Mini voltmeter - Wiring thoughts

[Badgerboy]

Afternoon,

As my bike appears to have the most tempremental charging system in the world despite money and parts being lavished upon it, I've bought myself a little 2 inch digital volt meter so I know when I am running out of juice.

My initial plan was to run it straight from the battery with a relay to the ignition, but someone suggested running it straight off the ignition. Is this feasilble? It would cut down on alot of additional wiring and allow me to hide it within the clock mount somewhere. Obviously I would need to splice into the ignition 12v and run an earth, but is there a preferred method of doing this?

Thanks

[Neosophist]

A Voltmeter alone isn't really ideal for measuring this.

It'll tell you if your regulator busts and your over / undercharing but you could really do with an ammeter too.

This will give you an indication of how much current the bike is using

http://www.motorcycleproject.com/motorc ... meter.html

Even if your bike has neither light or voltmeter, and that's most machines now, an ammeter is a good thing to have. Remember, the ammeter monitors charging system activity in "real time," unlike the voltmeter whose information is as stale as yesterday's newspaper. When charging system trouble occurs, the ammeter's warning is instant. The voltmeter's response is delayed.

[Badgerboy]

If I can source a mini ammeter I shall surely add one into the mix! (They are a little harder to find than the voltmeters however or much more expensive!)

At least with the voltmeter I will know when the bike is having one of those days and the battery is slowing discharging throughout the day. (At the tea stops!)

[Neosophist]

lol

ammeters can be had dirt cheap off ebay.

You only need an 8 amps one.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Superb-NEW-8-Amp- ... 35aa30034e

something like that

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1-3-4-8-0-8-AMP-A ... 3a5cb07d92

or that if you want to spend a little more :)

[Badgerboy]

Unfortunately those are too big, I've already had a look for a small digital one, classic gauges are too big for my setup especially when you consider the depth.

[Micro Monkey]

I rigged one up to my rvf400 after loads of rectifier problems. Bought a lcd voltmeter off the bay and rigged it up with a switch directly to the battery, this way i can use it for info when charging the bike. My bike before would regularly put out 18.6 volts frying the battery. With the voltmeter i can see a 14.06 volt max reading no matter the rev range, with a new rec of course. You usually notice the voltage going too high first before amperage changes which is the reason i went with a voltmeter rather than a dual volt/amp meter.

[Neosophist]

Unless your reg/rec packs up the other-way and starts under-charging... then you'll notice when the battery voltage starts dropping :)

Hmm, dual meter eh.. that sounds interesting. I might look into one :D