Datel Voltmeter Question

[Fred W]

btw I am really a skeptic when it comes to voltmeters (gee, did a EE just say that?). After the first few rides my guess is that most people don't ever look at the readout - until somehing bad happens & then its too late. But the meter will tell you the battery is dead at that point. An idiot light would be more useful, but granted, not as pretty.

The meter is useful when deciding how many accessories (especially heated items and big aux lights, which tend to be power hogs) to run at any given moment in time.

 

[ionbeam]

I've got amp-eater PIAA 910s and heated gear that can drag the battery voltage below 12 volts if I don't watch it.

In automotive use you really only need one decimal place of accuracy and Datel meters are way better than that.

I use Datel meters in some of the products that I design as well as in test fixtures. Datel meters are one of the best bang for the buck meters you can buy.

 

[TriggerT]

And the "On The Fly" readings is what I want to be accurate, so that I know if I am using to many electric farkles at once. To that end, I want to get as accurate of a reading as possible, so I think going directly to the battery is the way to go.

Right now, I just have the GPS, upgraded light bulbs, and heated gear, but I hope to add some additional lights in the near future, and it would suck to drain the battery and get stuck in the middle of nowhere.

 

[Fred W]

And the "On The Fly" readings is what I want to be accurate, so that I know if I am using to many electric farkles at once. To that end, I want to get as accurate of a reading as possible, so I think going directly to the battery is the way to go.
Right now, I just have the GPS, upgraded light bulbs, and heated gear, but I hope to add some additional lights in the near future, and it would suck to drain the battery and get stuck in the middle of nowhere.

Again... the reading does not need to be exact nor precise, just relatively accurate and reproduceable.

But if it makes you feel better, get the reading right off the battery.

 

[RonBB]

Again... the reading does not need to be exact nor precise, just relatively accurate and reproduceable.
But if it makes you feel better, get the reading right off the battery.

Concur.

 

[Bounce]

on-the-fly is easy once you know the correction factor. connecting it to the battery and learning the typical readings in different situations is your baseline. then connect it the way you want and monitor it under the same circumstances. that should get you a difference. from there you can simply look at the meter and mentally add X to get a close-enough value for practicle use.

 

[Fred W]

Concur.

Is he related to Gunny?

 

[Groo]

Put mine in the black plastic panel (I think it's D...) just inside of your location... mine read's 14.2 or 14.1 when underway... and it's running on a switched circuit (although connected at the switch terminals located very near to the battery)...

 

[TriggerT]

I would have preferred to put it in the black panel, but on the '06, it just can't be done on the right hand side. the fuse boxes are right under the black panel, so there is no room.

I agree that I can leave the Datel the way it is once I know what the baseline difference is, but I need to find that out, and then I will decide if I want to change how things are wired for the long term.

 

[RonBB]

QUOTE (RonBB @ May 9 2008, 04:11 PM) Concur.

Is he related to Gunny?

I ride an FJR---I am a nonconformist! Wonder how many EE's are on on this thread?