Battery Monitors

[Cleaverid]

What is everyone is using for battery monitors? I had found one online but lost the link. Danteck or someting like that. It monitored amps, voltage and the hole nine yards. Lets see how you mounted them also.

[matttys]

I have used Datel meters in the past and like it.  Only volts though.

[Cleaverid]

I saw that one also.  It might be enough, amps would sure be good too.  I am looking at adding some driving lights also and would like to be able to check on the battery at a glance.  I have seen lots of posts of electrical failures and want to keep tabs on it.

Thanks for the reply

[Stretch]

After reading of a few charging system failures, I installed a Datel digital voltmeter...



http://www.digitalmeter.com/

My charging system went belly-up on a trip in October.  Since the voltmeter is right there on the dash, I knew immediately when the voltage dropped from charging levels (13.6V is what my bike usually ran) to battery-only level (12.0V).  Having this warning gave me the opportunity to take a shortcut to the nearest town and find a place to hole up before the battery ran down.

Without the voltmeter, I would have been unaware of any problem until the voltage got too low to run the fuel pump.  Naturally, this would have occurred on a deserted country road with the sun going down and banjo music drifting through the trees.

Nice to know what's going on in the Electrical Room.

[Cleaverid]

Nice mount!  Is that a recent picture? 80deg???? I wish it were 80deg here. Try 28 and snowing.  I think the voltage monitor would be cheap insurance to avoid a problem. Being in bumf**k Montana or Idaho with no power is not fun. I would love to find one that shows amps too though. I'll keep looking for a bit before I decide what to put on.  Won't be riding weather for a bit anyway. I plan on going throught the electrical and resplicing and open butt splices with Raychem enviromental splices.  They use special crimpers and have a sealing shrink tube to keep moisture out.  I'll post some pics of the tool and splices if anyone is interested.  It is what we use in aviation and is a superior splice to butt splices. The crimpers can be found on ebay from time to time.  Great if you do lots of electrical work. They won't do really large cables though.  I just ordered the maintenance manual, does it have wiring prints? I hope so.
Cleaver

[Stretch]

The Triumph service manual has a full-color wiring diagram.

I would be interested in learning more of these 'heap-big medicine' terminals and the crimping tool.  I've been soldering everything for years, but if there's a better way, I'm all ears.

Recent pic, no.  Back in May, I believe.  It had been warmer that day, but the sun was setting when I took the pic.

[Cleaverid]

These splices are not soldiered but you could crimp them and then add soldier before you put the heat shrink over it.  I'll bring the crimper and some splices home along with some wire and put together a little demo.  We also have soldier sleeves that work well if you have shielded wiring to add a ground to the shield externally.

[AndyM]

Nice shelf Stretch. Did you make it or buy it?

[Cleaverid]

What did you wire yours into Stretch?  A switched relay?  Does the indicator bother you at night?  I was looking at the LCD version also so it would look like your temp gauge.  I don't know if I would be able to see it at night though.  Can you see your temp gauge in the dark with the glow of your gauges? I have heard that for accuracy the negative terminal needs to hook to the battery.

[Stretch]

I made the shelf.  Just a bit of aluminum scrap I had laying about.  I used the same material for the voltmeter housing and base...

http://tigertriple.com/forum/index.php/topic,4425

The voltmeter is plugged in to the switched fuse block (the upper one in the pic), which is powered by way of a 20-amp relay triggered by the taillight wire.  The voltmeter (and the relay) is grounded to a junction block, wired directly to the Negative battery terminal...



The voltmeter display doesn't bother me at night.  It's red, so it's not so intrusive on the eyes as a green or blue LED display would be.

[REGULATOR]

I love that shelf...   been wonderign where to put my radar detector...

[haulin' daze]

Stretch, is that the dash of your Tiger or your car...

 

Should we call you the Hoff?

[Tom Herold]

Now that's funny!

[Silverstripes]

I also have a DVM mounted. Then I installed a Digital Gear indicator and that also has a DVM built in. So now I have two  :roll:

Have a look here    http://silver-stripes.blogspot.com/

[Stretch]

Should we call you the Hoff?

My hair is nowhere near as pretty.