Temperature Monitoring

Temperature monitoring is critical for the correct function of any electronic system. Once an electronic component heats up, it can either shut down or else short circuit. The latter can result in over current and eventually fire (if no suitable protection has been installed).

I bought the below temperature meters from eBay. They seem to be designed to be installed in computer cases to measure CPU temperature. They come with a couple of meters wire probe length, however this can be very easily extended.

The meters are powered from the 12v battery system, using a 7805 voltage regulator to supply them with a 5v DC supply.

The image below is displaying 4 different temperatures as measured on a August afternoon at about 14:00.

• The Top display is the room temperature, i.e. in my case, the garage were I have all electronics & batteries installed.
• The 2nd display is monitoring the temperature inside the shunt box detailed below. Installed are 5 x 50 amp + 2 x 100 amp shunts, together with fuse holders.

• The 3rd display is monitoring the temperature of the off-grid inverter. Note that the temperature sensor is install on the outside of the inverter. Eventually I'll place it inside and will therefore read a higher temperature.
• The 4th display is showing the SMA 2KW grid-tie external heatsink temperature.

The image below is displaying the temperature meters as installed together with the other components in the garage.