Hi Barry, I fitted one of these yesterday and have not checked accuracy, or used in real life as yet.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/291318635718?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

Aussie Paul. 

HI Barry,

Perhaps more expensive than you want or even need but my motorhome had a National Luna dual battery monitor on the house batteries and I think its great. So good I bought another to monitor my truck batteries too. And I own three multimeters.

They are made for battery monitoring and have a line of leds in red, orange, green to give an instant readout of battery voltage. 3 Red for low, 7 orange for working range, 4 green for charging range. They also have an alarm for faults. When you glance at it you can instantly see if the batteries are charging and how much, at night you can just glance to see how the batteries are going and if its time to call it quits.

Even my family understands it, no complicated mental arithmetics just don't go below 3 orange lights. During the day check it goes into the green ones two or three at least. Its the best voltage meter I have had. Simple   They come in single or dual and they monitor the voltages independant of earths etc. They also have the voltages marked against the leds. Google for them or some 4WD shops sell them. 

Jaahn

http://www.kulkyne.com/au/Recessed-Dual-Battery-Monitor.html?gclid=CJnxk6rHiMMCFYcsvQodOU4A3A

-- Edited by Jaahn on Saturday 10th of January 2015 03:11:57 PM

DeBe wrote:

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The top cig lighter socket type are LED & draw too mutch current. The LCD type 03_ Troopy shows Ive been using & draw very little current in comparison.

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 I had better check the current draw then. 

Aussie Paul. 

Jaahn

Thank you for your input but as you said a bit dear as I was thinking something cheap like the other ones, as I said it is only just to monitor them when the solar is not attached or the genie as they do already have meters on them, and as I have 2 batteries I didn't want to spend much.

Now as for Troopy's idea, for some reason I can not get it to load the page, it just keeps saying This page can not be displayed.

So Troopy the gauge you are talking about, are they the little square ones with 2 or 3 wires on them that you can get on ebay, as per the attached photo.

If so which gauge is better the 2 wire or 3 wire to connect as I have no problem connecting them, only need to know if need the 2 or 3 wire model.

Anyway thanks for info so far guys.

Barry.

 

42 milliamps/hour is what my LED voltage indicator draws. Is that good or bad?

Aussie Paul. 

dorian wrote:

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"Milliamps per hour" does not make sense.

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 Have I stuffed up with terminology Dorian?

Here is where I had the multimeter set to.

Aussie Paul. 

aussie_paul wrote:

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Hi Barry, I fitted one of these yesterday and have not checked accuracy, or used in real life as yet.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/291318635718?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

Aussie Paul. 

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 Hi aussie paul,

I have a couple of those ciggie meters too which i use for a quick check on the charging of a car or battery health if suspect. They are a bit inaccurate but at that price I gave a couple away to my mates so they stopped borrowing mine  I do not usually leave them in all the time as they draw a bit of current but its not so bad, just like a small light. All volt meters draw a small current to work, some less than others. The National Lunar draw 18ma I think and less if you turn off the displays which you can do with a push of a button. They are worth the cost to me for the instant clear display and the excellent way they work. I have never seen a better purpose designed meter and I have used quite a few of many types in my jobs.   They read two batteries in parallel or in series.

Current is measured in amps or milliamps in this case. That is a flow of current like a flow of water. If you want a quantity of electricity it is amp hours, that is a current of say, an amp for an hour is an amp hour. That is like a quantity of water over some time, eg a liter. That is what a battery stores, amp hours of electricity.

cheers Jaahn 

 

-- Edited by Jaahn on Saturday 10th of January 2015 10:52:40 PM

Well, there you go, learn more and more every day. Just love my new found friends on Cindy's forum.

Where did I go wrong with Milliamps/hour?

Aussie Paul. 

aussie_paul wrote:

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42 milliamps/hour is what my LED voltage indicator draws. Is that good or bad?

Aussie Paul. 

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 Hi Paul

Getting electrical terminolgy right can be a Bugger

But it is important to avoid misundertstandings

The current flowing at any instant is measured in:Micro A,Milli A or simply A

TIme [Hrs] only come into when it is AMPS by time actually used

So 10A used for 1hr is 10Ahrs

But 2A used for 5hrs is also 10Ah

or a step further:

10A used continuosly for 24hrs = 240Ahrs, [can also be shown as 240Ah]

2A used continiuosly over 24hrs=48Ahs

so in your case ,the meter consumes 0.042A,  over 24hrs it will be 0.043A x24hrs   = 1.008 Ahs used in 24hrs

Hope that helps!

PeterQ

 

-- Edited by oldtrack123 on Saturday 10th of January 2015 11:34:55 PM

Barry, my link was a search on Ebay for 0V to 30V digital voltmeter. There are many different types including dual readout so you can monitor the 24V system as well, or fit shunt and measure curent at the same time.

WAssa

Even though they are connected I would still like to have them monitored individually as I finally got the system to show me the link that Troopy wanted me to see I have found that I can get a couple of those for around $10 which is perfect to monitor both batteries, plus I can get another one to keep an eye on the 24v setup that the bus runs, which is what Troopy has pointed out above.
So anyway thank you very much for that guys, but as for those gauges you said Troopy which ones would be the best a 2 wire or 3 wire setup, as I have said they are so cheap I would get 3 of them and have them running full time to even make sure that the meters on the solar panel and the generator are also running properly.
Because what I will do is run a different colour for each battery so it just makes it easier to monitor.

Barry.

oldtrack123 wrote:

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Hope that helps!

PeterQ

 

-- Edited by oldtrack123 on Saturday 10th of January 2015 11:34:55 PM

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Thanks Peter, back in 1970 when I was 20 I developed type 1 diabetes. In the late 70s I went from farming to owner operating a motel with Eril and a 12 week old baby. I was interested in communications after flying around the country side, and as moteling is a 24/7 job I needed a hobby so I chose CB radio. I realised that I needed to get a Amature/Ham radio ticket when the CB become unbearable due idiots etc. I studied enough to achieve my full Ham ticket. So, a long time ago and most of the info I learned is rusty!!!!!!!!

Aussie Paul.