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Originally Posted by rbray
Hi Linelinger,
Thanks for the feed back. I just fired up the car and the breaker didn't trip.
Here goes the next question.
I have a SW Volt gauge. How do I wire this into the system so it can read if I'm charging or draining the battery.
Thanks again,
Roger
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Hi Roger, I wired up my system with a voltage gauge, they are just a basic voltmeter, ground (negative) side goes to chassis (metal) source (assuming your car is a neg ground system) and positive (+12V) side goes to a battery source. It will read the voltage of the system from anywhere, it just depends on how accurate you want it to be and how you want it to function. For example, the most accurate charging voltage would be to run the 12V+ side of the voltmeter directly to the + alternator post (the one that goes to your breaker) and this would read what your alternator is putting out voltage wise at any time. The most accurate read of what voltage is being sent to your battery would be to wire the + side of the voltmeter directly to the battery. The problem with those systems is that it leaves your voltmeter "on" all the time, always reading system voltage, unless you have a safety switch on your battery to disconnect it when not using the car. I wired my voltmeter up to a 12+ source that was only on with the ignition in "run" position (easily found by using a test light and checking the terminals on the ignition switch or sources on the fuse board) but this won't give the most accurate charging voltage as will be reduced somewhat by whatever is "on" on the main car cicuits - lights, heater etc. "Charging" will be obvious from the voltmeter indicating higher system voltage than what the battery puts out with the car off, usually 14.5V or so. Charging failure would be indicated by a lesser system voltage than what the battery should have available, i.e. less than 12V. Just because the system is sending 14.5V to the battery doesn't mean the battery is accepting the charge... This gets into the entire ammeter vs voltmeter discussion, alot like the BBF vs SBF discussions. Personally I much prefer monitoring my voltmeter, just my 2c worth
