digital volt meter

has anyone fitted a digital volt meter to their SW and if so where did they mount it and how did you connect it

similar to this ebay uk
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Slimline-Volt-Voltmeter-Voltage-Meter-Gauge-Waterproof-Cars-or-Motorcycles-Blue-/271311007567?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item3f2b656f4f


done a search but could find anything
thanks

That's about $65 USD.
If you are willing to go all the way, check this out.

https://www.kisantech.com/view_product.php?product=CG-25

While voltage is important, its amperage that will tell you what your battery has left to give you, and most meters don't do that.

This company has a lot of great products for motorcycles, and this gauge integrates with their charging system. Gives you amps/volts/temp and an ice warning.
Explore their website for some neat stuff.

I did some experimenting a few years back. Found that the temp. electrical units manufactured in China were not that trust worthy. I dropped the project.

https://www.silverwing600.com/t1160-temp-voltage-meters-mounted-to-brake-resevoir-cover?highlight=voltage

I have the volt meter still installed on my 2006 SW. It keeps on working.

do you still do the voltmeter denis?

Sorry Mick, This product was scraped a long time ago. Dan's correct, measuring Amps is the best. Voltage is just hollow without amperage to fill it. Just hoped it would give an idea to you talented people.

"Amperage is a term often used by electricians, and means electrical current, measured in amperes, or amps. The ampere is the SI unit for electrical current, or the amount of electrical charge that flows through a conductor in a given time. One ampere is a charge of one coulomb — about 6.241 X 1018 electrons — per second flowing past a given point. Electrical devices are rated according to their amperage, or the amount of current they typically draw from a mains supply when operating normally. When electricians speak of the electricity flowing in and out of a home, they may be referring to voltage, amperage or wattage depending on the circumstances, but when considering the effects of electric shock, it is the amperage, rather than the voltage, that is important.

Amps and Volts

Electricity is to home electrical circuits as water is to home plumbing systems. The voltage is roughly equivalent to the water pressure, and the amperage, or current, to the quantity of water that flows past a given point per second. At a given pressure, less water can get through a small pipe than a large one in a given time, so the size of the pipe can be regarded as equivalent to a measure of electrical resistance — a smaller pipe has higher resistance. The higher the electrical resistance of an appliance, the lower its current will be, and resistance is often dependent on the diameter of the wires."

no problems Dennis and thanks for the lesson

now explained i am now more educated thanks

To further what Dennis is saying:
Most accessories you put on your bike are measured in amps or milliamps per hour.
1000 milliamps is 1 amp. That per hour rating is important when you are using items while the bike is off, such as alarm systems, LED lighting during bike night, radio, GPS, phone charger etc.

Your battery will have a rating. Stock Silverwing Battery is made by Yuasa:
YTZ12s with 11 amp hrs and 210 Cold Cranking Amps (CCA)
YTZ14s with 11.2 amp hours and 230 CCA
Shorai Makes a Lithium Battery replacement LFX18A1-BS12 with 18 amp hours and 270 CCA
The Shorai is nearly 6lbs lighter than the stock battery.

As a drain example, most alarms designed for cars draw about 20 milliamps per hour (ma/hr)
Most accent LEDs draw about 25ma/hr

So leaving your alarm on for 50 hours draws 1 amp of power.
If you have 10 leds you leave on for 6 hours at bike night you will draw 1.5 amps.
The YUASA batteries will give you a problem starting your bike when down to about 8 amps.
So leaving your alarm on for a week will likely make your bike unable to start with a YUASA.

Hope this all helps someone.

Dan

Hi Mick

I would disagree with the reasoning posted about a voltmeter being less useful than an ammeter. On the Silverwing, the voltage regulator only rectifies AC to DC, and does not limit charging amps. The current output from the stator is constant and maximum. Any and all excess current not used to run the bike's electrical system and charge the battery is dumped to ground through the regulator's heat sink. A better measure of the stator's and regulator's output is its voltage. That being said, I have installed a Datel digital voltmeter, connected directly to the accessory DC outlet I installed in my left glovebox, using a cigarette lighter adapter.That outlet is wired and fed directly to the battery, and is hot at all times. So I ended up switching that circuit with a switch beside the voltmeter. Thus I can see the condition of the charging system when the engine is running, and the condition of the battery when the ignition is turned off.

If you click inside each picture, it will take you directly to my photo bucket and you can read the description attached to each picture. Any questions, just ask.

The first picture shows the ignition off, yet a battery voltage of 14.0 V. That's because I have my trickle maintainer plugged into the DC plug in the left storage compartment.
The last picture shows 12.6 V with ignition off and battery maintainer unplugged. That's the voltage of a fully charged battery. During engine operation, the voltmeter typically shows about 13.5 V.
The second pic shows the masking tape template I made to cut the dashboard with a Dremel to hold the voltmeter and the rocker switch.

Here's the specs on the voltmeter:

http://www.datelmeters.com/data/meters/pc0-dcms.pdf

Here's where I bought the meter:

http://www.metercenter.com/cgi-bin/webshop.cgi?config=ent-home&uid=ycenkvkb138489212943&command=link--dcvoltmeters.html