battery charge meter

[Lucky Dawg]

I'm rewiring Lucky Dawg's 12v panel. Looking for a battery charge meter. The 12Volt Bible for Boats says that I need a 11-16 "expanded scale, suppressed zero" voltmeter.
Blue Sea has an 8-16 http://bluesea.com/productline/overview/367 and a 10-16 http://bluesea.com/products/1025B. From the numbers in the book, it looks like 11.7 (zero charge) and 12.6 (100% charge) are the limits, so a more fractional display would be best....
It looks like this maybe this is the best http://bluesea.com/productspecs/1027B with respect to those numbers. Maybe there is a better way to be advised of a good charge?
Anyone have a meter on board you'd like to point me towards?

[c_amos]

Kyle,

What are you doing?

If you are day sailing, or weekending then a good volt meter is fine.

If you are planning to cruise I would highly recommend the LINK 10 (or the new LINK lite, that replaced it (http://www.xantrex.com/web/id/273/p/1/pt/5/product.asp)).

It is like having a fuel gauge on your battery bank... it can tell you voltage, but also keeps track of all the amps in and out of your battery. You can even set it to display your battery bank in terms of percentage used...

Way cool gear, might like the new link lite better then the link 10 I have now since the link lite is LCD rather then LED.

6572

[Lucky Dawg]

Thanks for the reply. That might be overkill for my needs, but it looks like great equipment. I don't venture more than about 12 miles from home base and my electrical needs are pretty bare bones. Will save the xantrex for when I get more complicated!

[c_amos]

Thanks for the reply. That might be overkill for my needs, but it looks like great equipment. I don't venture more than about 12 miles from home base and my electrical needs are pretty bare bones. Will save the xantrex for when I get more complicated!

The installed volt meter is a good indicator. THat was what we used for years while doing local cruising and weekends on the river....

[ebb]

Looking up prices and more info found lowest price for LinkLite at $190.
There is a LinkPro model that looks just the same to me that sells for half again as much to twice the above price.

BUT I think I just saw some vendor selling the LinkLite for the LinkPro price.
So if you're doing it internet, watch it!

What is the difference between the two models?:o

[SkipperJer]

My boat had a Radio Shack meter in a little panel outboard of the stock fuse/switch panel. Works just fine. At first I was concerned because the voltage seldom got over 12 then I cleaned a lot of contacts and 12.5 became the norm. Duh.

Recently my handheld GPS records 12.6 volts plugged in when I've just charged the battery while the panel meter is reading 12.5. Good enough for me. Has given me a reliable general indication of battery status for four years. I only daysail and I keep the VHF on whenever I'm away from the dock.
Looks like its still available:
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103957

The Blue Sea 10-16 looks a little more rugged but only lists the "face" as water resistant. My guess is that all you need for day-sailing is a simple voltage indicator for a general indication of battery status.

[c_amos]

Looking up prices and more info found lowest price for LinkLite at $190.
There is a LinkPro model that looks just the same to me that sells for half again as much to twice the above price.

BUT I think I just saw some vendor selling the LinkLite for the LinkPro price.
So if you're doing it internet, watch it!

What is the difference between the two models?:o

They used to sell the LInk 10 (single battery system) and the link 20 (dual battery bank). Then they came up with one called the XBM, which was a Link 10 that could handle a start battery also.. (I think, I was never interested enough to find out). They now have the Link Pro which will take care of 2 battery banks, AND a start battery AND start your back up generator if your house bank gets low (a feature I do not see much of a need for).

FWIW, the Link Lite, and my Link 10 have scads of features I do not use that someone might like. You can program an alarm when your house bank drops below a certain level or even wire in a control relay so that you drop off unnecessary loads...

[commanderpete]

I would probably go with the smallest battery monitor you could find. It could be digital.

There just isn't much room in the switch panel box. I wish I had a few more switches.

You might even look for a combination switch panel/battery monitor. The one pictured below isn't suitable, but gives you an idea. Maybe they make a small one with only 2-3 switches that could be mounted next to the other switch panel. Even if you dont need the extra switches now, you might in the future.

http://www.pearsonariel.org/discussion/attachment.php?attachmentid=3307&stc=1&d=1147998700

[Tim D.]

And then of course there is the really inexpensive way by just using a digital multimeter. If your system is easily accessible and you don't need to know on a constant basis it works fine.

[CapnK]

I have seen folks who have hard-wired in a cheap digital voltmeter/multimeter (here's one for $4.99 @ Harbor Freight (http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=90899)) to use for monitoring the battery charge. Cheap and effective, and digital gives you a much more accurate readout than the analog meters. Cut off the probes, splice on some long-enough wire with ring terminals to reach a mounting point, and you're done...

Skipper Jer - If you are seeing 12.5v *just after* you've come off the charger, your batteries may be tired. Whenever you take a battery off of a charger, the readout you get is from what is called a "float charge", and it is not indicative of the true state of the battery health. Depending on the source you consult, they'll say you only get an accurate reading from 12-24 hours *after* the charging has been stopped. A 12v battery in good health will register above 13 volts for quite a while after disconnection from a charger (whether shore-powered or solar or whatever) due to float charge. Don't know if you were aware of that, thought it might be a good thing to point out. :)

[SkipperJer]

Kurt,
You're right about the voltages. I don't think my battery is tired--it's new--I think my wiring is. There are still connections between where the meter is and the buss bar that need work. I've put a meter right on the battery right after charging and it reads 13+. The 12v plug for the GPS is on the same line. Given that I don't make high demands on the battery I'm not concerned for now. The GPS seems to be keeping me from hitting buoys or grounding. I have some fiberglass issues to deal with now and last year I got new sails so the wiring is going to wait another season.

I've seen several small boats with the Harbor Freight digital meter wired into their systems. One needs to remember to change the 9v battery occasionally but other than that it seems like a nifty idea.

[Hull376]

Practical Sailor did a review of meters. Find it here http://www.practical-sailor.com/issues/30_7/features/4938-1.html The Microlog DM 3 looks like a great simple digital meter for the price ($99), way less than Link 10 and looks easy to install and expand if you want more info. Measures amps in and out or just use as digital voltmeter. Microlog home page is at http://www.micromediaplus.com/products.html. I think Microlog is a Canadian company. I first heard about them in an article last year in Sail Magazine where the author was upgrading his electrical system and he had to select a meter. That article is here http://www.micromediaplus.com/DMM-1_Sail_article.pdf.