New SmartGauge with shunt

[WotEver]

No... not the horridly expensive Datacell. The new (apparently not currently available in the UK) SG200:

 

https://shop.pkys.com/Balmar-SG200-battery-monitor_p_7850.html

 

It appears to be getting great reviews. 

[MtB]

 

Looks good, and cheaper than the Mk 1 Smartgauge.

 

Claims to be: 

 

"Quite simply the most accurate battery monitor available today".

 

A pretty low bar to clear, Shirley!

[Robbo]

More info on this page http://www.balmar.net/sg200-battery-monitor/, including a exciting youtube video  

[WotEver]

Worth noting I guess that this isn’t actually a SmartGauge product, whatever they imply. 

[dmr]

This looks like the bees knees but not quite the dogs bollocks. Its sad that it can't handle the shunt in the positive battery cable and has only one display but I think I would be willing to redo my battery box wiring to accommodate one of these. In fact I think I will get two, one to permanently display Amps and one to display State of Charge (if this can be done).

 

I wonder if this was developed with the consent and technical input from Gibbo or if Balmar did it in isolation? I does render the old Smartgage pretty much obsolete.

 

........Dave

[WotEver]

3 minutes ago, dmr said:

I wonder if this was developed with the consent and technical input from Gibbo or if Balmar did it in isolation?

The latter. 

4 minutes ago, dmr said:

I think I will get two, one to permanently display Amps and one to display State of Charge (if this can be done).

It’s a bit vague, but it looks to me like you’d only require the one shunt plus two displays to achieve this. 

[Tony Brooks]

Might Merlin have sold or licensed the Smartguage to Balmar?

[Sea Dog]

$239? Crikey that's £187!  Oh hang on, its £194; oh now its  £199, err make that £206, oops £217...

 

[Robbo]

Just now, Sea Dog said:

$239? Crikey that's £187!  Oh hang on, its £194; oh now its  £199, err make that £206, oops £217...

 

Don’t forget to add the VAT ? 

[dmr]

11 minutes ago, Tony Brooks said:

Might Merlin have sold or licensed the Smartguage to Balmar?

I think Balmar have been selling the Smartgage for some time, possibly even with a Balmar logo on the case.

 

I'm a bit surprised nobody has done something like this instrument sooner, making a copy of the Smartgage algorithm is certainly not trivial, but I suspect its a whole lot easier when there is a shunt available. I think the two wire only approach is what made the Smartgage really clever.

 

.............Dave

23 minutes ago, WotEver said:

The latter. 

It’s a bit vague, but it looks to me like you’d only require the one shunt plus two displays to achieve this. 

 

Yes, it looks like two or more displays are possible. Manual says it turns off the backlight after 24 hours so looks like I will have to press a button once every day. I don't think it does full data logging of volts and amps (over a period of a few days), that really would be the dogs bollocks.

 

.............Dave

[MtB]

5 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

$239? Crikey that's £187!  Oh hang on, its £194; oh now its  £199, err make that £206, oops £217...

 

 

And on the same page, the same company are flogging the Mk1 smartgauge for $270.05.

[Paul C]

I too am surprised its taken this long, for someone to come up with something as a development of the original Smartgauge, with a shunt, at an affordable price.

 

Given that the original Smartgauge's inner workings were always somewhat obfuscated, I don't think its possible to say Balmar have copied or ripped off anything, unless they either had info that wasn't in the public domain (ie they had some technical details, obtained in a legitimate way) or they did a bit of deft reverse engineering. And in any case the fact it has a shunt, technically, means its a big step forwards (and somewhat different) from the Smartgauge anyway, so its origins are somewhat inconsequential.

[MtB]

3 minutes ago, Paul C said:

I too am surprised its taken this long, for someone to come up with something as a development of the original Smartgauge, with a shunt, at an affordable price.

 

I'd have thought it difficult to short-cut the time needed to 'track test' a device like this. My guess is it has been five years at least in full time development. 

 

 

[WotEver]

42 minutes ago, dmr said:

I don't think it does full data logging of volts and amps (over a period of a few days), that really would be the dogs bollocks.

Well now you’re approaching Datacell again. It does everything you ever thought of plus more... but not for £200. 

58 minutes ago, Tony Brooks said:

Might Merlin have sold or licensed the Smartguage to Balmar?

Quite possibly. They won’t have needed to reverse-engineer SmartGauge, simply couple it to an Ah counter. Which is what Balmar appear to have done. 

Edited November 15, 2018 by WotEver

[cereal tiller]

29 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

I'd have thought it difficult to short-cut the time needed to 'track test' a device like this. My guess is it has been five years at least in full time development. 

 

 

Don't forget that Development was Frequently interrupted  so that they could Fix up all your dodgy SG's

[WotEver]

43 minutes ago, dmr said:

I think Balmar have been selling the Smartgage for some time, possibly even with a Balmar logo on the case.

Yes they have. In the US they’re know as ‘the Balmar SmartGauge’.