Low Voltage Cut-out Switch

Submitted: Thursday, Aug 21, 2003 at 14:34

ThreadID: 6726 Views:3900 Replies:5 FollowUps:1

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Louise Bates

Hello,
We are considering installing low voltage cutout switches, in our vehicles, to prevent the UHF radios from flattening the vehicle batteries when that particular vehicle has not been driven for a couple days. Does anybody have any ideas as to why or why not this would work? Or can someone suggest something that would work better? Thanks for any suggestions.

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Reply By: Member - Oskar(Bris) - Thursday, Aug 21, 2003 at 15:40

Thursday, Aug 21, 2003 at 15:40

Do you have an aux battery set-up in the vehicle? If your aux is set up properly it shouldn't drain the main.
The radio won't draw a lot of current on receive, but does use more on transmit.
I have left mine on for several days at a time without a lot of drop in battery voltage.
Cheers
Oskar

AnswerID: 28609

Follow Up By: Louise Bates - Thursday, Aug 21, 2003 at 18:58

Thursday, Aug 21, 2003 at 18:58

Thanks for the comment, Oskar. We don't have aux batteries installed in the vehicles, which includes tractors. We have had a fair bit of trouble with the voltage dropping too low to start the vehicle after about 36 hours, since the vehicles are sometimes left for a couple days this does cause a problem. Not to mention it's not good for the battery to be flattened too regularly.
Cheers,
Louise

FollowupID: 19904

Reply By: diamond (bendigo) - Thursday, Aug 21, 2003 at 19:37

Thursday, Aug 21, 2003 at 19:37

i might have missed something but why not wire it up to acc on the car.
will only work with ignition on then.—~‘¬‘¥•s’B

AnswerID: 28636

Reply By: Viola - Thursday, Aug 21, 2003 at 23:38

Thursday, Aug 21, 2003 at 23:38

Louise you can buy a low voltage cut-out from KMart Auto for under $20
The brand is called Projecta
We have them fitted to all the tractors and vehicles
Great no more flat batteries

AnswerID: 28682

Reply By: Member - Colin (ACT region) - Friday, Aug 22, 2003 at 12:50

Friday, Aug 22, 2003 at 12:50

I have one of the units that 'VIOLA' mentioned. $20 from Kmart and I am very happy with it (no more flat battery when I forget to turn frig to gas !) - I plug it in line before the 3 way frig - it cuts out at 11.6 v (I haven't checked these figures !) - I am using a deep cycle battery as the car (Forester) doesn't require a lot of cranking power.
For the price of these units I imagine you could put one in line to any appliance that may be left on for extended periods ?

PS - I have mentioned this 'here' before - I have installed a 12v computer fan to frig heat sink, heavy wire direct from battery to frig, and covered frig with self adhesive foam backed foil (from Clark Rubber - I should ask for a discount from them for the amount of times I have metioned this)
These 3 mods have made a huge diference to the frigs performance !Subaru Forester
size isn't everything !

AnswerID: 28724