Installed a voltometer last night

I brought a 5 function voltometer. It arrived last night so I quickly installed it.

This one has:
- a voltometer (what I brought it for)
- an inside thermometer (with min/max and current push button)
- an outside thermometer (what would I want that for? Maybe I'll stick it in the airbox.
- a clock
- lap timer
- alarms and leds for ice and low battery

It came with velcro pads - so I stuck it on the dash below the key. It fits nicely between the plastic nubs on the bar holder.

I lifted the gas tank and slid the 3 wires through the support bracket to the fuse panel. I fastened the tank down again.

Then I ran the red to the battery, the black to the battery and the orange to a switched power supply. When you turn on the bike a soft backlight illuminates the gauge.

It displays the batteries current charge - turned off it is about 12.2v. When it's running it jumps up to 13.x

Anyhow - installation was easy, and the voltometer was relatively cheap. I'd not found anything locally that would work or was in my price range.

Here's the link:
http://www.casporttouring.com/store/mer ... lectronics



The reason I wanted it was so that I could monitor the battery when I was using my heated vest... so far this electrics venture has cost me 25$ for a voltometer, 10$ for the heated seat pad, 20$ in misc electrical supplies for my workshop and a few hours of head scratching... I got the heated vest controller as a freebie from a friend of mine who builds them... all in all a very cheap system that should keep me nice and toasty!

 

I was wanting to add a waterproof clock, and the voltmeter looks like a nice addition. Temp? I know it's hot, and it probably would read 120+ all the time in direct sun here anyway. (temps in the mid 90's already). Looks like you did a nice job fiquring the stuff out.

Now if they made a chilled seat, and maybe some A/C duct work to a cooling vest, those of us that never see the lower sides of 70 would be happy :wink:

I looked at your avatar as a cold weather gear photo, not thinking that might be your normal riding wear. Here, most of the time wear shorts, sandles and a tank top while riding (and helmet 95% of the time).

 

The temp gauge is going to be for bragging rights I'll try to get a picture of my min and max temps... it even has a switch to go from C to F so I won't have to do here about it

You can have the wrist watch that is attached to my bike I won't be needing that anymore.

 

Does it have temp sensor you can attach to something like cylinders or block?

EDIT: Just realized the Ice warning might not mean a sensor for the ice in your beer cooler...

 

That looks like a cool gadget. Wouldn't mind one of them. Will have to keep an eye out over here for one. Does it have a brand name on it? Manufacturer? or just a generic chinese made no brand.

 

Yes the external temp sensor is on a plastic suction cup. The internal one measures 'inside' tempature. The external one is on a 5' long cable.

You could wire it up to something near the engine (but not melting close) or maybe replace the temp gauge with something more durable and attach that to the engine... I'm not sure that this temp gauge has a wide enough operating range for measuring the engine temp - more to the point - I don't know if the limitation is with the sensor or with the main unit itself.

 

Very cool Woot. I think I need one of those on all my bikes. I've started installing all sorts of electronic do dads on my Wing and have been concerned that I might be exceeding reasonable voltage. This would definitely answer that question.


Greg

 

If you are installing on a faired bike you might want to get something you could flush mount on the bike. That is if you aren't against cutting a hole in your plastics of course.

http://www.digitalmeter.com/cgi-bin/web ... figspc.txt

If I had. When I have a faired bike again I will be cutting the plastics for switches, plugs and voltometers. It's so much easier to have a nice clean finished look when you've got something like a fairing to attach the parts to.

The one I have now velcros nicely onto a flat surface which negates cutting holes, and has a nice set of features IMHO.

 

I had one of these, the problem is, it is not waterproof - steamed up and packed up after 6 weeks.

So, I got the Backoff voltage monitor (seperate led version) from cyclegadgets.com ($26.95) and have fitted them to both my Xs.

Just zip tie the led to one of the handlebar cables - non invasive, very effective and comforting to know your charging is OK (I use oxford heated grips). Recommended !

I also have the Datel fitted to my FJR, really cool display but you need some sort of fairing to fit it into.

Regards
Linden Lee
Dublin, Ireland

 

Thanks fot the post Woot , you got me inspired as one of my altinator brushes is worn and when i get the motor together i was wondering how i was going to monitor the battey charge without carrying a multimeter around all da time , i'll replace the brush after its on the road.

so here was my cheep solution too which i had around here [town is 50ks away] , the meter of those battry boosters found at the tip...

i'll look into this later but another idea would be a 5mm tri colour Led , red for 12v yellow for 13v and green for 14v and could fit it in the meter surround next to the check button is one place...