How to install an AiLi Battery Monitor

This video shows how to install the AiLi Battery Monitor from Amazon: amzn.to/32suBN5
(Make sure to get the right size. Might as well get the 350a one just to be safe)
Woo! I'm finally able to tell how my new battery bank is running. This was fairly easy to set up, just make sure to give yourself plenty of room. I really like this monitor despite the lower quality materials.
It does not come with the red power lead so you'll need to get some 16 gauge wire. I use this: amzn.to/2YDH3bt
Also, if you plan on mounting it like I did, these are the tools I used:
2 and 1/8th hole saw: amzn.to/2EAN2Xu
Hole saw arbor: amzn.to/2EteaYM
Electric drill: amzn.to/3hy92AW
These are the parts I used to make a longer shielded cable for the display. Essentially what you need to do is cut the extra cable that comes in the AiLi monitor box in half, solder (or crimp with jelly crimps) the new cable onto it to lengthen it, and then either crimp the other half of the original wire on to the end or crimp on a 5-pin female JST-XH connector.
The display extension cable: amzn.to/3aXLbYO
jelly wire crimps: amzn.to/2YErb8F
5 pin jst-xh connectors: amzn.to/2YEFytF
jst crimper tool: amzn.to/3jmxaah
26 awg wire stripper: amzn.to/3aXYZCN
Also check out Will's video for how he does his install: • $200 Victron Solar Bat...

[@ronaldkinder3498]

I cannot thank you enough for this video! I agree, next time hold the camera horizontal to film, but this was exactly what I was looking for on how to set this device up, especially setting the monitor up! I have been searching on KZbin all over the place and I finally consulted Amazon how to do this and they shared with me your video. Sincerely, I really appreciate you doing this, great info!

[@RENTFREEVANPLAN]

That's great I'm glad it was helpful. And yes going forward I'll try to remember to film horizontal :)

[@Cajundaddydave]

Nice vid! I installed one of these in my RV this week and though it is working well, on shore power the backlight pulses brightly at night and makes you feel like you are in a Spielberg film. Good to know this can be shut down for restful sleep. Thanks!

[@pav688]

Excellent video. I am going to fuse my positive battery line with a simple in-line bus fuse.

[@timweidner1406]

What size fuse did you use?

[@chrisholden1912]

To stop it flashing and turn the backlight off. hold the two arrows simultaneously for 3 seconds. Great video man.

[@JoePetrakovich]

Oh damn! Nice. Thanks for the tip. I didn't think it was possible

[@rustymac40]

Just installed this monitor in my RV. Your video was very helpful...Thanks! Also, this may sound weird but your voice is very relaxing. lol

[@RENTFREEVANPLAN]

Glad it helped! And yeah I get that all the time actually 😂 an old friend of mine once told me she used my videos to help her fall asleep.

[@miscrob]

This was the best install-setup run through I've found on this monitor. Aside from the cell phone aspect ratio (vertical). Thank you for posting.

[@RENTFREEVANPLAN]

Thanks Rob, glad it was helpful. ya... i keep forgetting to film horizontally with my phone! on the upside if you watch the video from a phone youtube will display it full screen. :)

[@rob762x51]

I got mine installed and had to watch this again to catch the double tap to display Ah instead of A. Very useful video.

[@RENTFREEVANPLAN]

A couple additions you might find useful: 1) An alternative way of configuring the monitor would be to set the rated capacity of your battery bank to be 50% of it's actual capacity (if using lead-acid or AGM batteries). That way the monitor will show 0% when it's time to recharge your batteries (the USABLE capacity). So I could set this instead to 125aH. You might prefer this, especially if you have family members who aren't aware of how batteries work, so they will know to stop using the batteries at 0%. 2) To deal with the odd mounting angle, you could instead connect the red power lead ahead of time (before mounting it) and just bend it a bit first, that way you can still mount it the traditional way with the bolts facing upwards and you won't have to try to blindly stick that red wire in the hole on the underside.

[@the__uncle__b]

How would you recommend finding that 50% #.

[@RENTFREEVANPLAN]

@@the__uncle__b Brian Friedmann it's going to be roughly half of the battery bank's total amp hour rating. So if you have one 100aH battery, set the monitor to 50aH for the capacity. Then it will read 0% (time to charge) when it's really at 50% state of charge.

[@the__uncle__b]

@@RENTFREEVANPLAN Works link a charm, thanks for the video! Sweet little gadget. O ya, had to extend the wires to 20 ft, followed you directions, worked great!

[@bearridge8288]

Great video! I recently installed the AiLi battery monitor but I notice that after I set the gauge to 100% when the batteries were fully charged and used the batteries during the evening and the following day as the batteries recharged the gauge did not return to 100%. Does the gauge have to be reset everyday once the batteries top off?

[@JoePetrakovich]

@@bearridge8288 no, it doesn't. Did you set the capacity properly? It needs to know the bank's full capacity.

[@ARMEDPATRIOT757]

Thank you I've been all over even wills video trying to find out what size wire for the positive line. Thanks to you I now know. Thank you so much.

[@iandale]

I’ve just bought one so checked out your vid. That ceiling fan sounds like it’s trying to kill you 🤣

[@steveleston1848]

excellent video I have a simiarl van was planning a battery monitor like this. I believe it has to be mounted close to the battery, thats why the premade wire is short. glad you explained about the guage flashing could be iratating, did you ever connect a on/off switch an find out if guage has to be reset each on/off?did you ever find out the guages parasitic draw? my orginal guage is a joke dead 1/3 2/3 full. I also have a sleeper sofa was planning to mount guage close to sofa bc my battery (I only have one lead acid group27 12V) is in a tray outside of coach.will be watching your next video.

[@RENTFREEVANPLAN]

I never ended up connecting a switch for it because the drain was so small that the solar was keeping the batteries completely topped off. The drain is something like .006 amps, basically just the LED.

[@larrywebb8309]

Yeah , i thought i was going to be smart and install a switch to kill the monitors light so I can sleep , The switch would throw my programming off and so i removed the switch and added a little door on a couple hinges, I close the little tiny door over the light , I just have to deal with the amp draw. Thanks for the video, helped a bunch , my monitor works , thumbs up

[@majord.532]

According to the directions if you push the two outside buttons at the same time it will turn off the back light. ? Not sure if I read that right or not.

[@sypris1001]

Can anyone confirm if this works to switch the backlight off? I really like the look of this monitor but don't like the idea of the light being on always

[@adrianmok6935]

Yep backlight goes off.

[@pepe931]

Great video, very helpful. Look forward to more videos - putting the camera on a tripod would help a lot - when the camera shakes so much, it's hard to watch - just a suggestion - great stuff.

[@BillyTpower]

I want to follow your example but I’m confused about the extension wire you mentioned and gave a link to a 4 core wire but the actual unit needs a 5 core wire can you explain ?

[@Hallointhehouse]

Great video. Issue I have is that shore power doesn’t give me any power, but the Ective SSI does go in bypass mode and the ective does load the battery through solar. So the wiring should be fine, right?

[@easydiy224]

New subbie. Ok, I'm going to buy this battery monitor for my setup. Great video 👍

[@hortstu]

Can this monitor be used with a smart shunt in place of the provided shunt?

[@antigroundhogday]

When setting the % to 100%, I understand the battery should be fully charged, but are you using "fully charged" with a resting battery and no charging source connected to it or.... "fully charged" with floating voltage applied from your charge controller? With my LIFEP04 battery, 14.4v is 100% charged with the solar and charge controller connected to it in a float mode if you will, but 13.2V is fully charged with no charging sourced connected. I think I am going to go with the later...

[@RENTFREEVANPLAN]

I would guess the latter, but if it's using an internal mechanism to track incoming/outgoing amps, then it's more looking for 100% in terms of amperage, not voltage. I don't know if it works that way though.

[@antigroundhogday]

@@RENTFREEVANPLAN ah, that makes sense. I was going back and forth with the Renogy over email as to what they consider 100% charged voltage for their LIFEP04 for the battery voltage and got stuck in that train of thought versus amperage which is the true measurement. Thank you!

[@timweidner1406]

What size fuse should I use in the power wire to the shunt? I like to fuse anything that draws power, but the instructions from AiLi don't show a fuse, let alone indicate what size it should be.

[@williamwhite8749]

Can you purchase that wire already made longer?

[@ronaldkinder3498]

I was so delighted with the battery monitor install, I had not taken enough time to see your other two videos, So from the 2nd video, I can see you have two 12V SLR125 batteries connected in parallel, correct?

[@RENTFREEVANPLAN]

That's correct. Two of these guys: amzn.to/30pz4wJ

[@Kbass288]

Hi, thank you for the video. It was very helpful. However, I have a question regarding the ground going to the inverter only. Will it still be able to monitor usage on the 12v house lights and furnace? I just got a new (to me) 2004 Roadtrek 190. I’m trying to learn as much as I can and I thank you in advance for any tips or help you may give.

[@RENTFREEVANPLAN]

Hi, it can only monitor it if the current goes thru it. Not sure what you mean by ground, you mean you only have the inverter's negative cable connected to the shunt and then shunt to the battery negative? If that's the same route that the lights and furnace use, then it should work, but if there are other negative cables that go around the shunt to the battery then it won't monitor whatever is powered by those cables.

[@fordracer1415]

16 gauge is tough to get in the holes did you fuse the red wire It would be nice if they gave you a little more wire

[@wheres.bonnie]

What if I also have a DC to DC charger charging my (lithium) battery? It doesn't go through the shunt because it's just a positive wire from car battery > DC to DC charger > aux battery. Is there a way to get my battery % to read correctly? When my car is on, I know the battery is being charged but the percentage in this monitor doesn't go up so I worry about it's accuracy..

[@RENTFREEVANPLAN]

Usually with a DC-DC charger, the car battery and the aux battery share a common ground (generally it's the car's metal chassis.). Your DC to DC charger manual should have mentioned something like that. I have a DC DC charger too and the shunt has a connection to the vehicle chassis so when my car is running, this monitor will flash and show the incoming charge. Your monitor won't show an accurate state of charge if you don't have that tracked.

[@martinbrodin6396]

Thanks for the video! A question: Does the backlight flash contionusly when charging or does it flash for a while and then stop flashing or go black i no buttons are pressed? Thanks! Martin

[@RENTFREEVANPLAN]

The backlight flashes continuously while charging.

[@martinbrodin6396]

RENT FREE VAN PLAN Thanks! No way to make it stop flashing?

[@RENTFREEVANPLAN]

@@martinbrodin6396 not that I know of.. you could put it behind a switch and just turn the whole thing off.. :)

[@chrisholden1912]

Hold the two arrows for three seconds.

[@superformOG]

what is the lug post hole size?

[@cwsmith7366]

Could you please advise where you bought the "TAYMAC" round mounting plate? I have looked through their products and cannot find it anywhere.

[@RENTFREEVANPLAN]

it was just in a random aisle at Lowe's. I think the same aisle as the electrical boxes.

[@cwsmith7366]

@@RENTFREEVANPLAN Cool, and thanks for the quick response! I have a Lowe's here and will check it out!

[@bster13]

I am ordering all my supplies online and don't have the shunt in hand. Can you tell me how big the shaft of the big, gold colored terminals are, where I I will connect the large gauge negative wires of my system to? I need to order ring terminals. Many thanks!

[@Friend2Animals]

3/8" ring terminals fit perfectly.

[@kw4jm699]

Good video thx. I just installed mine, also calibrated it as you suggest, but question: when everything is turned off in my camper the amp meter shows a slight positive. 0.02 amps coming in. Of course it’s not true. Does this reflect that I calibrated capacity or percentage wrong? Thx! Scott

[@JoePetrakovich]

are you sure it's saying that the amps are coming IN or is the little arrow pointing down as in "negative", which is to indicate the power is being drawn out.

[@kw4jm699]

Yes I’m sure. No down arrow. If I switch a light on it goes to 0.4 down.

[@JoePetrakovich]

@@kw4jm699 let me go check mine and get back to you. It might be normal

[@RENTFREEVANPLAN]

@@kw4jm699 I checked mine and it reads about 0.02 to power the device itself. It doesn't have an up or down arrow for such a small amount. Is that what yours shows or does yours actually flash green with the plus (up) arrow? When it's charging or drawing power the device flashes, otherwise it's just float power.

[@kw4jm699]

@@RENTFREEVANPLAN That explains it very nicely. Thanks. Scott

[@wilderbydesign]

I am trying to figure out how to connect mine -- could you explain -- the 16 g red wire -- I understand how it connects to the shunt but not how it connects to the battery -- do I need to add an eyehole? I am a complete beginner and haven't found any videos that clearly show what you need to connect the power wire to the positive on the battery... some recommend using a red wire with a fuse on it but still don't explain how to connect on the battery end... any help much appreciated! Thanks for the video!

[@JoePetrakovich]

Mine is connected directly to the positive terminal on the battery. I didn't add a fuse because the 16g wire is so thick, but it would be nice to have one so you could easily disconnect the monitor.

[@sciencetechro9701]

Hello. Can it be used to monitor the battery from the smartphone? The battery can not be removed from the phone. Can be monitored while discharging the battery through usb or other method by this controller you present? Or other product that can help me. Thank you.

[@RENTFREEVANPLAN]

No there is no Bluetooth or phone app or anything like that. Just a wired connection to the display. Look up Victron as they have a Bluetooth compatible monitor that you can view from your phone.

[@markostancic8667]

Do i need this thing if i have hibrid inverter?

[@leonardoloporto2906]

Sorry,This works with 600amp??.thanks

[@ronaldkinder3498]

Can you share what your battery bank is? Two 12V batteries in parallel, one 12V battery, 2 6V in series? This would help.

[@RENTFREEVANPLAN]

I've got two 12v 125aH batteries wired in parallel.

[@tigman47]

Can you Tell me more about extending the cable from shunt to Gauge ??? I get the parts you got but then I need more info LOL I need to go 11 feet Thank You AWESOME Video

[@RENTFREEVANPLAN]

the easiest way is to splice the new cable in between the existing cable that comes with the shunt. The jelly splice connectors are probably the easiest way. How far have you gotten? You can also contact the seller of the gauge and I believe he said he will send you a longer cable. You might want to try that instead of you don't have a lot of experience splicing wires.

[@tigman47]

@@RENTFREEVANPLAN I may contact the seller and see if they have a longer cable Thank you so much great Video

[@RENTFREEVANPLAN]

@@tigman47 you're welcome

[@stevepessy]

I have been wondering about the same thing. The wire you have listed is 4 wires but the gauge uses 5. Did you run another line?

[@RENTFREEVANPLAN]

@@stevepessy the listed wire is 4 core wires but it also has a 5th stranded ground wire. It's the exact same wire.

[@JedRom]

Run the wire under the camper, that's what I would have done

[@jrkeiko]

Anyone know why my monitor doesn’t show charging ?

[@ronaldkinder3498]

With this battery monitor, do you have to reset it after each time you charge your batteries? It reads the capacity as power is drawn down, but if you recharge the batteries the next day with solar, don't you have to reset it? Is there any historical date that can be collected on this monitor?

[@RENTFREEVANPLAN]

The monitor is tracking both in and out so you don't have to reset it. I suppose you might want to though after awhile to recalibrate it. As far as I know it doesn't store historical data.

[@ronaldkinder3498]

@@RENTFREEVANPLAN While camping for 10 days, I had my monitor set to full capacity as the batteries were fully charged. My amp hours were set to 180 ah and as I would use the batteries, naturally the amp hours would decrease, but when I would connect to solar the next day and recharge, the voltage would increase, but the amp hours continued to decrease, continuously. Here are some numbers that I recorded. 10 pm: voltage 12.5, Amp hours 169.6; 9:45 PM next day 12.54V, 140.7 ah:6:45PM next day 13.02V 115.5 ah. Solar was used both days, the first day rather cloudy, second day full sunshine in NM and the solar monitor read out, fully charged. So, my concern is why was the Voltage increasing, but not the amp hours if it was fully charged. Is this simply a measurement of total amp hours used? If you set your monitor initially to the total amp hours they provide, in my case 180, will it eventually run down to 0 and then what? What use does this Ah reading serve. I am sorry if this is a stupid question, as I am a complete novice. It was my understanding that you never wanted to run your batteries down to 50% (these are lead acid batteries) and the other issue I was seeing with this monitor was that the % of battery continued to go down as well. For the above readings, my % of battery was 94.3%, 78.2% and 64.2%, even after a full day's sun on my panels and my solar controller saying the batteries were fully charged. Why would this monitor only show 64. 2%? Your help would be appreciated.

[@RENTFREEVANPLAN]

@@ronaldkinder3498 when your solar is charging, does your AiLi monitor display the flashing up-arrow indicating incoming current? If not, then you dont have the monitor installed properly. All negative cables must pass thru the monitor shunt.

[@ronaldkinder3498]

@@RENTFREEVANPLAN No, that I am aware of and all negatives are assigned to the P- pole on the shunt. When connected to power, yes, it does show a positive sign illustrating that the power is increasing, but the Battery % and the amp hours continue to fall. I checked this for 3 days and by the end of this time, I simply reset the monitor, meaning I knew the batteries were fully charged, the amp hours automatically returned to the 180 that I set originally and the battery % went back to 100%. Have you tried yours? are you seeing increases in the battery % and Amp hours after you charge?

[@RENTFREEVANPLAN]

@@ronaldkinder3498 I haven't had to discharge my batteries yet so I can't comment. That doesn't sound right though. I wouldn't even call it a battery monitor if it couldn't also track stored amp hours. Perhaps yours is faulty. I plan to take mine out on a trip soon and I'll let you know what I find out.

[@ronaldkinder3498]

I just read your alternative way to set the rated capacity and a question to make sure I am understanding you correctly. Your max capacity or 100% is 250 amp hours ( 125 AH per battery). By setting the capacity to 125 AH or 50% of the the total Capacity, how then would you set the monitor to read 0%? I enjoyed your other videos and will begin to follow you on your journey. I am interested in seeing your addition of solar. You mentioned. you got a 300 watt Renology panel, what type of controller do you plan on getting PMW or MPPT? How did you decide on 300 Watts?

[@RENTFREEVANPLAN]

By setting the total capacity to 125aH, then fully charging the batteries and setting the 100% state of charge, the monitor itself will work out when I've reached 0% because it keeps track of how many amps you've used. There is also a way to set the 0% state of charge using the left arrow button but it's not required. I actually took a risk an bought a brand new (version 1.0) renogy combination MPPT controller/alternator charger that is arriving tomorrow and I'll definitely be doing an install video. I chose 300 based on how much roof top space I have and a video from CheapRVLiving. Bob said 200w is good enough for fans and charging laptops and other devices (which is really all I need) so I chose 300w just in case (I also have a refrigerator that I may want to use a lot). It turns out I may only be able to put two 100w panels up top anyway unless I build some kind of roof rack.

[@majord.532]

From what I could grasp, the extension wire with connectors and tool will probably cost me over $30 with tax etc. Is there any other way to just buy an already fabricated extension cable from this company?

[@JoePetrakovich]

I found the same monitor on alibaba.com and one of manufacturers said they could send me a monitor with a longer cable. You could try that route.

[@TC-tw5zk]

I just installed mine today, question...my back light stays on....which is fine ..stays on during charging plugged in to shore and stays on when not plugged into shore..does yours?

[@RENTFREEVANPLAN]

The display itself for the numbers is always on, but the back light only shows when it's charging (it flashes) or for a few seconds after you press a button.

[@TC-tw5zk]

@@RENTFREEVANPLAN hmmm my backlight stays on charging or not charging

[@RENTFREEVANPLAN]

@@TC-tw5zk does it flash when charging? It may always be on but just very dim. When I say on I mean ON and BRIGHT.

[@TC-tw5zk]

@@RENTFREEVANPLAN yes it does flash when charging...it's been disconnected for a few hours now back light still on. I don't think it will bother me staying on, just want to make sure it's ok. I did google it and some say there's stay on and some say it goes off.and they wake it up to read....go figure

[@sypris1001]

There was another comment about pressing the 2 outer buttons together to be able to turn the backlight off. Does anyone know if this works?

[@drummerjason76]

PLEASE HELP!!!!! I have a problem with mine... I have the 350 amp version. Have it hooked to 2 - 6 volt 235ah VMax batteries, so 12 volt 235ah. Works fine until I turn on my 2000 watt inverter & use my microwave. It pulls just over 100 amps. Only use it for less than a minute, 2 max. After I'm done & shut off the inverter, my gauge reads 0ah & 0% capacity. I have the gauge set to 235ah. I think it is a faulty gauge. Does it every single time.....any ideas? Thx

[@RENTFREEVANPLAN]

Did you set both the amps and the % capacity? There are two things that have to be set in order to initialize it properly.

[@drummerjason76]

I definitely have set the % and the amp hours, not amps to 235 when batteries are full. When i turn on microwave it resets to 0% and 0ah in about 25 seconds on a completely full battery

[@JoePetrakovich]

@@drummerjason76 hmm it's probably not connected properly. It could be a bad gauge for sure but I'd have to look at your wiring diagram.

[@drummerjason76]

It works perfectly if I don't have a high amp draw like the microwave. When I'm just using the fridge, furnace, lighting, fans, water pump, stereo, etc, its great & shows amp hours & percentage of battery properly. Its just when I use the microwave or a high amp draw it resets

[@drummerjason76]

@@RENTFREEVANPLAN I figured it out. Hopefully this will help someone else as well. If you press the voltage button then press the set button for 3 seconds the voltage from the factory is set to 0. You can adjust it up & down then press set again to store a different value. I had mine set to 12.5 volts. I turned it back down as low as it would go & saved that value. Works perfectly now. If you set the voltage higher say 12.5, then the ah & percentage reading will be reset to 0 and the back-lighting will turn off if the voltage drops below the value you set. Hope this helps someone else.👍

[@johnwren3976]

Horizontal video! Please. Portrait & shaking are aggravating. Buy a small piece of plywood and mount everything to it. Don't mount electric items on top of flammable materials (carpet) Spray truck bed liner under your floors to seal up holes and prevent rust.

[@RENTFREEVANPLAN]

I wish I had done this, but I wasn't educated enough at the time and just imitated how the manufacturer did it (they mounted straight on the carpet). I also didn't have any area to saw wood so I was McGuivering a lot of things, trying to buy pre-sized squares of wood from Walmart :P

[@indyoutsider]

Omg, I fell asleep twice watching this video. Sorry, it's the truth.

[@vaughnwalker1840]

😢dude it's gonna have, water damage... use bondo.

[@BillyTpower]

surprise, they both made in china. probably same factory