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Lux voltmeter

Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2007 10:35 pm
by Lux_89
hey guys, how we all travelling? So repco has this you bute sale on atm so im goin out to buy a speco voltmeter gauge to throw into my truck, 2.8, as it dosent have one, im sure only sr5's come with them. Basically is it goin to be easy to wire it in and what is the closest point to hook it into to get th reading from? its a 94 2.8.. Cheers guys

Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2007 11:07 pm
by crack
id say the best place would be straight to the battery?

Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2007 11:11 pm
by j-top paj
direct to the battery would be how i would do it

Posted: Mon Aug 13, 2007 9:17 am
by me3@neuralfibre.com
Direct to the battery will flatten the battery as it's on all the time.

Has to go through your ignition.

Depending on the "look" you are after Jaycar sells a good digital one for $40. with a clock etc. I like them.


Paul

Posted: Mon Aug 13, 2007 9:54 am
by Lux_89
ok, i didnt say anything bout the first two responses as im the one with no clue, but i thought it would drain too, same as your uhf, you cant go power straight from the batt otherwise you leave you uhf on accidently and it drains your batt, weher car is on or off, so it would be the same for the volt meter. my uhf is tapped into the accessory, so once the accessories are off so is th uhf, so if i do the same here i should be right. Thanks very much guys, appreciate you help, take care

Posted: Mon Aug 13, 2007 11:40 am
by MART
Use a relay of your ignition setting , the relay switches on when ignition on and run it accross your batt terminals , when car off , meter off , I would put a fuse on the positive to the meter as well , just to be safe , you will always get the most accurate reading accross the battery , Cheers Paul.

Posted: Mon Aug 13, 2007 12:54 pm
by j-top paj
me3@neuralfibre.com wrote:Direct to the battery will flatten the battery as it's on all the time.

Has to go through your ignition.
:oops: i forgot about that

Posted: Mon Aug 13, 2007 5:24 pm
by me3@neuralfibre.com
MART wrote:Use a relay of your ignition setting , the relay switches on when ignition on and run it accross your batt terminals , when car off , meter off , I would put a fuse on the positive to the meter as well , just to be safe , you will always get the most accurate reading accross the battery , Cheers Paul.
Relay contacts will have a certain resistance anyway. The reason ppl say wire direct is to get accurate reading. Reading is inaccurate when high current through a resistance causes a voltage drop across the resistance. The voltmeter draws f-all current, but enought to flatten a battery if you happen to not drive for a couple of weeks. The perceived inaccuracy from going through the acc circuit would depend on the current draw, but realistically, for what we are talking about here, it's all relative. It's close enough it wont matter. The speco brand is pretty average, I wouldn't trust the thing to be within 0.5v anyway. It's indicitive, like oil pressure. It's not the PSI, but the "is this different from normal" that count. Wired through the acc will give you a feel for, low, high, ok, charging etc.

Paul

Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2007 6:33 pm
by Lux_89
yeh thats basically all im after.. just wanna be in the know when its on its way out of having too much sucked from it. thanks heaps guys

Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2007 8:59 pm
by gorgie2006
Get one off ebay that plugs into ur cig lighter i just got one myself its works really well
sat in the car and watched a dvd on saturday with engine off and i could watch the volts without havin to worry bout it dying and it was accurate.

Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2007 7:57 pm
by Lux_89
thanks but dont have credit card or ebay account as yet..

voltmeter

Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2007 8:47 pm
by want33s
Save your money for a good dual battery controller with low voltage cutout and dash display. :D

Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2007 9:49 am
by trains
Why dont you get an sr5 dash, remove the volt meter, and fit it into your dash.
All the wiring etc is there ready for it.

And do the same with the oil press. tho you need a new sender unit for the block.

T