parasitic Datel?

[EODSarge]

Thread resurrection! How much drop have folks seen when running the meter off of a fuse block rather than straight from the battery? I ran mine through a switched blue seas fuse block and, comparing it with a good Fluke meter straight off the battery, can't really see much difference. Maybe .03v between the two. Would I expect a bigger difference with farkles running off the fuse block? This test was done with nothing other than the meter running.

 

[Patriot]

Well Gang-green, I purchase lots of cigarette light plug digital voltmeters from Autozone @ $18 ea.

2 cars, 3 bikes, and Christmas gifts to riding podnas and my auto mechanic. Plus a spare on hand just in case.

Mounted a cig female unit on the bars wired directly to battery and plug in voltmeter. I can unplug it a little to turn it off anytime I want.

At interstate speeds, it's 14.1 volts and at rest it's 12.3 volts. 4 year old Westco battery and tender whenever I don't ride the bike for 2 days or so.

These voltmeters are also at some big Wally Worlds and are available online at a high price (used in General Aviation little planes - aircraft products are inheritantly (sic) expensive)

see my sig for pics at flicker

Just my 1.5 cents and hope this helps someone

Mike in Nawlins'

 

[2006FJR]

Thanks guys for the great info and the link so I could order. I will install it late next week with my new horn. :yahoo:

 

[Fred W]

Thread resurrection! How much drop have folks seen when running the meter off of a fuse block rather than straight from the battery? I ran mine through a switched blue seas fuse block and, comparing it with a good Fluke meter straight off the battery, can't really see much difference. Maybe .03v between the two. Would I expect a bigger difference with farkles running off the fuse block? This test was done with nothing other than the meter running.

Yes. Every connection and piece of wire has some (hopefully small) amount of resistance. Since there is no load (current) on the fuse block and it's supply circuit there would be little voltage drop on these added connections. As the load on the fuse block increases, so will the voltage dropped, causing more diffferential between the actual battery voltage and the datel display.

So the question is: What do you want (need) to know? Knowing the battery's absolute voltage during running is most important if you are trying to ensure that the alternator output is adequate to maintain the battery's charge. However, since the load reduced voltage display will be completely proportional to the battery's actual voltage, it can still be used as a relative display of the charging state.

 

[2006FJR]

Thread resurrection! How much drop have folks seen when running the meter off of a fuse block rather than straight from the battery? I ran mine through a switched blue seas fuse block and, comparing it with a good Fluke meter straight off the battery, can't really see much difference. Maybe .03v between the two. Would I expect a bigger difference with farkles running off the fuse block? This test was done with nothing other than the meter running.

Yes. Every connection and piece of wire has some (hopefully small) amount of resistance. Since there is no load (current) on the fuse block and it's supply circuit there would be little voltage drop on these added connections. As the load on the fuse block increases, so will the voltage dropped, causing more diffferential between the actual battery voltage and the datel display.

So the question is: What do you want (need) to know? Knowing the battery's absolute voltage during running is most important if you are trying to ensure that the alternator output is adequate to maintain the battery's charge. However, since the load reduced voltage display will be completely proportional to the battery's actual voltage, it can still be used as a relative display of the charging state.

So, can everyone agree that a direct connection to the battery with a switch is the best? I ended up buying the nice switch too so I can turn it on just when I need it.

 

[Fred W]

So, can everyone agree that a direct connection to the battery with a switch is the best? I ended up buying the nice switch too so I can turn it on just when I need it.

Well, I can't speak for everyone, but it sure seems to me that a dedicated circuit directly off the battery with a switch would be ideal.

 

[rfulcher]

So, can everyone agree that a direct connection to the battery with a switch is the best? I ended up buying the nice switch too so I can turn it on just when I need it.

Well, I can't speak for everyone, but it sure seems to me that a dedicated circuit directly off the battery with a switch would be ideal.

I wanted a switched circuit because I don't need anything else to keep track of.

I did a circuit from the battery to the Datel with a small Radio Shack relay. Very short wires and only the Datel in the circuit. I compared the switched circuit using a relay with only the Datel in the circuit and my voltmeter at the battery terminals. . This gave the same reading as my digital voltmeter directly at the battery. The only thing I miss is the ability to read battery voltage with the ignition off and no drain from the bike.

The Datel in circuit with other stuff, PCIII, heated gear, GPS etc read several tenths off and the inaccuracy varied with RPM, this sucked.

 

[2006FJR]

So, can everyone agree that a direct connection to the battery with a switch is the best? I ended up buying the nice switch too so I can turn it on just when I need it.

Well, I can't speak for everyone, but it sure seems to me that a dedicated circuit directly off the battery with a switch would be ideal.

I wanted a switched circuit because I don't need anything else to keep track of.

I did a circuit from the battery to the Datel with a small Radio Shack relay. Very short wires and only the Datel in the circuit. I compared the switched circuit using a relay with only the Datel in the circuit and my voltmeter at the battery terminals. . This gave the same reading as my digital voltmeter directly at the battery. The only thing I miss is the ability to read battery voltage with the ignition off and no drain from the bike.

The Datel in circuit with other stuff, PCIII, heated gear, GPS etc read several tenths off and the inaccuracy varied with RPM, this sucked.

If I hook it up directly to the battery and have the switc for on/off I should be able to keep the switch in the on position when it is hooked up to the battery tender so I always read the volts when I walk by the bike in a garage.

 

[Fred W]

If I hook it up directly to the battery and have the switc for on/off I should be able to keep the switch in the on position when it is hooked up to the battery tender so I always read the volts when I walk by the bike in a garage.

Correct. Which is why I said it seems like the best option.

Later this winter I'll get around to testing just how much drain there is on the battery, and how much it effects it, if one should forget to switch off the meter.

 

[2006FJR]

If I hook it up directly to the battery and have the switc for on/off I should be able to keep the switch in the on position when it is hooked up to the battery tender so I always read the volts when I walk by the bike in a garage.

Correct. Which is why I said it seems like the best option.

Later this winter I'll get around to testing just how much drain there is on the battery, and how much it effects it, if one should forget to switch off the meter.

Thanks, it takes me a bit longer to get exactly what is going on because I understand very little about these types of issues but I want to learn.

 

[panayoti]

Great thread guys. I never really had an interest in a volt meter for the fjr. I recently purchased a heated jacket liner and gloves. On my first ride with the gear I noticed several things. I am not sure if I was becoming paranoid or what. 1. When restarting after stopping for fuel it sounded like the engine cranked more slowly than usual. 2. Immediately after passing a car or really nailing the throttle the vest got noticeby warmer.

I have an 06 still with the OEM battery so it is getting close to replacement time. I just don't want to get stranded someplace. Mr. Murphy follows me around so I am sure the battery will die on flat land.

 

[user 6393]

Thread resurrection! How much drop have folks seen when running the meter off of a fuse block rather than straight from the battery? I ran mine through a switched blue seas fuse block and, comparing it with a good Fluke meter straight off the battery, can't really see much difference. Maybe .03v between the two. Would I expect a bigger difference with farkles running off the fuse block? This test was done with nothing other than the meter running.

Yes. Every connection and piece of wire has some (hopefully small) amount of resistance. Since there is no load (current) on the fuse block and it's supply circuit there would be little voltage drop on these added connections. As the load on the fuse block increases, so will the voltage dropped, causing more diffferential between the actual battery voltage and the datel display.

So the question is: What do you want (need) to know? Knowing the battery's absolute voltage during running is most important if you are trying to ensure that the alternator output is adequate to maintain the battery's charge. However, since the load reduced voltage display will be completely proportional to the battery's actual voltage, it can still be used as a relative display of the charging state.

So, if you have it hooked up thru an ignition dependant fuse block with grips and accessory plugs, if you shut those off for a bit and just ran the datel, you'd know where your battery was at, and if you needed to run the bike a bit with everything off to recoup your battery before shutting down?(and this was definitely a run on sentence)

 

[Shawn]

Later this winter I'll get around to testing just how much drain there is on the battery, and how much it effects it, if one should forget to switch off the meter.

Resurrecting this thread probably breaks a forum rule, so I apologize... But this is an interesting thread ... to me anyways...

I have had a Datel on my current bike (not run directly to battery) for close to 4 years and over the years nothing like this ever came up "over there" on the forum associated with my current bike... I suppose there are several possible conclusions one could draw from that about the two communities....

Regardless, Fred W, did you go ahead and conduct the experiment?

IF I get a FJR, I am leaning towards leaving the switch out...

 

[Zorlac]

FWIW, I measured my Datel's current draw at .006A with it measuring about 13V.

So assuming a fully charged 12AH battery is going to start struggling to start the bike at maybe 80% charge, the meter could be left switched on to the battery for about 17 days.

 

[2006FJR]

FWIW, I measured my Datel's current draw at .006A with it measuring about 13V.
So assuming a fully charged 12AH battery is going to start struggling to start the bike at maybe 80% charge, the meter could be left switched on to the battery for about 17 days.

That is great information! I thought I would be able to keep it on for months or even years without it effecting the battery. Good to know.... :clapping:

 

[Fred W]

No, I never did follow through with my intended experiment. The calculations do support that the battery would/should flatten significantly within a few weeks of non-riding, so I have come to the conclusion (especially with the long winters we have in these parts) that the most functional set-up is to have one wired through a switch directly to the battery.

The way I have it, coming from a key switched relay, the meter comes on with a lot of other load devices when the key is turned on. It still gives me great feedback about the charging state while the bike is running and various farkles are switched on, which is what most folks are after. But having it wired directly to the battery is the only way way you can check the charge state of the battery with no load at all.

And, if one were to accidentally leave the switch on, it would still take the 17.15768 days to drain the battery down to a suspect level (at which point it would likely still start the bike).