How To Use An Accurate Voltage Panel Gauge For Diagnostics.

The 3-1/2 digit models I have tried read frequently a fifteenth to two tenths of a volt in error. For five dollars I do not need error. The 5 digit models are frequently within 3 thousandths of a volts with one another. It's all not about thousandths of a volt -- it's about accuracy, stability and money. Heck, tape off the least significant digit if you want. The 5 dollar meters agree with my bench meter that cost 3 thousand dollars in 1995 and was last certified in August 2017 when I had a pacemaker implanted. The bench meter is a 6-3/4 digit unit. It stays wrapped in plastic with a ton of Sodium Polyacrylate powder.

After having purchased perhaps a dozen panel meters and having remained stable over a 7-year period (The BORG) I feel confident enough to recommend them. The 3-3/4" digit Fluke agrees with the Bench meter and the 5 digit panel meter. But a 5 digit rather pricey Triplett meter is in error by 5 hundredths of a volt. And has drifted 4 points. Like it or not I have discovered that power supplies that hunt are not stable and are soon zombies.

I assume 12.77 would read 12.8 on mine and I sleep like a baby.
Nothing in my RV will get me to 50% by sunrise in these conditions.
Even if it read 12.4 I do not worry.
Mine is an unlit LCD by the door. No way do I want that LED glowing by the bed all night. Too many nightlights in the RV as it is.

I have a couple of 4-place permanently plugged-in (to 12V receptacles) voltmeters in our MH showing what the coach batteries's voltage is at any point.

i.e. Suppose these voltmeters read 12.77 volts at some point. Every light in our MH is an LED-array one. When I turn on JUST ONE of these LED lights, the voltmeters' reading would drop by one one-hundredth of a volt ... in my example they drop to 12.76 volts.

Why on Earth do I need more coach battery bank voltage reading resolution than this????????

While being wheeled into surgery for my pacemaker, I couldn't help but notice the six feet wide high definition flat screen above the table.

I have a 32" high definition monitor. Is it rational to believe I could find a high definition camera and mount it on a stiff umbilical mount, or is the notion out of my financial league? Two feet of 4/0 aluminum trunk wire would be stiff enough to maneuver yet stay in place.

This area of electronics is not within my expertise. What would I need besides...



to make it happen?

I just purchased a large PC board mounting fixture to keep the work area steady. Lights are no problem as I have a genuine sunlight grade 50 watt LED chip illuminating the bench and can add another if atomic fireball light intensity is need.

A camera and some way to transcribe the signal to flat screen video input. I am so techno-weak in some areas :(

MAKE IT CHEAP!

MAKE IT PROFITABLE!

RECYCLABLE IF POSSIBLE

GET THE @#$%^&! INVESTORS OFF MY BACK

LOL Mex,

Back to the old battery technology for wind power. The jars could be ordered with a built in hydrometer float. We sure have "improved" since then.

Now a REAL ADVANCE with flooded batteries would be a floating hydrometer entity placed in a weak sister cell. Measures distance from transmitter to buoy.

Thanks for your input. I have a 5 digit Voltmeter alongside my bed. When it looks like a semi permanent temperature wave has arrived I tweak the BORG to dress for the occasion. I do have to have two feet on the ground to reach the default float tweaker potentiometer -- but that's life.

That's a nice meter and I may buy one buy even though my Fluke gives me all the precision I need.

For me: I plan for and know my battery status before bedtime. So short of a very rare battery failure I have no desire for a voltmeter to be viewed from the bed. And observing the voltage to the millivolt level is not meaningful due to various DC draws that run and vary day or night.

Some said equipment that uses DC and varies in my rig: refer, hot water, furnace, AC/heat pump, thermostat. In addition there are other draws like: smoke detector, CO2 detector, light control circuits, the Trimetric, solar controller and there is more... Not to mention any outside lights that are left on for safety... Even the inverter/charged has a DC draw with/without AC available.

That said it could be useful to learn those typical draws and observe that the voltage drop/rise at night doesn't exceed the norm. But not for me in bed, if something makes we wonder about a problem I'll get my as* out of bed and look at the Trimetric which tells me voltage, amps and SOC.

My take and my style.

However, from an educational perspective great thread, thanks Mex.

The slower the descent the fewer the amps. The idea is to have a simple meter viewable from bed that is a genuine status and alarm unit. Throw back the covers, put on slippers and go look at the main panel.

Or maybe it's better for the heater and lights to quit or wake up with an -80 amp hour deficit?

red31 wrote:
and this thick draw is on which 12v circuit, riddle us that?

I could tell you with a 5 digit voltage meter.