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In Cabin Voltmeters
Submitted: Tuesday, Mar 01, 2005 at 17:31
Member - Browny (VIC)
Hi All,
As some of you may have read I have recently fitted a
fridge
in my 4by and at the moment it's in there 24/7. What I would like is an in car voltmeter (probably digital) just so I can keep an eye on the second battery level to get an idea of how it is after a weekend of not much driving, how long it needs to run to recharge fully etc etc I assume it only needs to be connected to the second battery? as that is the only one with "hot" wires so to speak.
are there any voltmeters you guys recomend? or any you don't?
Cheers.............Browny
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ThreadID:
20882
Replies:
7
Views:
906
FollowUps:
9
This Thread has been Archived
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AnswerID: 100709 Submitted: Tuesday, Mar 01, 2005 at 18:29
Member - Ivan (ACT)
replied: Browny,
Hit the archives mate - this has been done to death a couple of times recently - if you still need more, hit us with it ;-)
Cheers,
Ivan
100 Series LandCruiser V8 (2005)
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Reply 1 of 7
FollowupID: 358857 Submitted: Tuesday, Mar 01, 2005 at 19:33
Member - Browny (VIC) posted:
Ivan,
Cheers Mate, I did have a go there first, I typed in Voltmeters and it came back zilch! I couldn't think of anything else to type, I'll try again with other options and see how I go.
Browny
FollowUp 1 of 1
AnswerID: 100715 Submitted: Tuesday, Mar 01, 2005 at 19:41
Member - Jimbo (VIC)
replied: Browny,
Get a cheap voltmeter, $10 at Supercheap or similar. Buy two 'banana" plugs from Smithies and attach two wires to the plugs that run to your batt. Put the banana plugs into the holes on the volt meter and switch it on from time to time to check the voltage.
Cheap, but effective.
Cheers,
Jim.
Reply 2 of 7
FollowupID: 358932 Submitted: Wednesday, Mar 02, 2005 at 14:48
Member - Browny (VIC) posted:
Cheers Jimbo
FollowUp 1 of 1
AnswerID: 100719 Submitted: Tuesday, Mar 01, 2005 at 20:33
AdrianLR
replied: Have a look at this one at Jaycar - has voltage and temperature:
STOCK-CODE: XC0116 RRP: $39.95
$39.95
Car Voltage Meter / In-Out Thermometer / Clock
A bit pricey but will also tell you what the
fridge
is doing.
Adrian
Reply 3 of 7
FollowupID: 358870 Submitted: Tuesday, Mar 01, 2005 at 21:09
Member - Roachie (SA) posted:
Yep, that's the one I've got. I think mine has some dud parts, cos it doesn't work as well as it should, but it sort of does the job. I remember posting a response about this a few weeks ago; so here goes again:
I've lengthened the remote temp sensor (cut it and spliced in some fine cable) so I can have it dash-mounted and the sensor is in the
fridge
.
I cut off the cigi plug and hard wired it to some other gear on the dash that gets power from 2nd battery. It's supposed to have a blue backlight on whenever it has power (full-time in my case, even when motor is off), but that feature works only when it feels like it.
It has a buzzer that goes off when power goes below a certain level (I think it was 10.5v). But on mine it beeped and farted so much that i pulled the back off it and snipped the wires to the speaker.
The clock didn't keep very good time. It runs off 2 button-type batteries, so I chucked them (don't need clock anyway).
There are 2 read-outs available and 3 things to monitor (inside temp, outside temp, voltage). There is a few buttons you can push to choose various read-outs. I prefer to see the
fridge
temp and volts, but sometimes it just changes itself to whatever it likes!
Yesterday, the temp in the truck was BLOODY hot when I knocked off work. The whole screen had gone black due to the heat, but it came back ok once it cooled down.
Hope this long-winded response helps a bit.
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There's only one thing more painful than learning from experience and that is NOT learning from experience!
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FollowUp 1 of 6
FollowupID: 358933 Submitted: Wednesday, Mar 02, 2005 at 14:54
Member - Browny (VIC) posted:
Adrian,
Thanks mate sounds something like I'm after, the temp guage is a "bonus" to I guess.
Browny
Roachie,
Thanks mate, much appreciated info.
Browny
FollowUp 2 of 6
FollowupID: 358937 Submitted: Wednesday, Mar 02, 2005 at 15:49
Member - Jeff M (WA) posted:
I've got the same, works fantastic! Goes a little funny when the interior temp get's over 60c but comes good again after the air con is on for a while.
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#1 - I'm not telling :-)
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FollowUp 3 of 6
FollowupID: 358975 Submitted: Wednesday, Mar 02, 2005 at 21:24
Member - Rick (S.A.) posted:
Snap!
Me 2, Roachie.
Sensor location seems to be important. Mine read 55 degrees ambient , when located under bull bar, in
Robe
2 winters ago. I re-located the sensor to inside the doorwell on RHS A pillar, up about top hinge level. Soon after, it started going spazzo. Any numeral could pop up, inside/outside, but close enough to make me wonder what was wot!
Battery volts never seemed to be dicky, even referenced against a hand held voltmeter
Hot days it crashed. Cool days, I was always thinking that it must be wrong. Eventually got sick of it & binned it. Blew $ 40 there- but who cares, it's only money.
Now I am happier.
I can tell if it's hot - I sweat.
I can tell if its fine - look out for rain or clouds
I can tell if the air temp is low - open the window
Moral of the story - like with most 'gadgets' - I have come to realise that less is more.
Cheers
FollowUp 4 of 6
FollowupID: 358976 Submitted: Wednesday, Mar 02, 2005 at 21:35
Member - JohnR (Vic) posted:
Me too Roachie, before the trip away though the clock carked it which was a pity as it was easy to be seen from the navigators seat. Hope that it can be replaced by Jaycar, but the hour plus that it could take to get the wiring done I don't know it's best to keep the nav informed anyway - it may be me. Heather warned me the clock is on the CDMA anyway.
I set the outside temp sensor in the
snorkel
to check the important inlet temps - it would warn me of ice the info tells me......
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Regards
John
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FollowUp 5 of 6
FollowupID: 359007 Submitted: Thursday, Mar 03, 2005 at 10:31
Member - Jeff M (WA) posted:
I've got my sensor siliconed on the bottom of the
snorkel
Air Ram. Give's me the same readins my Multimeter's temp sensor gives me. Inside temp is a little screwy as it's glued to the dash above the stereo so when the music is cranked it gets heat rising from the stereo.
Volt = perfect.
Clock has never faulted.
We don't have that much COLD weather in
Perth
so maybe that's why mine has not faulted like you guys did. The screen does go Black when it's REALLY hot inside (parked at the beach on a 40+c day) but my Multimeter does the same thing if I leave it out in the sun so I don't think it's actually a fault as such.
Oh well, mine works so Nah nah na nah naaa! ;-) LOL
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#1 - I'm not telling :-)
#2 Yellowdine National Park
#3 Powerline Trek - Saywers Valley
#4 Near Hyden WA
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FollowUp 6 of 6
AnswerID: 100727 Submitted: Tuesday, Mar 01, 2005 at 21:51
Andrew from TrekTable
replied: Browny,
Check out post # 20130 and #20336. In 20336 I posted a link to a simple Amp & Voltmeter which may interest you.
My text in that post said "Just recently I embarked on a project to build a combined volt and AMMETER. Basically I wanted to measure battery volts to determine battery state, plus also be able to measure current into & outof my 2nd battery. Problem is, most AMMETERs are symmetrical (ie -1000A to +100A) but I wanted to be able to measure input current (approx 80A) but also output current (approx 4A) and a symmetrical meter was too inaccurate at low ranges. So I built a cheap & cheerful Volt & Amp meter. I discussed this a few days ago on a different thread and had abit of interest so I drew it up & posted a link.
You can find my cheap & cheerful Volt & Amp meter herehere. If you want to learn abit about shunts & meters, it's not a bad project to begin with. "
If this info helps and you want more info, feel free to email me.
Andrew
TrekTable
Member: Lapsed Membership
Reply 4 of 7
AnswerID: 100749 Submitted: Tuesday, Mar 01, 2005 at 23:13
The Rambler
replied: Roachie
Iwas glad you posted that honest response as I nearly bought that same thing at the Engel agent here in
Perth
--Ithink he wanted $50 bit I will give it a miss now.
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Reply 5 of 7
AnswerID: 100767 Submitted: Wednesday, Mar 02, 2005 at 08:26
old-plodder
replied: I must be crazy, or spent too much money, which would be unusual since my wife is always complaining how stingy I am, but I bought a standard VDO volt meter to mount on the dash, and hooked it up across the terminals of the battery. Is this too simple? Interesting to watch the voltmeter for the main battery and the 2nd battery, and how the rotronics switches current between the two.
If you want a cheap cover (pod) for the 2" gauge, use two caps off some black spary cans (or pick another colour). Cut the bottom off one so it will mount at the front of the guage, the other for the rear.
Only problem I have found is that there is some current draw and the battery drops from 12.8V to 12.5V over night. So I put a switch in the circuit, which hopefully doesn't have too much voltage drop.
Reply 6 of 7
FollowupID: 358934 Submitted: Wednesday, Mar 02, 2005 at 15:15
Member - Browny (VIC) posted:
Plodder,
Thanks mate, more food for thought.
Browny
FollowUp 1 of 1
AnswerID: 100771 Submitted: Wednesday, Mar 02, 2005 at 08:40
B0XER
replied: Roachie,
Must be a dud mate, as I run the same unit and have had nothing but success with it. I cut the cig plug off it and wired it in parallel inside the
fridge
cig plug and then velcro'd it to the
fridge
. Its great its backlit all the time so I can peer through the back window of my car at night and see
fridge
temp and batt volts
Reply 7 of 7
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