copper, better quality crimps can also have some or all of these features:
terminal sizing is stamped onto the terminal. Two sizes can be stamped, the wire gauge in AWG (or metric) and the terminal sizing (e.g. the size of the ring terminal opening). All the IONNIC terminals I have seen were stamped and most of the NARVA terminals too;
a bell housing/bell mouth where the wire is inserted. The bell mouth helps accommodate the fine wire strands, which can splay out after stripping. The bell mouth makes wire insertion easier. Sometimes the bell mouth is formed by the insulation, with others it is part of the metal terminal, like IONNIC Double Crimped terminals;
in the middle of butt splice terminals, the terminal has been pressed to stop the wire going past the halfway point, as these butt splices are crimped on both sides to join the two wires;
on NARVA terminals, but not IONNIC, there is a stop point pressed into the terminal preventing you from inserting the wire too far before crimping (The Doc means terminals other than butt splices). Good practice is to allow 1 to 2mm of copper wire to protrude through the terminal before crimping;
with heatshrink terminals the insulation is longer, so when heat is applied, the heatshrink covers part of the wire to secure a waterproof connection. With nylon and vinyl style terminals you can use a single wall heatshrink tubing it needed. The Doc chooses to use only single wall tubing on nylon and vinyl style terminals, but you could use a dual wall tubing; and
occasionally a terminal will have an additional tin-plated copper sleeve at the wire insertion end, called a double crimp. INONIC terminals made like this are labelled “Double Crimp”.
Terminal sizes Automotive terminals commonly come in three sizes red (AWG22-16 or 0.5-1.5mm2), blue (AWG16-14 or 1.5-2.5mm2) and yellow (AWG12-10 or 2.5-6mm2). Or small (red), medium (blue) and large (yellow). AWG stands for American Wire Gauge and the second figure is the metric sizing.
A better-quality terminal means a better crimp, less resistance, less heat and better conductivity.
Starlink bracket The Doc needs Starlink for The Kimberley trip – many bookings can only be made online and with poor mobile coverage, Starlink will be my only option. How things have changed since my last trip there.
The Doc bought the Smart Touring Systems Starlink MIni Mount bracket (key lockable) here. It was an easy install, less than 5 minutes. It was mounted onto the Rhino Pioneer Platform using M8 bolts with Nord-Lock washers, torqued to 16Nm.
Starlink Mini dish now installed The Starlink Mini dish is now installed on the Grenadier.
The Mini is secured in a Smart Touring Systems lockable bracket (SMS) on the Rhino Rack Pioneer Platform. The Doc has a SMS voltage booster inside the bracket assembly plugged into the Mini. The power cable feeds into EXT3 on the passenger’s side of the roof (RHD). The cable goes from a Deutsch DT plug on the Mini end to a Deutsch DTP on the rooftop outlet (EXT3).
The SMS bracket allows the Mini to be installed or removed very quickly, in around 1 or 2 minutes. The Doc is making up a cable to plug the Mini into his Lithium powered battery box inside the car when parked overnight, if he needs it.
The Starlink Mini can be used while driving or parked. When parked you need the EXT3 switch turned on as well as the PWR button.
The Doc renamed the Starlink Network name to get rid of “STARLINK”. He Doc usually uses Latin network names to make it obscure, here The Doc used Viva Cristo Rey (which is Spanish rather than Latin).
The hardest part was trying to work out how to put security on the Starlink Mini Wi-Fi connection. Wow what a task that was, for such a simple matter. NOTE: the Starlink Mini must be on, the Starlink app connected so you can get to Settings>Router to set up a password.
Double runners on drawers, as insurance against damage by corrugations (The Doc knows it works as my Patrol had the same for 12 years and it survived many, many corrugations);
Removable bed extension, so anyone can access the battery box. Brackets on the cargo barrier for the bed extension, do not impede opening the battery box lid;
Double drawers rather than a drawer/fridge slide combination, as The Doc mounts his fridge on the front passenger seat – not an option for most people;
After seeing globalgregors Grenadier build, The Doc went for the deeper drawers, but the main reason was to give him more storage under the bed extension, an added benefit was more drawer space. Very happy with the results;
The Doc may yet cut out part of the cargo barrier to allow him access to the rear between the two front seats;
Drawer dividers not shown in the images, but they are important to have if the drawers are not full, to avoid things sliding all over the place. They just fit in where you place them;
The vertical space to the battery box lid, is less than the vertical space to the seats in a 5-seater model;
The stainless-steel water tank sits above and just behind the battery box. The tank sits in its own tray, that tray has drainage hoses to either side of the battery box, so any water leak does not spill onto the electrics in the battery box;
The Doc did a lot of electrical work before the fitout, as the trim is now hard to remove in the rear (Dashcam, Anti Rust system wiring, Anderson plugs x 4 (including two solar plugs), Redarc TowPro, etc.);
The water nozzle is gravity feed and accessible from the passenger door (RHD), but you can have a 12 volt version to some other location; and
The Doc is pleased with the position of the twin air compressor. It was going to be wired to the spare stud on the 7-stud busbar, but the cable did not reach (the wiring cable length on the portable air compressor was already preset by ARB). We went to plan B, the spare stud on the 5-stud busbar as it was closer to the compressor. The Doc pointed out both options to ORS before we started (thank you INEOS for giving us this option). The twin compressor has two 40-amp circuits, so the wire ends in the battery box was not an option. Although they are fine for a single ARB compressor. The Doc bought an 80 amp ZCase MEGA fuse to use on the spare stud. The spare stud on the 7-stud busbar has a bolt, the spare on the 5-stud busbar does not (The Doc also sourced a bolt for the 5-stud busbar).
All three BLE battery monitors have now been working for 12 months, monitoring two AGM batteries and now one Lithium battery. All are still working. The original review stands after 12 months.
Parasitic drain
The BLE battery monitor does have a parasitic drain on the battery which cannot be picked up by the Battery Management System on The Doc’s Invicta 125 Ah lithium battery. So the battery can be slowly drained over time with the BMS still showing a 100% charge. It seems the draw of the BLE and the BMS itself are too small for the BMS to monitor.
BLE App being updated
The BLE App has been updated probably three times over the year. Minimal features upgraded, but good it is to see regular maintenance updates.
Lithium battery issues
The BLE is not designed to be used on Lithium batteries, so it does not properly monitor the charge, as a Lithium battery has a different voltage profile to an AGM. The BMS has a Bluetooth module that communicates to the Invicta’s App, giving The Doc all the details about the battery. The BLE allows The Doc to see what happens over 30 days and graphs that data. UPDATE: BLE has released a Lithium version of the battery monitor.
The Doc has put his 12 volt guides together on Anderson plugs, crimping and fuses. You can go to this page here, or choose Nissan Patrol on the Menu above and go to Automotive 12 volt and the articles will appear on the right side.
Aussie Made No 16: Hayman Reese are best known for their towbars, but they also make brake controllers, stability equipment for caravans and trucks. The Patrol has a Hayman Reese towbar and trailer brake controller fitted: http://www.haymanreese.com.au/products
Aussie Made No 17: ARB is one of the most respected names in off-road equipment. Many of their vast range of products are made in Australia. Bullbars, canopies, suspension systems, air lockers, compressors and the list goes on. The Patrol has an ARB Twin Compressor fitted under the passenger’s seat: https://www.arb.com.au
Aussie Made No 18: Long Ranger make long range fuel and waters tanks for many vehicles. The tanks are distributed by ARB: http://thelongranger.com.au/
Aussie Made No 19: Brown Davis makes long range fuel tanks (including various tanks for the Bushmaster armoured vehicle). Brown Davis made the auxiliary fuel tank fitted to the Nissan Patrol, increasing the auxiliary fuel tank capacity from 40 to 80 litres. The main tank has 97 litres giving a total of 173 litres. The auxiliary was updated as the added weight was not directly over the rear axle but placed further forward: https://www.browndavis.com.au/
Aussie Made No 20: Safari Snorkels make snorkels for off road vehicles, allowing deeper water crossings by moving the air intake high in the vehicle. Buy a quality snorkel as the cheap Chinese crap around just deteriorates under the hot Australian sun. In my more recent years Safari have branched out to performance upgrades for select Toyota models under the name Armax. After 8 years the Safari snorkel on the Patrol looks brand-new: https://www.safari4x4.com.au/
Aussie Made No 11: Enerdive are based in Queensland. While some products are sourced from overseas, Enerdrive does manufacture its own range of ePOWER AC battery chargers & DC2DC battery chargers along with their Lithium battery systems: https://enerdrive.com.au/
Aussie Made No 12: Austech Wire & Cable make copper cables for automotive, marine, speakers, irrigation, etc. Automotive cables are sold at retail under the name Owl or Wise Owl on eBay: https://austechwire.com.au/#about
Aussie Made No 13:Tycab Australia’s cable products are used across a broad range of industries, from Automotive, Irrigation, Building, Data & Instrumentation to Security, Marine, Welding, Speaker & Audio and Switchboards. I have used their automotive cables and they are world class: https://www.tycab.com.au/
Aussie Made No 14: SmartBar was the original lightweight plastic bullbar built to absorb an impact and bounce back into shape. They are much more pedestrian friendly in an accident. I have one installed on the Patrol. There is a variety of bars now called SmartBar, StealthBar and SpartanBar: https://smartbar.com.au/
Aussie Made No 15: Rhino Rack makes a vast array of roof racks and accessories right here in Australia. The Patrol has a Pioneer Platform fitted with jerry can holder and spare tyre carrier: https://www.rhinorack.com.au/en-au
The Patrol has a starter battery (obviously) and auxiliary battery under the bonnet. When it was set up the wiring were well organised. Over the years as things were added it began to look like spaghetti, especially some of the smaller terminals connected to gauges and monitors. The Doc could have had it all rewired through a fuse box or busbar but he looked for a more cost-effective DYI solution.
He found the Unilug, an Australian designed battery terminal (unfortunately not made in Australia).
Unilug
The Unilug attaches to the standard battery post, but then gives you two configurable terminals. It is well made and versatile. You can use it in the two bolt configuration or you can have one standard terminal battery post and one bolt.
The standard battery post just screws onto the bolt, there is a second nut allowing you to configure a two-bolt setup. You can use a wrench on the top of the battery post to tighten or loosen the post. You can see the cutaways in the image.
The “nut” and bolt used to attach the Unilug to the original battery post is easy to loosen and tighten, as the “nut” is counter sunk into the Unilug – someone thought about the design.
The Doc installed the Unilug on both batteries and tidied all the wiring up. It allows you to put heavier cables on one terminal and the smaller ones on the second. Avoiding the smaller terminals being crushed or bent as you tighten to secure the heavier cables.
Pricing does vary but The Doc has bought them for $49 for a pair including postage (negative and positive). The only difference between the two terminals is the colour of the plastic insulation cover, the underlying terminals are identical. A small screw is used to attach the insulation to the Unilug.
The Doc also carries one Unilug in his spares kit.
The Doc had a similar issue with the battery box between the large and small terminals attaching to the battery posts. When you tighten the bolt to secure the large terminals, it can damage the smaller terminals. It is not ideal. The battery box has an AGM battery which uses a bolt configuration rather than the standard battery posts seen on car batteries.
This KickAss battery terminal is typical of AGM batteries.
The bolt is tightened to hold the cables in place
Enter the Blue Sea Systems Terminal Mount BusBar.
Blue Sea Systems Terminal Mount BusBar
Blue Sea is a well-known name in marine circles. The Terminal Mount BusBar can be tightened down with larger terminals without any problems. The smaller terminals are then attached to the BusBar. You may have to change some of the terminals to ensure they are compatible with the BusBar. The Doc’s Crimping Guide is here.
Another very elegant solution, with built-in insulation.
Here are the technical drawings for the Blue Sea Systems Terminal Mount BusBar here.
Aussie Made No 1: Anyone interested in good tea try Madura. It is my preferred tea brand, won over by great flavours and taste. Made here in Australia, northern NSW to be precise. It does not cost the earth and I now have several flavours to choose from. Great loyalty rewards to reduce the cost even more. Free post for orders over $50. We should support local products more: https://www.maduratea.com.au/
Aussie Made No 2: Junee Licorice and Chocolate Factory. A well loved favourite in Christmas Hampers I make up. The red licorice covered in Belgian styled coverture white chocolate is my favourite, followed by milk chocolate red licorice and the Sun Muscat grapes in Dark Chocolate: https://www.greengroveorganics.com.au/the-junee-licorice-and-chocolate-factory/
Aussie Made No 3: Random Harvest Gourmet mustards, sauces and chutneys are some of my favourites. More expensive than some other brands but a wonderful indulgence at Christmas or Easter:https://randomharvestgourmet.com.au/#about
4X4 Equipment
Aussie Made No 4: moving from food to manufactured equipment today. REDARC Australia makes a range of items for the 4×4 market like DC to DC chargers, battery management systems, solar blankets, inverters and gauges. The Doc has a REDARC DC to DC charger and Autron gauges in the Patrol. REDARC bought Autron and relabelled the gauges as REDARC. They make quality goods than can withstand the harsh Outback. Equipment costs more but last, so it costs less in the long run: https://www.redarc.com.au/
Aussie Made No 5: few will have heard of this name, unless you are a caravaner. BMPRO, based in Victoria, makes battery chargers and battery management systems for caravans, RVs and 4X4s. The name is new to me. It was a BMPro MiniboostPro DC to DC charger with solar input I got installed in the Battery Box. The unit is not waterproof, so you cannot install it under the car bonnet, but inside the car or battery box is fine. Made here in Australia, costing less than the REDARC equivalents: https://teambmpro.com/
Aussie Made No 6: interVOLT, based in Western Australia, makes DC-DC Power Conditioners, Battery Equalisers, Voltage Stabilisers and Lighting Dimmers. Their target market was marine use but I had an interVOLT EBI Pro installed in the Patrol. It was a programmable solid-state dual battery controller used to charge the auxiliary battery (recently replaced by the REDARC with a solar input): http://www.intervolt.com/news/
Aussie Made No 7: GME makes UHF radios, aerials, Personal Locator Beacons, etc. all of which I have. I have two GME UHF’s, two aerials and two PLBs. Excellent build quality, great features and good after sales service (had an LED light fixed, UHF was still working). I do not understand why people buy other brands when GME are a world leader in UHF and PBLs. They have never let me down. They have both land and marine versions of their products: https://www.gme.net.au/gme-au
Aussie Made No 8: RFI aerials. Used by many emergency service vehicles in Australia. They have a vast selection of UHF, VHF and mobile aerials. The RFI aerial is attached to one of the GME UHF units (I have two for safety reasons – after a near miss). It works really well: https://www.rfiwireless.com.au/mobile-products.html
Aussie Made No 9: Water in diesel alarm. Winner of the Inventor of the Year Award. It monitors in real time diesel use and sounds an alarm if any water is found in contaminated fuel, allowing you to shut down the engine and drain the water before your engine is damaged. Can be used in cars, boats and generators, it is installed on the Patrol: https://www.waterindiesel.com.au/shop
Aussie Made No 10: LightFORCE makes driving lights, LED bars and spotlights for the world market. The Patrol has two Genesis HID driving lights fitted and a small LED light bar on the rear for light at night. LightFORCE is renowned the world over, a few days ago I saw a set of lights fitted to avalanche clearance plant and equipment in Alaska: https://www.lightforce.com/AUS/
The Doc recently bought the KICKASS Battery Guard. A device you attach to a 12-volt car battery to monitor voltage, ensuring the battery’s overall health. It connects via Bluetooth to your phone or Tablet.
Commercial grade versions exist for 4X4s, caravans and RVs and can cost thousands of dollars, even cheaper units can cost several hundred dollars. They are made by REDARC, BMPRO, Enerdrive, Victron, etc.
Because of the Wuhan flu lockdown, The Doc did a comparison with similar products like the CTEK Battery Sense and the BLE Battery Monitor, all costing under AUD$80. The Doc calls it the poor man’s battery monitor!
The BLE Battery Monitor won hands down, it was the cheapest, had the most features, was reliable and the app had fewer bugs than the other two. The Doc bought the BLE Battery Monitor on eBay here. EDIT: or for $30 including postage here.
CTEK, then BLE and the KICKASS at the bottom
Warning: this article does not apply to 12-volt Lithium batteries, because of their different chemistry and flat voltage curve. 12-volt Lithium batteries used in a car, caravan or RV should have a battery management system to maximise battery life. Many of the Chinese made batteries do not, despite costing nearly $2,000. It is one reason why so many fail, a rather costly failure!
Read on if you want to know about the details.
The contenders
The contenders are the:
KICKASS Battery Guard
CTEK Battery Sense
BLE Battery Monitor
KICKASS Battery Guard
The KICKASS Battery Guard is a relabeled version of the intAct Battery Guard originating from Germany, which has been around for a few years. At $79 it is overpriced for what it is, both the CTEK Battery Sense and the BLE offer more for the price. The Doc did see the intAct Battery Guard (the identical OEM unit) being sold for $120 in Australia. There are some real rip off prices in the 4X4 marketplace.
The KICKASS Battery Guard is the smallest unit but only gives voltage readings while the unit is connected. It stores no data to download later – the CTEK and BLE both store data up to 30 days.
The Doc ordered two units. one had ring style connectors and the other had fork connectors. The fork connectors were easy to fit and appear to be the updated model. The ring style connectors were too small to fit on the battery post (M8 size bolt). The Doc tried to drill the connector bigger but the connector just bent and twisted. He cut off both twisted terminals and fitted larger fork connectors with dual wall shrink tubing. Then both terminals fitted with no issues.
The Battery Guard app both iOS and Android was not a smooth experience. The Doc got the iPhone app to work after rebooting the phone. Warning: with Android you must give location permissions or the app will not work. The app was developed in Germany and the app does not properly display English – so you get part English and part German displaying in the app. This happened on the iPhone and the Android Tablet. The app can be slow and a little confusing due to the German and English. The app seems rough around the edges.
There are variations between individual units. The Doc had two units installed on one battery, Unit 1 gave a reading of 12.93 volts, Unit 2 showed 12.96 volts. The readings are close enough for the intended purpose, monitoring battery voltage.
The app has three main messages InReach>Connecting>Receiving. The voltage data is updated only when Receiving is visible. Receiving only worked reliably within 2 metres of the unit. InReach and Connecting can work over a greater distance, but Receiving does not work reliably. In summary:
The Doc believes the other two units offered more than the KICKASS.
CTEK Battery Sense
The CTEK is the largest of the three units, but its build quality is also the best. The CTEK at $78 is only one dollar cheaper than the KICKASS, but a lot more than the BLE at a mere $33.
CTEK is a well-known and respected charger brand based in Sweden.
The CTEK is the only unit with an inline fuse and the only unit to monitor battery temperature.
The unit stores data for up to thirty days, but The Doc found that both the iOS and Android app did not reliably download the data from the unit to the app. It can be annoying when the data does not update for a few days. The summary screen updates, it is the graphed data which does not update properly.
The iOS app has more functionality than the Android version. The iOS app monitors and graphs voltage, state of charge and battery temperature. The Android only displays voltage. The iOS app has a bug, when looking at battery temperature the graph is showing voltage. When you select the voltage tab it displays battery temperature.
There are many online reviews of this unit. In summary:
BLE Battery Monitor
The BLE Battery Monitor ($33 on eBay) is also marketed as the Mean Mother Bluetooth 4.0 Battery Monitor (for $60), the Century BM12V Battery Monitor (for $70) and the Baintech Bluetooth Battery Monitor (and probably others). The Doc has the BLE Battery Monitor and considers it to be the pick of the three battery monitors, based on price and features.
The BLE had the best features of the three, plus the app was the best. You can effectively use the BLE and app as a full-time battery monitor. Battery monitors can cost hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars to buy, the BLE is the poor man’s battery monitor!
Warning: The unit can only connect to one Bluetooth device at a time. If the unit is connected to Phone A it cannot connect to Tablet B. You must disconnect A to connect to B.
Because the unit holds data for up to 30 days and can sync with the app, you have data 24 hours a day – not just when the app connects to the unit like the KICKASS.
The app graphs voltage over time, cranking tests and an alternator charging test. Plus, the app is easy to use. The Doc is not sure how to do a cranking test. It seems you must select cranking test in the app and on the first occasion it performs the test. Later cranking tests seem to occur every two weeks, not on command. Alternator charging tests can be done on command.
When you open the apps for the CTEK or the KICKASS you choose which unit to connect too (if you have more than one installed), the BLE just connects to any nearby unit and you must go into Settings>Bluetooth Device and select the one you wish to monitor. The Doc is use to it now, but it was a little inconvenient learning how to do it.
It appears. the Mean Mother is an expensive rebadge of the BLE. The Doc suggests you save money and buy the OEM version.
The phone is showing the Android app
Conclusion
Both the BLE and the CTEK give you functionality to properly monitor and maintain your battery’s health, without the expense of a commercial grade system costing several hundred or even thousands of dollars. The BLE will even send you an alert if trigger points are reached (your phone’s Bluetooth must be enabled).
The Doc uses the BLE to monitor the Patrol’s main battery, its auxiliary battery and the battery box. One BLE unit for each battery, the monitoring system cost less than $100. Plus The Doc can monitor alternator charging and the cranking performance of the main battery.
Best Unit Overall: the best unit based on price and features is the BLE, by quite a margin. It has great functionality for a bargain basement price of $33.
Best Unit based on quality: the CTEK Battery Sense is the best made unit, edging out the BLE on quality more than functionality – although the inline fuse can be handy. Costing $45 more than the BLE you are paying for the privilege.
Smallest Unit: If you want small and unobtrusive with minimal features, the KICKASS does the job – at a price. The KICKASS lacks many features of the competitors making it a hard sell, but it might work well on stored batteries where some of the other features are not important. The Doc replaced his KICKASS units with the BLE.
Limitations
Battery types
These battery monitors work on a single battery commonly used in 4X4s, caravans and RVs like SLA, GEL, AGM and Lead Crystal. The Doc has three monitors attached to three batteries (one SLA and two AGM).
The article does not apply to Lithium batteries because of their different chemistry and flat voltage curve. 12-volt Lithium batteries used in a 4X4, caravan or RV should have a battery management system to maximise battery life, not a simple battery monitor. Lithium batteries offer many options exceeding 200 mAh in capacity (the maximum capacity of the units).
200mAh max capacity
Most of the units reviewed max out at 200mAh battery capacity: it is likely batteries in parallel will exceed that figure. Even if the units can be attached to battery banks over 200mAh, there may be concerns around the accuracy of the readings.
The state of charge is estimate only
The state of charge figure from these battery monitors is an estimate only, based on voltage. These simple battery monitors do not monitor the energy going in or out of the battery like the commercial grade systems. They will not tell you how long the battery will last before a recharge is needed based on the current discharge rate. The intermediate commercial grade monitors (costing around $300) can handle a capacity 600mAh or even 800mAh.
These battery monitors can report the battery is at 100% capacity when the battery is still accepting a charge. With auxiliary batteries if you know the charge profile of your DC to DC charger you can use the voltage to work out whether the battery is really 100% charged. Many DC to DC chargers use a higher voltage for charging than maintenance. The BMPRO MiniBoostPro charges an AGM battery at 14.4 volts but maintains at 13.6 volts (a REDARC 1225D/1240D/1250D charges up to 14.6 volts and maintains at 13.3). So, if the unit reports the voltage over 14 volts the battery is still accepting a charge, even if the unit reports it is at 100% of capacity. These charge rates can vary between charger brands and battery chemistries, check your charger’s manual.
Cannot monitor usage
These battery monitors do not monitor movement of energy in and out of your battery. They cannot tell you how long the battery will last at current usage rates. That is one reason commercial systems cost you big dollars, they can accurately estimate the time.
Monitors cannot make concurrent connections
All tested units will only connect to one Bluetooth device at a time. If the unit is connected to Phone A it cannot simultaneously connect to Tablet B. You must disconnect A before connecting to B.
Money well spent
Despite these limitations, cheap battery monitors report a wealth of information about battery health which helps you be proactive on battery maintenance, extending the life of your expensive batteries. A $30 unit that allows you to get an extra year out of a $300 to $400 battery is a great investment. For the weekend warrior over draining your AGM battery is probably the No. 1 cause of premature battery death, these cheap units can help you stop this costly mistake.
EDIT: Cresta Battery Sense
The Kogan Cresta Battery Sense costs $80. The Doc thinks the hardware is the same as the BLE, but in a different plastic case. The app seems different but the functionality of the unit and the app is almost identical to that of the BLE. It cannot be a coincidence (crank test, alternator test, trip reporting, etc.). Only the power consumption is a bit higher on the Cresta compared to the BLE.
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