Image

Merlin Battery Monitor

Feb. 4, 2010
DataCell from Merlin Equipment analyzes lead-acid batteries used in lift trucks and other material handling equipment to determine capacity remaining.

There is no need for a shunt, battery monitor display or RS232 converter, since the unit continuously outputs battery voltage and state of charge (SoC) information via a standard RS232 output. Users can interpret the data remotely using a Windows-based PC running Merlin software.

Merlin explains that shunt-based battery monitors count amp-hours to determine capacity remaining but require regular manual synchronization. Designed for 12- or 24-volt systems, Data-Cell does not have a shunt, so it doesn’t require synchronization.

The DataCell software provides voltage and percentage of remaining capacity. Users can set low-voltage and capacity alarms. For each active battery bank, it displays a moving heart-monitor-style graph that plots voltage and SoC over time to provide trend information. It can also output results to an Excel file for analysis.

Merlin Equipment