Monitoring House Bank/Charging System

cemiii

Who knows how much accuracy to expect out of a 7 buck item, but I think I'm going to try one of these as a simple monitor of at least the relative condition of the house bank. Too simple to work I suppose.

Chris

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Vector-12-Volt-LCD-Voltage-Meter-VEC008-NEW_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQhashZitem53debb20d6QQitemZ360219091158QQptZMotorsQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories

ramos · Posted: Wed Dec 30, 2009 6:42 pm Post subject:

It may well be that it is too simple NOT to work!

toyman · Posted: Wed Dec 30, 2009 6:58 pm Post subject:

Also available at your friendly Wally World, in the auto dept.

JamesTXSD · Posted: Wed Dec 30, 2009 7:05 pm Post subject:

We use one similar to that to monitor our batteries. Works fine. Like Dave mentions, picked it up at Wal-Mart.

jennykatz · Posted: Wed Dec 30, 2009 7:11 pm Post subject: voltage reg

we bought one last yr our garmin 498 shows 14,4volts and the yamaha gauges show 14.2 the vector shows 13.8 or so . So who knows which one is right ?

marvin4239 · Posted: Wed Dec 30, 2009 7:51 pm Post subject:

I got one from Wally World and it pretty much reads the same as my LMF 200.

journey on · Posted: Wed Dec 30, 2009 9:00 pm Post subject:

jennykatz/jim

All of those meters may be right. It just depends where they are reading. One could be reading at the battery, one at the panel and another the voltage through some gadget that has a high voltage drop because small wire was used. Or they could all be wrong. You can test that by having them all connected at the battery at the same thyme. Remember each circuit has a voltage drop. E still = IR.

I have one of those plug in doohickeys, but they use up a plug of which Journey On only has 2. Why not wire in a cheap meter (say about $5) and save that plug?

Boris

jennykatz · Posted: Fri Jan 01, 2010 1:55 pm Post subject: voltage reg

Boris My 498 gps and my yamaha guages and my plug in are all right next to each other The GPS and Yamaha never coincide? always off my a little the little volt reg shows lower .
I have a 27 series house and a 24 series battery starting battery when i use a voltage gage the batteries usually register about over 12.6-13.8
As long as the gauges are all over 13volts I dont worry to much about it

T.R. Bauer · Posted: Fri Jan 01, 2010 4:33 pm Post subject:

I wouldn't worry about any of the readings that you guys have posted if I were you as they look just fine. Even 12.6 is ok if you have things running and are trying to charge the battery with your motor. Those inexpensive voltage meters are relatively accurate and give you a general idea if your charging system is charging. And that is why you bought it, not to nitpick over 3 tenths of a volt. Just to illustrate, my expensive after-market guage set for my F-350 diesel with dual alternators shows 13.8-14.2 volts almost all the time and under the hood right at the battery terminals my snap-on voltmeter says 14.2-14.7 volts. It really doesn't matter to me which one is right as both say all is fine.

matt_unique · Posted: Fri Jan 01, 2010 5:44 pm Post subject: Cool

Looks like a great tool. I suspect most of us already have a multi-meter and I take readings right at the bat terminals before engines are running then after they are running to determine the charge.

This would be a handy/easy thing to use rather then getting down on hands and knees of course.

Casey · Posted: Fri Jan 01, 2010 7:08 pm Post subject:

If you want to go completely overboard, install a Link 1000:

http://www.xantrex.com/web/id/98/p/1/pt/7/product.asp

We had one of these back when we were fulltiming in the motorhome and it was so useful I ended up putting one in C-Dory Naknek.

It shows the state of charge/discharge, rate of charge/discharge in AmpHours, and all sort of nifty stuff. You can actually see the amperage draw of various appliances, lights, etc in real time.

Pretty cool ... really brings out the Geek in ya.

Best,
Casey

Dreamer · Posted: Fri Jan 01, 2010 7:18 pm Post subject:

Chris, Casey is right, if you really want/need to know what's left in your battery"tank", you would want one of these.
They display amperage being used, amp-hours remaining, voltage and more. May be overkill for the size house banks we're talking about here though.

Look here

Socrateur · Posted: Fri Jan 01, 2010 7:43 pm Post subject:

Overkill is good. Here's one that shows voltage to .001:

Over the top, but fun to play with.

cemiii · Posted: Mon Jan 04, 2010 7:42 pm Post subject:

So the little Vector plug in volt meter came in the mail today. Didn't want to uncover the boat and all so I plugged it in the F250 06 6.0 diesel. Battery reading was 12.5v. Lit the glow plugs and cranking the meter came down to 9.3v. After starting, the meter raised steadily to 14.4v over several seconds telling me my alternator was working properly. On top of that there are 3 colored LED's, a change in which would alert me to monitor more closely.

Drat! now I have to get another for the boat because this puppy isn't leaving the truck.