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-   -   In car digital voltmeter. (http://www.astinagt.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13539)

RibZe 21-01-2009 10:13 PM

In car digital voltmeter.
 
Where can i buy one of these?

I tried Repco but they didn't have any (not sold out, don't stock them)

Dogo 22-01-2009 09:14 AM

any auto store should have them , super cheap, autobarn, a different repco etc.

Or try ebay

I suppose it depends - are you looking for a round guage style one or a little rectangular box ?

Also try Jaycar - their catalogue is on their website www.jaycar.com.au

RibZe 22-01-2009 10:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dogo (Post 185306)
any auto store should have them , super cheap, autobarn, a different repco etc.

Or try ebay

I suppose it depends - are you looking for a round guage style one or a little rectangular box ?

Also try Jaycar - their catalogue is on their website www.jaycar.com.au

The rectangular box is the one im after.

I found one on Jaycar's site, it's not the one i was originally after but it looks fine, has a stopwatch and something else in it, Plus it has velcro straps so it will be easy to mount under my head deck. $35.

SuperMazdaKart 22-01-2009 07:10 PM

could also make one yourself for cheap as chips using a VU metre from an old 80's home stereo amplifier

RibZe 31-01-2009 11:32 PM

Got it from Jaycar.

It's a voltmeter that's inside something that bolts onto the positive battery terminal and allows wires to be put in it.

I'll take a proper pic once it's installed properly. It was dodgily done by one of my mates with it reading the power going to my amp. My mechanic mate said it should be on the battery so i get the actual charging system volts.

70NYD 01-02-2009 04:57 PM

lol i just remembered my old camira had a voltmeter as a part of the cluster :p

RibZe 01-02-2009 10:39 PM

I'm not gunna make a new thread but add it in here.

The reason i wanted to voltmeter was to see what was going on whilst i cranked the system. (splits and speakers running off 600w 4c amp, 12" running off 1000w monoblock).

My battery died back in december (it was due for replacement) so i've now got a much bigger battery then my old one. It's 475CCA, i think the old battery was 300CCA, definately not above 400CCA. It dealt with my system for 10 months. So i wonder why when i have a brand new, bigger, better battery that my car plays up. The battery is NRMA Premium series.

What's happening? Well the first thing i noticed was after a 45min drive (to/from the girlfriends) the next time i started the car it would take two times (note new leads and platinum spark plugs). Then on other occasions i would notice the revs drop from 800(normal) to 500. I think the thermo fan turns on at this stage. Another time i was sitting at the lights and the car just stalled/switched itself off.
My mate seems to think my amps are drawing too much power and the battery can't cope. But as i said i have a bigger better battery!!!!
It's not like i just added another amp to my system. The only difference is that i installed splits, but that only draws the extra 100wrms (50x2) from the amp.

This is why i wanted the voltmeter, i had it connected to my 4 gauge power cable going to my amp, it read 14.2v on start up and 13.7 when playing music. However my mate said i should have it going to my battery to be sure. He did a load test with all accessories on and the volts on the battery went to 12.5, which you should all know isn't good.

I'm wondering if a capacitor is for me.

I'm heading to the autoelectrican tomorrow to get my air con re-gassed so i'll ask him.


Just wanted some more opinions on here.

70NYD 02-02-2009 01:02 AM

i think you should know that most of the time, unless you have a rediculusly big system, your alternator does all the work. if your alternator is good you should be able to dc the leads of the batery once the initial 475 cold cranking amps turn over your engine. if your alt is not good your batery will depleat and die, and i dont think that the batery alone is enough to run the coils anyway.. the car will drop in rpm when the thermo fan switches on, thats normal, but it should come back up to whatever your idle is within a few seconds. your starting problem might be due to a dirty dizzy or a oil leak from dizzy ring. check that as well and clean the points ;) i hope that helps man, if not someone else will come up with a solution :D
Tony

RibZe 02-02-2009 06:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 70NYD (Post 186249)
i think you should know that most of the time, unless you have a rediculusly big system, your alternator does all the work. if your alternator is good you should be able to dc the leads of the batery once the initial 475 cold cranking amps turn over your engine. if your alt is not good your batery will depleat and die, and i dont think that the batery alone is enough to run the coils anyway.. the car will drop in rpm when the thermo fan switches on, that's normal, but it should come back up to whatever your idle is within a few seconds. your starting problem might be due to a dirty dizzy or a oil leak from dizzy ring. check that as well and clean the points ;) i hope that helps man, if not someone else will come up with a solution :D
Tony

Autoelectrican (AE) said my alternator is running fine, my battery is healthy, However the load test proved that my system drains too much, it once again dropped to 12.3v.

The starting problem only happens the next time after ive being playing my system for a while. If i don't use it, the next time i start the car it's fine. The dissy O ring was leaking but it was replaced two weeks ago as well as the dissy cap, it still needs to be degreased and hosed down though.

The AE said a bigger alternator would work, but isn't worth the money. I'm better off if in stop and start traffic with the A/C on and my stereo that i turn one or the other off. He said a capacitor would help but at the end of the day it too needs to be charged by the alternator. He also suggested fatter wiring from the alternator to battery. I've defiantely do the latter and will talk to a car audio expert about the capacitor.

I'll get the voltmeter installed properly so i will be aware when the volts drop to dangerous levels. I need a fuse though (to save my wires getting fired and the obvious as a circuit breaker to avoid engine fire).


****ing money pit of a car.

Dogo 03-02-2009 12:34 PM

capacitor shouldnt doo much - they're designed for rapid discharge not as a constant load support. They might help if the lights were dimming on bass beats etc.

have you checked with the radiator fan on and off ? They drain a lot of power

RibZe 03-02-2009 11:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dogo (Post 186399)
capacitor shouldnt doo much - they're designed for rapid discharge not as a constant load support. They might help if the lights were dimming on bass beats etc.

have you checked with the radiator fan on and off ? They drain a lot of power

Ahh i see. I'll still check up on it but i'll be taking into account that the salesman will want to sell it to me whether i need it or not.

Not sure about the thermo fan being on or not. I think it comes on when the revs hit 500 (aka 12v range).

Dogo 04-02-2009 10:16 AM

The thermo fan should be temperature triggered - and most often comes on when the car is stationary ( because there's no flow of air to cool the radiator )

But the air conditioning should also turn on its fan, which adds a big electrical load.

Dogo 04-02-2009 10:17 AM

Also check that the grounds on your stereo are "good grounds" , which means that you have bolted them to a solid part of the chassis, and sanded back the paint to ensure bare metal on metal contact of the ring terminal.

DavoAust 04-02-2009 10:53 AM

what audio system are you running?

capacitor will not help at all, they are for rapid discharges when your system overdraws the battery/alternator (and even then you only really need one if your alternator isn't up to it).

sounds like you may need a better alternator, unless something else is putting a big drain on the system

RibZe 04-02-2009 07:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dogo (Post 186516)
The thermo fan should be temperature triggered - and most often comes on when the car is stationary ( because there's no flow of air to cool the radiator )

But the air conditioning should also turn on its fan, which adds a big electrical load.

That would contribute to my problem when driving at low revs and stationary.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dogo (Post 186517)
Also check that the grounds on your stereo are "good grounds" , which means that you have bolted them to a solid part of the chassis, and sanded back the paint to ensure bare metal on metal contact of the ring terminal.

I'm pretty sure all the groundings are good, they were checked beforehand with some device.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DavoAust (Post 186525)
what audio system are you running?

capacitor will not help at all, they are for rapid discharges when your system overdraws the battery/alternator (and even then you only really need one if your alternator isn't up to it).

sounds like you may need a better alternator, unless something else is putting a big drain on the system

6" Jaycar kevlar splits in the front, 6" Pioneers in the back tray, 600w 4 channel Pioneer amp, 12" Alpine type R sub, 1000w Alpine v-power monoblock amp, Pioneer head deck, 4 gauge wiring kit used.

Yeah i figured that the capacitor wouldn't really help because the alternator will need to recharge that aswell.

Alternator expensive :(

Dogo 05-02-2009 09:36 AM

200 bucks maybe ?

Or get ur current one rewound.

The worst part is actually going to be the labor to get the silly thing out. The drivers side driveshaft has to come off !

shaikaka 05-02-2009 11:07 AM

get one from the wreckers for around $30 bucks, it's a bit of pot-luck but just pick a shiny one. My alternator went within 2 weeks of getting the car, got one from the wreckers lasted me over a year. it's a good mornings job.

You'll need ramps and a car-jack to get it onto the ramps. Found my BG was too low for standard ramps.

You need to get underneath and above, best to have someone help.

RibZe 06-02-2009 10:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dogo (Post 186662)
200 bucks maybe ?

Or get ur current one rewound.

The worst part is actually going to be the labor to get the silly thing out. The drivers side driveshaft has to come off !

He also said the problem with a bigger alternator is trying to mount the thing. So theres big labour as you said.

RibZe 06-02-2009 10:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shaikaka (Post 186679)
get one from the wreckers for around $30 bucks, it's a bit of pot-luck but just pick a shiny one. My alternator went within 2 weeks of getting the car, got one from the wreckers lasted me over a year. it's a good mornings job.

You'll need ramps and a car-jack to get it onto the ramps. Found my BG was too low for standard ramps.

You need to get underneath and above, best to have someone help.

Mmm i had that thought. My mate spoke about getting it rebuild.

DavoAust 06-02-2009 02:38 PM

mate i don't know how your audio system is killing the battery, its not a high drain system? check your earths, it maybe pulling more power to overcome bad earthing

maybe look at other power drains (fans etc?) too

getting to the alt has to be the biggest b****. i'm leaving mine till i pull the engine :)

RibZe 10-02-2009 05:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DavoAust (Post 186820)
mate i don't know how your audio system is killing the battery, its not a high drain system? check your earths, it maybe pulling more power to overcome bad earthing

maybe look at other power drains (fans etc?) too

getting to the alt has to be the biggest b****. i'm leaving mine till i pull the engine :)

I'll check all the earths.

I just had alot of work done to the engine so that half of the engine was pulled out :P


Thanks.

70NYD 10-02-2009 08:01 PM

u might also have a shotty batery, irrelevant if its new.. in my old car i had a similar sounding problem. everything cheked out, batery held the charge while car was on, alt was working fine.. but once the car is off, the battery couldnt hold the charge, so it slowly released it somwhere, and when i cranked it the alternator just recharged it enough so that it can start on the seccond attemnt. i just got a stronger batery :) i hope that anecdote helps :p

RibZe 16-02-2009 12:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 70NYD (Post 187058)
u might also have a shotty batery, irrelevant if its new.. in my old car i had a similar sounding problem. everything cheked out, batery held the charge while car was on, alt was working fine.. but once the car is off, the battery couldnt hold the charge, so it slowly released it somwhere, and when i cranked it the alternator just recharged it enough so that it can start on the seccond attemnt. i just got a stronger batery :) i hope that anecdote helps :p

If i knew the battery wouldn't be able to cope then i would've cashed out another $200 for the Soundstream 700CCA dry cell battery.

It's a little disheartening that's all lol.

phildough 18-04-2009 08:20 AM

Have you added a extra ground return wire, as for every wire that comes off the positive battery terminal there should be one of equal size added from chassis ground to the negative battery terminal. Most people forget to add this wire when installing car stereos. No point having the fattest draw cable in the world when you have no return path.
It can cure the headlight flashing to the bass beat problem. It may solve your problem too. It may not also.
But it is a good idea to have it there anyway.


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