Dual Battery Monitoring

Mike the options are endless. From a simple digitale volt meter from Jaycar for $14 through to multi function amps/volt metres from Autron, VDO etc.

Have a look at some of Derek Bester's stuff at ABR Sidewinder. He is a business member on the site. There will be something fit for purpose there that will not break the bank.

ABR Sidewinder


Cheers Mick

There are heaps of monitors out there, have a look at ABR Sidewinder, there is a good stock of meters, guages and battery monitors available.

Hi Mike as per other replies lots of option including quite complex ones , but I tend to reccomend simple plug in cig socket voltmeters as good value for money.

There are a number of items out there some similar to this item , some on ebay and some from $3.

I reccomend this one because I have measured there accuracy over a temperature range and know that they give repeatable results.

Note - Itmes like this should take there feed from close to battery so that the voltage read doesn't change a lot under load.

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Jaycar CAT. NO. QP2220

RRP $19.95


Cigarette Lighter Battery Monitor
Check the voltage output of your car's battery quickly and easily. Simply plug this handy voltmeter into the cigarette lighter socket and get an instant readout of the electrical system's voltage.Specifications:Display resolution: 0.1VAccuracy: +/- 2%Operating voltage: 8 - 28VDC more...

Qty
1+ $19.95
5+ $17.70
10+ $15.70
Enter Quantity -

...or you could check out one of these. Not cheap (couple of hundred $'s) but they work well. We have one in the camper trailer...takes the guess work out completely:

http://www.nasamarine.com/proddetail.php?prod=BM1Compact

Cheers

Chris

Mike there is no such thing as a monitot that will tell you exactly how much is left in your battery.....some will try and tell you otherwise, but that is BS.

Batteries simply do not work like that....they are not a tank or a bucket.

How much energy that can be drawn from a lead acid battery varies greatly depending on a number of factors.
There is no device that can sucsessfully keep track of all those variables.

variables such as
How well the battery has been charged...there is an over simplistic view of that alone.....you could occupy a whole thread about this matter alone.

The age and condition of the battery..including its recent charge / discharge history.

Temperature can produce wild variations in battery performance.

The amount of current drawn varies the capacity available.

Yes there are monitor systems that make some attempt at tracking capacity and use.......and there are a lot of people that believe they are accurate..they are mistaken.

BY far the best option is a digital volt meter...it wont give you an exact remaining capacity but it will give you a charge indcation....and that is about the best you can hope for.


cheers