dials - amp v volt

im currently making a custom dash for my landy and going to be putting in new guages as most of mine read wrongly etc,

im going to be fitting a 2nd battery for my compressor, rood lights and eventually a winch and just wonderd would i be better to fit 2 amp guages 1 for each battery

2 volt guages 1 for each battery or 1 of each and if so which guage to which battery, mainly just to keep an eye on usage etc.

what do you guys have and any info welcome.

Paul

If you're fitting a second battery, you'll surely be fitting a split charge system of some sort. There are some intellegent control unit ones out there, that keep an eye on your batteries and decide when to link them, and there are some more minimal (but still all you need really) systems which are basically just a high current relay wired to your charge light or ignition.

If you're really intrested in fitting new voltage or current guages, I really cant see what information you'd really gain from current meters off each battery. They'll tell you when you're drawing lots of current, and when you're charging your battery. But what does that information really mean to you?

If anything, sure, you can fit volt meters. That should give you some idea of how charged a battery is (but only when the battery is not currently in heavy usage and is not currently being charged). That's probably about all the useful information you can glean from guages.

Hi,

I agree with the guy above, voltage would be a lot more use... you could just fit one and a switch to switch between the two batteries?

You can just use a basic charging relay (make sure it is a very high current one if you might use a winch one day, not one of the caravan types)

i had theese guages fitted to my tmaxx split charge system in me fender,connected via a relay on each one that came on with the ignition

Bump said:

Hi,

I agree with the guy above, voltage would be a lot more use... you could just fit one and a switch to switch between the two batteries?

You can just use a basic charging relay (make sure it is a very high current one if you might use a winch one day, not one of the caravan types)

Click to expand...

iv been looign at diagrams of split charge systems and getting my head round them, what do you mean by not a caravan type though?


thanks for the pic, planing mine being in the dash rather than on top though:

Paulmitchell1984 said:

iv been looign at diagrams of split charge systems and getting my head round them, what do you mean by not a caravan type though?


thanks for the pic, planing mine being in the dash rather than on top though:

Click to expand...

What i mean is don't buy something like this:

CARAVAN SPLIT CHARGE RELAY KIT - 30 AMP /12V | eBay

But buy something more like this:

NEW HEAVY DUTY NAGRES 100 AMP RELAY 4 PIN SPLIT CHARGE | eBay
(personally i'd find one nearer 180 --> 200A, but, i would expect for most things a 100A would do)