In Car Battery Monitors

Yes i understand that it wont add to its performance BUT i would just like to make sure that i keep an eye on it cause after say six/seven hours driving a lot can happen and if a battery doesn't get charged for whatever reason there goes cold fridge/food/beer etc.

The cable i am using is 8mm with dedicated earth etc its all good.The fridge in the van doesnt run of the van battery,it only runs of the auxillary car battery while the car is on,once the ignition is off the fridge is off also until i plug in 240 or turn it to gas.

So where do i geta fridge switch from and how long would a 60 AMP hour deep cycle last with an invertor fridge,not very long im guessing.Dont they draw a lot of amps/Hr.MAybe i should upgarde the battery to over 100 Ah.

MAtt

Check that 8mm is sufficient to keep the battery charged while the fridge is on. As men tioned by Mick you need at least 6b&s and i think that's bigger than 8mm. You don't need a fridge switch if the ignition turns off the connection but don't expect too much from your fridge as it's a long way from the car battery to the fridge. A better system is to have the fridge run from the van battery and the car keep the van battery charged

From time-to-time ask someone with a quality (cost over $100) multimeter to check the voltage reading of your Jaycar meter. These devices are not designed to be accurate and could well drift with temperature too so be weary of readings when the temperature is not between 15C and 25C.

Mike Harding

Hi Mike

Thanks for the info.

I have and use a Fluke 77 series multimeter and am happy with the Jaycar accuracy. I use the Jaycar gismo only as a guide.

BTW It is always surprising to find how high the battery voltage and charging voltage is when the patrol has been sitting in the sun for a while. As the Jaycar gismo has a high voltage alarm it gets a workout until the car is moving and things cool down a bit.

Still have Jaycar unit myself Woodsy and found it somewhat sloppy particularly with temp as Mike suggests. Good for major issues though.

Use my GPS now mostly - for want of a better term its an engineers type GPS a Garmin 276c.

Its capable of having a very large highly visible and accurate voltage readout and even can ring an alarm if volts drop below a settable level.

Robin Miller

Forgot to add , that saving grace of Jaycar unit is that it has a very touchy but functional calibration pot at back which enables it to be set in critical area.

Robin Miller

Opps! Better change "weary" to "wary" before one of the spelling, syntactic, pedantic, pain-in-the-butt police does :)

However they all seem to have missed it so far...?

Mike Harding

Tell me how you get a charge rate of over 14 volts ,mine is a 91 GQ and have just fitted a bosch 120AMP alternator and it only charges at 1.75 max?????.

I would like a digital readout one so this or the ARB one might be worth looking at.

Matt

Yeah that looks ok, might just make up a panel and fit two into ,but mounting might be a worry.

I have a Toyota 79 Series and they fit in the vacant switch holes that had blanks in them, so i put one in there and the main battery one i made a panel with the winch remote controls and key switch on.
Regards
Phil

I've just bought 3 separate digital gauges off this mob:

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ON-OFF-ORANGE-LCD-Auto-Battery-Solar-Panel-Meter-20VDC_W0QQitemZ150150795663QQihZ005QQcategoryZ41981QQcmdZViewItem

The ones I got have all got 2 decimal points and measure up to 20VDC

(1) has blue LEDs and is mounted down where the ashtray usually sits on my GU

(2) has red LEDs and is (to be) mounted in the cargo box of the Patrol, and will be controlled by a switch on the gull-wing door (just like the light in your home fridge)

(3) is actually a LCD (not LED).....black numerals on a green background; and will be mounted in the boot of the camper trailer to monitor the 2 batteries in there.

The one in the cab is switched via a ON/OFF/ON switch, so that I can monitor both the 120a/h Fullriver in the cargo box (same as the meter in the box) or switch over to monitor the 2 starting batteries (which are permanently coupled in parrallel).

Cheers

Roachie

I've just bought 3 separate digital gauges off this mob:

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ON-OFF-ORANGE-LCD-Auto-Battery-Solar-Panel-Meter-20VDC_W0QQitemZ150150795663QQihZ005QQcategoryZ41981QQcmdZViewItem

The ones I got have all got 2 decimal points and measure up to 20VDC

(1) has blue LEDs and is mounted down where the ashtray usually sits on my GU

(2) has red LEDs and is (to be) mounted in the cargo box of the Patrol, and will be controlled by a switch on the gull-wing door (just like the light in your home fridge)

(3) is actually a LCD (not LED).....black numerals on a green background; and will be mounted in the boot of the camper trailer to monitor the 2 batteries in there.

The one in the cab is switched via a ON/OFF/ON switch, so that I can monitor both the 120a/h Fullriver in the cargo box (same as the meter in the box; #2, above) or switch over to monitor the 2 starting batteries (which are permanently coupled in parrallel).

Cheers

Roachie

Roachie,

LOL multiple gauges need multiple posts hahahahaha

Hey Mick-O how much was that AUTRON setup, im on the site now but it doesnt show me a price.

Matt

Hey can you email me a pic of your power board to bagtp1@iinet.com.au.

Thanks

Mattl

Now your talkin my langauge,where do i buy this stuff from????