Voltmeter Addition

[SilverTalon]

Has anyone ever added a voltmeter to their bike?

I'm looking at possible locations to hook up without going directly on the battery.

My first thought was maybe going off the fuse block by itself but I don't think that would work well.

My next thought would be to connected to the master on the fuse block, so it would only take a measurement when the key is turned.

Any suggestions?

 

[bcXS400-81]

Interested to see what you come up with as I was planning on doing the same thing on mine, given the fickle nature of the charging system on these bikes. I was thinking of just going accross the battery with an in-line fuse. Shouldn't be much current draw at all, so not a big problem if the gauge is always reading (don't plan on getting a back-lit one).

 

[SilverTalon]

Interested to see what you come up with as I was planning on doing the same thing on mine, given the fickle nature of the charging system on these bikes. I was thinking of just going accross the battery with an in-line fuse. Shouldn't be much current draw at all, so not a big problem if the gauge is always reading (don't plan on getting a back-lit one).

Yeah, unfortunately the lowest price one I found (I'm a little cheap on extras) was backlit.

I thought about putting it straight to the battery with an on/off switch, but I want it to be automatic.

My thought would be to go from the right side of main-> voltmeter -> back to main wire.

 

[ThePsuedoMonkey]

I'm going to try what I mentioned in this thread as soon as the diode kit is delivered.

 

[drewpy]

theres also this

http://gigavolt.eu/Motorbikes/Moto_electronics/moto_electronics.html

 

[SilverTalon]

I'm going to try what I mentioned in this thread as soon as the diode kit is delivered.

When you make that addition, where are you wiring it in the bike?

This is what I ended up buying a few days ago

What one of the guys at work tells me is to hook the positive line up after the main fuse, and the negative straight into the battery negative. Sound about right?

 

[ThePsuedoMonkey]

I will probably wire it to either the kill switch or somewhere inside the headlight enclosure, depending on where I end up mounting it. I'm waiting to decide on details like that until after I mock it up since my imagination tends to exaggerate what I am capable of doing.

 

[SilverTalon]

I got my voltmeter, of course with no instructions or min/max ranges, and 18/20 guage wire.

My first hook up, I combined wires from the main (after the fuse) to an empty fuse slot, and from there to the meter, then to ground on the bike. I used a 20a fuse on the meter.

Whenever I hooked the battery up the meter would light up, without turning the key.

Then I decided to go from the headlight to the meter, which solved that problem, but it will read a little lower. Not sure if I want to keep it that way.

 

[skervey35]

I just ordered this guy today, iv been having some issues with the wiring so this will help he find any new issues and keep my eye on the battery and charging system

 

[xs400newbie]

I got my voltmeter, of course with no instructions or min/max ranges, and 18/20 guage wire.

My first hook up, I combined wires from the main (after the fuse) to an empty fuse slot, and from there to the meter, then to ground on the bike. I used a 20a fuse on the meter.

Whenever I hooked the battery up the meter would light up, without turning the key.

Then I decided to go from the headlight to the meter, which solved that problem, but it will read a little lower. Not sure if I want to keep it that way.

Curious at to which colour wire in the headlight you attached it to.

 

[SilverTalon]

Curious at to which colour wire in the headlight you attached it to.

Not trying to be a jerk here, but I couldn't tell you which wire I hooked it up to, I had my multimeter with me to figure out which was positive

I wired the negative directly to the ground point

 

[xs400newbie]

Not trying to be a jerk here, but I couldn't tell you which wire I hooked it up to, I had my multimeter with me to figure out which was positive

I wired the negative directly to the ground point

Main reason I was asking is that there could me a mess of wires in there ( I'm not sure since I haven't yet opened up my headlight), and I wouldn't just use any wire which read positive. You want one that most accurately reflects the state of the charging system. Maybe this is why your meter was measuring slightly lower?

 

[SilverTalon]

Main reason I was asking is that there could me a mess of wires in there ( I'm not sure since I haven't yet opened up my headlight), and I wouldn't just use any wire which read positive. You want one that most accurately reflects the state of the charging system. Maybe this is why your meter was measuring slightly lower?

I honestly didn't read that in any correct context, my bad
I cut the positive going in before the headlight and then spliced it in.

 

[Flexeril]

Thanks for sharing this info OP!

I am off to buy one now!