great info evil, thank you and thanks to all for your input. good luck with the install stevo, i look forward to the pics.
jamie
great info evil, thank you and thanks to all for your input. good luck with the install stevo, i look forward to the pics.
jamie
the evil twin (10th November 2011)
I did the same evil twin... Good work
I did something similar, but a bit different. I ran an ignition feed from the Cigi lighter to a relay and switched a feed from the second battery, so that when the ignition is off, the voltmeter shows the second battery voltage and when the ignition is on and the engine is running, it shows the cranking battery voltage.
I also now have a voltmeter on the fridge, which is run from the second battery.
Going to pinch this thread as i have a few questions on getting a new volt meter.
At the moment my dual battery setup has a Piranha DBE 180S and it comes with a very basic meter reader.
Im looking at fitting something in the back of the car, where the fridge and everything will be, so i know where the battery is sitting.
I am really wanting to get one that will give me a reading when the car is of? or would that not be recommended?
What sort should i be looking at?
i had this in mind http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/DUAL-BATT...item43abbdb98e
Also had something like in mind for the back
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/230699246...84.m1423.l2649
Last edited by Leighw85; 18th December 2011 at 07:30 PM.
not really sure this is the answer you guys are looking for but i have a display with voltage and amps charge and discharge rate(how long till charged/discharged) on my second battery (this is in the cab) with a smart solenoid between the two(as most of us do) and i have nothing except the winch on the starting battery so i dont think i really need to keep much of an eye on the starting battery. i do have the multimeter with me when away so i could check anything if there was a problem. i have even changed the car dvd/stereo over to the deep cycleOriginally Posted by Leighw85
Scotty
Last edited by rottodiver; 18th December 2011 at 07:47 PM. Reason: spelling
I changed my setup slightly also because I wanted to monitor the voltage at the fridge rather than from the drivers seat. It's a good thing we can have as many volt meters as necessary. This way, every time I go to the fridge, I can keep a check on it's temp and the battery voltage, with everything else switched off.
How did ya get the voltmeter on the fridge mate? That's pretty much what I want to do. Get a voltmeter reading while the car is of, and from where the fridge is!
Leigh, Voltmeters are very high resistance meters, so it’s ok to leave them running because they don’t draw hardly any current to operate.
I fitted the meter into the fridge because I only need to know the voltage when the fridge is plugged in and I also wanted a temp gauge so that I know that the contents is at the correct temperature.
Those meters came from China (ebay) and were quite cheap, around $20 each, so I even bought some spares in case they fail, but they have been in for about a year with no problems so far. They are quite thin, only about 15mm thick, so there was plenty of room for them in the fridge. I just had to cut the holes and take out a bit of insulation for them to fit. Then I wired them into the fridge power supply, ran the temp probe to the condenser and all done, easy!
yeah im not to keen on chomping my new Waeco hahaha.
i could just mount one in the back somewhere. Does it just hook into the + and - wire to get the reading?
Leigh,
Yes it does, The reason I wanted it mounted on the fridge is so that it wouldn't be on all the time that the fridge wasn't operating and so that I could monitor the temperature as well.
In your case if you don't want to or can't modify the fridge, you could just fit the voltmeter to the side panel of the car where you mount the fridge and plug it in with a switch, so that when the switch is on, the voltmeter also comes on. Then when you unplug or remove the fridge, switch off the power and the meter won't run unnecessarily. Also you could use it to monitor your auxillary battery even without the fridge.
Cheers,
Chaz
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