Voltage Indicator

Mo younesi · Feb 11, 2020

Hi folks,
After a lot of problem recently with my alternator resulting in the battery not charging, I am thinking of cutting a rectangular hole somewhere in the dashboard and putting in one of these voltmeter indicator in so to monitor the charging of the battery. These are fairly cheap on the Ebay and I was wonder if anyone has any recommendations or tips for these. Do they worth it ? Would the two wires to connect these up simply goes to the battery terminal ?
Really appreciate any advice.
R

egards

mick 1986 · Feb 11, 2020

Mo younesi said:
Hi folks,
After a lot of problem recently with my alternator resulting in the battery not charging, I am thinking of cutting a rectangular hole somewhere in the dashboard and putting in one of these voltmeter indicator in so to monitor the charging of the battery. These are fairly cheap on the Ebay and I was wonder if anyone has any recommendations or tips for these. Do they worth it ? Would the two wires to connect these up simply goes to the battery terminal ?
Really appreciate any advice.
RView attachment 200368 egards

I have 2 of a similar design, but mine are 3 wires. They have live and neg, for battery, and switched live to turn the display on and off. Mine are mounted in a mud pod, but not currently wired up, due to rewiring bits.

I’m sure I paid around 99p each for them. They work relatively well, and indicate within 0.2v of my fluke, so accurate enough to tell if the alternator is working.

kermit_rr · Feb 11, 2020

I've got one of these, works ok but as above, you're only reading the voltage on the particular wire you connect up to buy will give a rough idea

Flossie · Feb 11, 2020

90/110 or something else?
If a 90/110 have you got a spare blank in the dash, next to the temp/fuel gauges? A 50mm round gauge will fit there.

nobber · Feb 11, 2020

kermit_rr said:
I've got one of these, works ok but as above, you're only reading the voltage on the particular wire you connect up to buy will give a rough idea

They can connect to the battery then have an ignition live trigger, unless its the old smiths type which are a bit crap anyway.

lynall · Feb 11, 2020

Just get the cheap plug in type off of ebay, they work well, I have had some of mine for a few years now.
Always reassuring to check the voltage every now and then to mkae sure things are in fine fettle.

1.78 delivered, no wires, plug in done, https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-Digi...816952&hash=item58f86b9bbd:g:ObkAAOSwz71ZPjec

raywin · Feb 11, 2020

I cut a square hole in the fuse cover and put one in, they are a bit distracting if in line of site.

raywin · Feb 11, 2020

Found a picture it's not clear but you can see where I fitted it

I have a new one with voltage pressure and temperature on display, when I get time

mick 1986 · Feb 11, 2020

raywin said:
Found a picture it's not clear but you can see where I fitted it

View attachment 200400

I have a new one with voltage pressure and temperature on display, when I get time

View attachment 200401

Have you got a link to that new one please?

Mo younesi · Feb 12, 2020

Guys,
Can't thank you enough for all your replies and lots of good ideas, cheers.
I can't use the central Panel as already have a pair of switches there for Fog lights and Roof Bar light. Mick mentioned the Mud Pod. Looked up for it in the net and seems quite a neat idea especially that it uses the hole of the cigarette ashtray plus that is in line of sight during driving, but when I saw the price for it I thought there is no way I pay £55 for a plastic box and piece of mild steel sheet, but liked the idea, so am going to make my own Mud Pod and use the Ashtray hole to mount it. Might use fibre glass to make the plastic cover and then paint it.
Good advice also about the connections. I have a Defender 90. It is an old Landy and has the very early years dashboard. I have an isolation switch on the negative cable from the battery, so will connect to the battery terminals so it gets shut down when I isolate everything.
Already bought the switches from Ebay. One shows the voltage of the battery which really be the charges arriving at the battery from the alternator when the engine is running. The other switch simply shows the % charge of the battery. Eack were just a couple of pounds.
Many thanks again. Will take a while to do it as I am doing couple of other things on the Landy just now, but will try to get a few photos of it once finished.

raywin · Feb 12, 2020

mick 1986 said:
Have you got a link to that new one please?

I bought it on Ebay a while ago but I cant find one like it now sorry

nobber · Feb 13, 2020

The voltage drop from the battery to the cigarette lighter could be quite significant, especially when you switch a lot of stuff on, depending on what you actually want to monitor will dictate the type of monitor and how you install it.

romanrob · Feb 14, 2020

I got one of these in my defender and P38 - same cigarette socket idea, but then you also get two usb sockets....

I agree there is potentially a voltage drop to the cigarette lighter, but my experience is that it is not dramatic, maybe 0.2 V. Will depend on your electrics. V easy to monitor the battery level (pre ignition), and then the alternator as you run around. It'll even tell you how many amps it's putting into the USB devices. Best £5 I ever spent

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2Port-Fa...var=622102134359&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

kermit_rr · Feb 15, 2020

romanrob said:
potentially a voltage drop

Like what you did there

gstuart · Feb 15, 2020

Funny enough talking about meters, I saw a voltage amp meter the other day

My god they make wiring diagrams confusing , lol

K14 · Feb 15, 2020

You can get one that plugs in your cig lighter

gstuart · Feb 15, 2020

K14 said:
You can get one that plugs in your cig lighter

indeed, fitted some volt meters in mine , just saw the above gauge because it had amps and thought how confusing it was

Plus 1 ref those plug in volt meters

apologises , didn’t mean to hi jack the thread, was just mentioning the amp meters

tottot · Feb 15, 2020

I have one of those LED strip battery testers hard wired in at the lighter point. Does not matter how accurate the reading is but you soon notice if something changes and the strip does not light up as normal. Fewer LED's lighting up the other day let me know something was not right, fan belt a bit loose.

Litch · Feb 15, 2020

"Hi folks,
After a lot of problem recently with my alternator resulting in the battery not charging, I am thinking of cutting a rectangular hole somewhere in the dashboard and putting in one of these voltmeter indicator in so to monitor the charging of the battery. These are fairly cheap on the Ebay and I was wonder if anyone has any recommendations or tips for these. Do they worth it ? Would the two wires to connect these up simply goes to the battery terminal ?"

Assuming the third spot is still available in the binnacle, why not just fit a voltmeter there and keep it standard?

Voltage Indicator

Mo younesi

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mick 1986

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kermit_rr

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Flossie

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nobber

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lynall

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raywin

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raywin

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mick 1986

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Mo younesi

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raywin

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nobber

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romanrob

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kermit_rr

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gstuart

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K14

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gstuart

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tottot

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Litch

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