Magnum Battery Monitor Problem

[chopper]

Hello,

I recently installed a solar system in our RV. It consists of the following equipment:

4- Lifeline 6 volt 300ah wired in series and parallel to 12 volts
1- Magnum 2812 inverter 2800 watt
1- Magnum battery monitor
1- 500 amp shunt
2- 270 watt solar panels wired in parallel
1- Morningstar Solar charger 60 amp MPPT

The question I have: When I am hooked up to shore power and charging battery bank with Magnum inverter/charger, the amp hour meter will count down from negative numbers (amp hours used when running on battery bank) back to zero when bank is 100% charged.

However, when I am charging the bank with solar panels only and have very little draw on the system, the negative numbers on my amp hour meter get more negative than moving toward zero even though the battery bank voltage indicates the bank is being charged. Of course if I cut power to the battery monitor, the amp hour meter reading resets to zero. Isn't it supposed to also reset to zero when the bank achieves 100% charge? Why are my amps coming into the bank from the solar indicate I am using power (negative increasing)rather than making it (moving in positive direction)?

[ChrisOlson]

Why are my amps coming into the bank from the solar indicate I am using power (negative increasing)rather than making it (moving in positive direction)?

Do you possibly have the solar controller hooked to the battery on the wrong side of the shunt?

[Sunking]

Do you possibly have the solar controller hooked to the battery on the wrong side of the shunt?

That is what it sounds like to me.

[chopper]

That is what it sounds like to me.

Yeah, that was the first thing I checked and it is not the case. I was wondering because my battery monitor is integrated with the magnum inverter that it was not tracking any outside charging sources. I do notice that if I am using power when the sun is out, the negative count of amp hours used doesn't climb as fast as the power I am consuming. The meter must be accounting for some positive amp hours contributed by the panels. It just won't do it when the rig is left idle in storage. Maybe the system meter won't reset to zero when the batteries reach full charge unless it detects some power being used(activity). I do notice that if I remove the in-line fuse to the meter, the SOC will not immediately reset to 100%, but says "thinking" while it monitors the voltage level to determine if the bank is indeed 100% charged. Thanks for your input.

[ChrisOlson]

Not being totally familiar with Magnum's battery monitor, is it possible it is like the Conext (Xantrex) system where it will only work with networked components plugged into the system's hub or network? Our system will not work with "foreign" controllers either. The whole system has to be all Conext/Xantrex components in order for power logging and battery monitoring, etc to work.