Magnum Energy ME & MS Series Battery Monitor Kit (ME-BMK)

Great item for monitoring you system. Goes well with other magnum products.

I installed this on a RV so my comments are specific to that application. I recently installed a residential refrigerator and now find myself using the inverter constantly when not "plugged in". Never really used the inverter much before but now find myself constantly concerned about my batteries and their level of charge. This is the solution, think "battery fuel gauge" with extras.Installation is straight forward with good instructions. Several items are not included and some have lowered their rating because of this. With each installation different I find that not reasonable. Plan your installation, the manual is available online but you also need to read your inverter manual to insure compatibility and understand how this works. Map your installation to calculate wire lengths needed.Additional items I needed to install this in an RV. Wire to make connections to both the positive and the negative battery terminals. Used 10 gauge because I had it on hand but 12 would work fine. Connectors for the wire and a "in line" fuse holder with 2 amp fuse. I used red wire and black wire to make it neat and easy for someone to understand if needed. You will need a battery cable with the appropriate ends to "insert" the shunt on the negative (ground) battery cable. Don't go cheap on this, buy a good copper cable the same size that is currently in use with the right sized ends installed. Good source here on Amazon. Lastly I recommend some plastic wire loom to protect all wires run including the twisted pair cable and communication cable.Most difficult part was running the communication cable from the inverter under the bed to the battery bank in the basement.

Great product! Unfortunately could not give a higher score simply because it was very difficult for me fit big body and big hands in the places I needed for a clean installation. Shame they can't combine this with the convenience of bluetooth for monitoring like Victron does.

This unit is a must have with the current Magnum controller. Before all I could really see was the volts and AC flow at a very high level. With this kit, I am able to see all the current running in and out of the battery bank. The controller will give a basic % of battery charge for a quick look, but also break down the exact amount of amp hours being used, put back in and total amount since the start of the installation, to give you a better understanding how used the batteries are.

Very nice way to monitor batter power, as either a percentage of capacity or directly as amp-hours.I discovered, however, that I tend not to look at it... ever. Because the Magnum 2812 charger that I used it with does such a good job, that this is simply icing on the cake. Again, NOT their fault.If you're going to be doing a lot of boondocking, I can see where this will be a very important tool to watch conditions and know when either you have problems with your batteries or power consumption. But in "normal" (i.e., not boondocking much) use, it's probably overkill.

Long story...I bought the BMK, ME RC50, and MS-2012 in June 2018 when my existing inverter failed while we were on the road that summer. The MS-2102 and ME RC50 were both installed successfully while we were parked in a RV park. Since the negative cables would need to be remade, I elected to not install the BMK at that time.Life happens...Due personal health issues, we did not travel in 2019. Then Covid kept us home in 2020 & 2021. Now ready to travel again so I'm now replacing all 4 batteries and installing the BMK. After remaking several cables, I came to the last connection which was making up the load side of the shunt. The picture shows what happened.It broke much easier than it should have. No way it should have boke with the little force I was using.Very disappointed I cannot buy just the shunt.Update: when I contacted service department, I was told it is just a standard shut and is available at various sources. But, the question remains why they do not offer as a replacement item.

Old battery monster was failing and installed, only advise is read installation manual repeatly and take your time to do correctly, product works amazing

Good investment