Battery Meter

[Pedro_The_Swift]

I am about to install two MRV87's in my camper as storage batteries, these will be boxed and not readily accessable.
I think I need a LED type readout in the main area of the camper so I can monitor voltage.
This readout should be readable both by day and at night.

Any ideas or current [;)]solutions?

[fraser130]

I have seen some nice ones on ebay, but beware they seem to need a seperate power supply of (i think) 6 volts which means you need to buy/build a power supply to run the meter which I think is a bit of a waste of the power you are trying to monitor!!
The LED ones may use more power to run than you are happy with.
Fraser

[waynep]

Try Jaycar


Jaycar Electronics (http://www.jaycar.com.au)

Type in "volt meter" in their search feild. They've got several types including this LCD one for $30 with voltmeter with low voltage alarm, plus indoor outdoor thermometer and clock, and blue backlight, which i thought was pretty cool. You could use the thermometer bit for the fridge temp.


http://www.jaycar.com.au/products_uploaded/productLarge_5980.jpg

Hmm. might go get one of them myself....



or you could get this Piranha one

Battery Monitor Piranha (http://springers.com.au/Products.aspx?ProductID=857)

seems a bit expensive for what it is though ....

[Pedro_The_Swift]

I found this,,

Volt Meter Inline (http://www.sidewinder.com.au/page168.html)

which is more what I had in mind,, but permanently wired in.

but then I thought, I will only be concerned when the fridge is on,, so why not wire it to the 12v fridge lead?

[weeds]

a cheap $15 multimeter from dicksmiths, cut the probes off the end, put round electrical connectors on the end and mount them permently battery terminal. the length of wire should be long enough to get you some where you can read it


turn your multimeter on when you want to check, leave it off the rest of the time

[Pedro_The_Swift]

Brilliant weeds,,:clap2::clap2:

[PhilipA]

I have had a Jaycar for about 4 years now and it is great.
I noticed at caravan show that one of the Camper makers fitted them.
Regards Philip A

[feral]

A little more technical but have a look at this.

MARINECONNECT - Electronic and Electrical Specialists - Gold Battery Terminal Block with Digital Voltage and Current Meters (http://www.marineconnect.com.au/www/110/1001127/displayproduct/1001513_1001331_.html)

Measures voltage and Amps.

[Pedro_The_Swift]

not bad,, was after something , set and forget, no need for a power cord, is back lit, and relatively, easy on the power drawn,, can it be that hard?

[feral]

not bad,, was after something , set and forget, no need for a power cord, is back lit, and relatively, easy on the power drawn,, can it be that hard?

Its all that plus more :D:D

No seriously, it looks like this......

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2008/07/764.jpg



The top figures measure amps. The bottom figures measure voltage.

With my setup it is measuring battery voltage and the amp drawn from the auxiliary battery. It makes it easy to work out how much life you have left before thinking about recharging.

Some examples of amps drawn.
Engal fridge 1 - 2.
Laptop 3 - 4.
Caravan Fridge 12.

Even thinking about installing another to check what amps are going into the auxiliary battery.

[weeds]

Its all that plus more :D:D

No seriously, it looks like this......

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2008/07/764.jpg



The top figures measure amps. The bottom figures measure voltage.

With my setup it is measuring battery voltage and the amp drawn from the auxiliary battery. It makes it easy to work out how much life you have left before thinking about recharging.

Some examples of amps drawn.
Engal fridge 1 - 2.
Laptop 3 - 4.
Caravan Fridge 12.

Even thinking about installing another to check what amps are going into the auxiliary battery.

now that a neat piece of kit

[fraser130]

Feral, do you know how the meter displays current flow in the other direction?
You may be able to connect the supply from your battery isolator to the other side of the meter and it might display a (-ve) current flow which would mean the charge current.
If it did, I'd buy one tommorrow for myself!

Cheers,
fraser

[feral]

No it won't and couldn't work anyway. There's no position for the negative symbol.

Also, the pic is when I first wired it up. I thought it would be all logical and power would be in on the left and output to the right.

Seeing the error of my ways in assuming that all is logical, the power input is the actually the right side. Even though the voltage reads perfectly either way its the amps that will not work the way its wired up in the pic.

It took me about two weeks before I had the courage to try the reverse wiring and now it works fine. I didn't want to blow the thing up :p