| Author | Message | ||
     Reepicheep |
I was at a local (very big, very common) chain store today (no names, they are not a sponsor) and ran across (in the sporting goods / boating section) a little battery monitor doohicky. It had 4 LEDS (1/4, 1/2, 3/4, full) *and* a LCD volt read out, and was $15. It was made to be put across a battery, but looked hack friendly, so I took a chance and bought it. As a side note, at this same unnamed big box store, I pulled out a Fram Tough Guard (the upgraded Fram brand) and a Super Tech ( ;) ) oil filter, and of the two, the fram was clearly a better made part. It was more expensive as well. But thats a different topic. Anyway, I pulled apart the meter, and sure enough the internal circuit board was nice and small. So I threw away the back cover, cut down the front cover. You need part of the front cover, it holds the LCD panel in the right position. It's clearly not waterproof, so I potted the whole mess with lots of hot-melt glue. I went right over the LED's (the glue is fairly transparent) and also had to seal the clear plastic and black plastic case pieces as they were also not weatherproof. Then I made a little bracket to mount it under my flyscreen. I bent the LED leads to point up between the gap in the flyscreen above the existing dash, so you see the LED's when riding, and they cast a fairly cool and colorfull glow through the flyscreen. You can also read the LCD and see the exact voltage if you look carefully through my translucid flyscreen (a cool borgish touch... you can see all sorts of intersting wires and lights in there now). It seems to work perfectly. My battery (now 20k miles old) will show "full" when the bike is just shut after being run awhile, or when the bike is running and the RPM's are above 2000 or so, but will show 3/4 lights when sitting for just a little bit, and when below 2000 RPM's. Which is probably exactly right given the age of the battery. The LED's give the "idiot light" view, but with a lot more information (2 bits resolution  ). And when I want to know the "real" voltage, I can just look carefully though the flyscreen and read the (upside down) actual voltage. I'll post pictures if anyone is interested, and post an update if it ever saves me a breakdown or fails in some interesting way. It was about an hour or relaxed fabrication and mounting work, so clearly a wise person would buy something from Al at American Sportbike and just mount it, but if you like to hack and have a "one of those big stores" nearby and $15 burning a hole in your pocket (and a lot of hot melt glue sticks) it is a fun little project. | ||
| Reepicheep |
Update... Well, in the "light of day", it looks perhaps a little *too* borgish. You can not only see the LCD clearly through the flyscreen, you can see the hot melt glue and galvanized scrap metal mounting bracket and lots of wiring. And the voltage displayed is upside down... which I knew going into it, but I didn't think it would be so obviously upside down to the casual observer . It also continues to show "full" for a few seconds after I stop the engine, but then goes to 3/4 or even 1/2. If this is a bug in the meter, then the whole exercise was of questionable merit. If this is simply an accurate reflection of the fact that my original battery now has 20k miles on it and is at least 1/2 way toasted in reserve capacity (not at all unlikely), then this is an essential modification. I also don't know if it will "alert" for over voltage by blinking or something. Regardless, it needs some aesthetic dress up. Something classy I think, like black electrical tape and nothing but the best black cable ties . All in all, I'm sure Al could sell you something that would work better and easier and do more for not much more $$. | ||
| Fullpower |
either invert the casual observer OR the bike, that should solve your vertical polarization issue. | ||
| Reepicheep |
I slapped some electrical tape around it to hide the hot melt glue potting, and dug up the factory service manual entry on the battery. I'll be darned, but the manual says the same thing this stupid little $15 meter says... that my battery is holding at most 50%-75% charge. Its not toast yet, but its getting close (20 k miles, 2005 model bought in 2004). And now it's got me thinking about the charging system. A battery that "absorb" current means all the excess power from the stator has to be absorbed by the voltage regulator and stator. So the meter is definitely a value add... and makes it clear I should probably think seriously about replacing my battery... even though it may have another year left in it. I'll post some pictures when I upload the next batch from the camera... | ||
| Bad_karma |
Bill I have a version of your meter that plugs into an accessory outlet that I mounted on the side of the dash. It has been working for over two years and the leds are great at night. But the max voltage is a little high for our bikes. Joe | ||
| Mikej |
"I'll post pictures if anyone is interested" Yes please, thank you.  | ||
| S2pengy |
Yes like to see it as well.. | ||
| Jackbequick |
Here is a sort of minimalist approach to a battery monitor. It is a single LED mounted in a 1/4" hole: http://www.electricalconnection.com/meters_indicat ors/04101.htm That changes colors as follows: RED - less than 11.5 volts AMBER - 11.9 to 11.5 volts GREEN - 12 volts and up I drilled a 1/4" hole below the key switch on my Dyna FXD. If the LED is green whenever the ignition is on everything is cool. If it comes up yellow or red it is time to do some trouble shooting. I like that and it is small enough and light enough to mounted nearly anywhere. Jack | ||
| Reepicheep |
Thats a neat solution Jack. Here are some pictures of my install... There is a V+ lead right there under the flyscreen, I was already using it to power my Garmin Quest (the glowing little red light in the lower left hand corner) X-Ray view via flash (it never looks this obvious)  View while riding, two of four LEDs lit  Front view (non x-ray)  The Parts...  | ||
| Reepicheep |
JB2... speaking of hidden messages, that thing over my shoulder in my reflection in that second picture (non-xray) above is still waiting for you to pick up or for me to drop off... (not the orange thing, the bigger thing between that and me).../ | ||
| Iamike |
After the stator died on my S3 I found a compact (1.5") voltmeter at the auto parts store that would fit on my dash. At first I hooked it up through the ignition but it indicated about 1 volt less than the voltage at the battery, I felt that was unacceptable since I really wanted to monitor the battery voltage. I then hooked it right to a lead from the battery but then found that due to its lower internal resistance it would drain the battery after several days. I had to hook up a switch to it to presereve the battery. I considered connecting it through a relay but decided to leave it alone so I could monitor the voltage when I had a charger on it. BTW, my battery is 4 years old and settles at 12.4-12.5v after the engine shuts down. It drops to 12.0v when I turn on the ignition. I figure if I can make it through this year I'll get a new one next spring. |
