VOLTMETER PLACEMENT ON A GL1500

[virgilmobile]

I tried 4 different locations...each one had it's problems...mostly being washed out by the sun...
I settled on this location...it's deep in the shade all the time,just below the dash for easy viewing....
I drove morning till well after dark and could read it at a glance at any time...
I purchased a 5 lot of these off a US seller on E-Bay for the outrageous price of $15.50 ..There small...just 1/2" high and 1" wide ....
I mounted this one on a piece of aluminum about 1-1/4" X 2" then sealed the edges with silicone....
It's held to the faring with a couple of screws and tied into my outlet plug thats in the left pocket.
There's a ridge in the faring...it's right up next to it...Move it too far and you can't see the whole display....There's just enough gap for a clear view and it does not interfere with the forks....

[OnPapasWing]

Why are you only reading 11.5 volts?
Since you are going to an outlet plug I would assume that this is tied direct to the battery?!?

The PO added a voltmeter and oil meter (both analog) to my bike and neither one seem to be very accurate. The oil meter is all over the place, completely dropping out at idle. The voltmeter is inconsistent and doesn't match what I'm reading on the battery with my DMM. I haven't done any troubleshooting to see where it was hooked up to.

A very col setup though. Great location, out of the way but visible. Because it's buried I suspect that even in the bright sun it would still be easy to see.

Steve

[virgilmobile]

11.5 volts...I ran the surface charge off the battery playing with it for a few hours.That was a accurate reading.
Its tied to a ignition switched accessory relay direct from the battery and the bike was not running.
Cranked the bike up and it settled between 13.6 and 14 volts.The same as my DVM measured at the battery.
Even in the bright of the day,reguardless of the direction,I could always read the display.
The one I mounted behind the speaker grille and under the left switch cluster would wash out.

[wing rider 2012]

I've installed a number of these voltmeters on bikes, however, not from this vendor, the price is fair at about 3.00 per voltmeter. Seeing how there is no housing for these voltmeter you have to take caution when mounting these to prevent moisture from entering the voltmeter. The ones I use have a calibration pot on the rear of the PCB to adjust the voltmeter to read the correct voltage, most of the time I have found these to be anywhere from .5 to 1.5 volts off. After calibrating the voltmeter the unit worked great and the voltage followed my DVM to the .01 volt. I like using the Blue or Green display because they do not wash out as much in the sunlight like the Red ones do.

Your mounting of the voltmeter look great, good job.

[virgilmobile]

I did waterproof the display with a silicone bead.As far as the accuracy...so far they have been right on.Im only interested if it falls off quick.Like dropping from13.5 to 12.1 while I'm out of town.
I don't really care if it shows 14.2 or 13.8 volts.As long as it stays up above what I see with just the key on(12.5) I'm confident it's charging.
This is my early warning display.Not intended for the tenth of a volt accuracy.
I don't expect much from a $3 meter.

[virgilmobile]

By the way Wing rider...Would you share your supplier of the meters you purchase.??

[wing rider 2012]

By the way Wing rider...Would you share your supplier of the meters you purchase.??

Because of the amount of voltmeters I've installed in the last year, about 25 of them, I order mine from the manufacture in China, I can't recall the name right off hand. My last order was for another 25 units at a cost of 1.75 per voltmeter. They are the same ones you see on Ebay and Amazon, just at a cheaper cost and it takes about 2 weeks to get them here.

[virgilmobile]

OK,thanks...I don't have a need for that many but I'll keep it in mind if I need to find ones that I can calibrate...
The ones I bought were from the US and they arrived in 3 days...

[WingAdmin]

One thing to keep in mind with low-cost voltmeters is that they rarely have any filtering in them. They will read the voltage off a battery quite accurately, but as soon as there is any kind of noise (i.e. the type injected into the +12V bus by the alternator/regulator), they start reading much higher than they should. I had a small cheap LCD voltmeter meant for a car, but hooked up to my GL1100 and its noisy electrical system, it would read almost a volt and a half high when the engine was started.

[virgilmobile]

I'll keep this in mind...probably attach a homebrew filter just in case...So far it's been rock stable and accurate for the 8 intermittent hours of use over the last few days of trials.

[OnPapasWing]

The PO installed an Equus voltmeter and hooked it up to the accessory terminals. Doesn't seem to be very accurate or consistent. Anyone know anything about these? Maybe I just need to find a different place to monitor the voltage from.

[virgilmobile]

The PO installed an Equus voltmeter and hooked it up to the accessory terminals. Doesn't seem to be very accurate or consistent. Anyone know anything about these? Maybe I just need to find a different place to monitor the voltage from.

Don't know first hand but yours may be suffering from what the Admin just described above...Noise generated by the bike being induced into the meter...A noise filter may help if you want to leave it attached there.
I'd rewire direct to the battery post for a test to see if its a wiring or meter problem.
My accessory line that I monitor is a relay being switched from the accessory terminal and the switch contacts take power direct from the battery(fused at 10 amp) and send it up to the left pocked outlet.
The voltage that's in the pocket outlet is directly connected to the battery...
I didn't want to use the bikes wiring for my outlet plug and meter..
Perhaps that's why my meter is so stable..

[wing rider 2012]

The PO installed an Equus voltmeter and hooked it up to the accessory terminals. Doesn't seem to be very accurate or consistent. Anyone know anything about these? Maybe I just need to find a different place to monitor the voltage from.

Am I right to assume that the Equus is an analog voltmeter? If so, the analog voltmeters are far more sensitive to noise than the digital ones, this is due to the way they are made. You will notice this when the vehicle starts and the voltmeter needle will vibrate about a half of volt both directions. The age of the voltmeter has a lot to do with how accurate the meter is, if the series resistor in the voltmeter has changed value the meter reading will be inaccurate.

[tandem54]

I like where you installed yours, I won the January contest (a Universal Voltmeter) and installed it on my 88 wing.
Took me a while to figure where I wanted to mount it, (after a couple hours routing wires and cutting the hole)
I haven't noticed any problem with the sun and that's a big problem here in AZ LOL!!

[wing rider 2012]

I like where you installed yours, I won the January contest (a Universal Voltmeter) and installed it on my 88 wing.
Took me a while to figure where I wanted to mount it, (after a couple hours routing wires and cutting the hole)
I haven't noticed any problem with the sun and that's a big problem here in AZ LOL!!

That's a great looking install job.

[virgilmobile]

Yours is a different size display.Much larger and it has a non glare diffuser lens on it.This makes a big difference in visibility.
Also the cost.You really do get what you pay for.
Because I'm really cheap,I chose the bare bones display and the smallest one I could find.My display is just 1/2 inch by 1 inch wide,no waterproofing,no diffuser lens and very small.
Your large display is in the perfect spot.It would never fit where I put mine.Most of it would be hidden,impossible to see the entire set of numbers.
Mine sets just a few inches below the instrument cluster,very easily catching my eye.
Yours is a very good job for the display you have.It looks perfect.
Job well done.

[OnPapasWing]

"Am I right to assume that the Equus is an analog voltmeter?"

You are right Wing rider. It is analog. I winder if I can get a digital one to install in that location? I'll have to look online. Might be a good idea.

Steve

[OnPapasWing]

Alright, so I found a digital 2" round blue LED readout gage that should work pretty good. About $20. Sounds pricey but many of them were at least $90 and some were even over $200. So if it doesn't work I'm out $20. Gotta look and work better than what I have now. I'll take pics when I get it in. The PO installed a gage accessory panel just in front of the ignition switch. Might swap out the oil gage too. Make it digital as well.

One thing I noticed about the current oil pressure gage is that the oil in the line is not solid. It looks like a dashed line, if that makes sense. Obviously the oil does not completely fill the tube. Should it?

[virgilmobile]

The oil line should not have air bubbles in it.Air compresses like a spring.You could idle the bike and crack the fitting loose at the meter.Tighten it up when the oil runs without bubbles in it

[WingAdmin]

The oil line should not have air bubbles in it.Air compresses like a spring.You could idle the bike and crack the fitting loose at the meter.Tighten it up when the oil runs without bubbles in it

Air may compress like a spring, but if there is 50 PSI of oil at one end, there will be 50 PSI in pressure at the other end, regardless of whether or not there is air in between.

[virgilmobile]

This is true about the pressure,lack of bubbles may increase stability of the display...
At least in my mind.....y'all know how that works.
It wouldn't hurt to bleed it out.

[MikeB]

I think bleeding the oil out of the line at the fitting may make you feel good initially but ultimately there will be air in the line no mater what you do. There is air in the Bourdon tube of the meter and it isn't going anywhere.

[vv0350]

So, I am interested in doing one of these…our alt failed and we had not clear notice until the battery was dead…
I understand cutting into a hot wire for + & - side to the wire..what is the third wire for…?
Thanks

[wing rider 2012]

So, I am interested in doing one of these…our alt failed and we had not clear notice until the battery was dead…
I understand cutting into a hot wire for + & - side to the wire..what is the third wire for…?
Thanks

Typically the third wire you are wondering about is just to power up the display, if you just connect the BLUE wire (as shown in the OP) then the voltmeter would read 0.0 volts. When I install 3 wire voltmeters I connect the 3rd wire and the main power wire together using the AUX terminal at the fuse block.

[WingAdmin]

I usually wire my voltmeters as close to direct to the battery as possible. So the "sense" wire would go to a fuse, then directly to the battery, and is always hot. The "trigger" wire then goes to the ACC terminal, which turns it on when the bike is switched on. That way you get the most accurate reading of battery voltage, without having to take into account voltage loss of the multitude of connections, terminals, fuses, switches, relays, etc. in between the ACC terminal and the battery.