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-   -   D.I.Y. Weekend Project: Car Battery Voltage Monitor (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/diy-do-yourself/164299-d-i-y-weekend-project-car-battery-voltage-monitor.html)

Sometimes friends say that I am getting older, as I need the kind of information which a normal person doesn't need at all. Sometimes friends say that I am a geek and techie who always has something beyond normal users. Anyway to keep those people busy commenting, I installed a D.C. voltage monitor in my Santro Xing.

What's different in my installation?
This one is different because it's hooked directly to the car battery instead of using the car cigarette lighter socket, which in most cases, is connected after a voltage regulator, which would never read above 13 volts.

I installed it by hooking it up to the car amplifier that I already had under the seat. Used a switch and a fuse for pre-caution, and having it installed in this way shows me whether the alternator is generating enough voltage to charge the battery. It's like something you'd see at a battery shop, where the mechanic places a meter on the battery terminal and then asks you to crank the engine and he checks if the battery voltage went above 12/13 volts once engine started running.

Some installation pics attached.

Remove the dummy switch for make a hole to fit the D.C. volt meter:




Tested using desktop adjustable power supply:


Hell of a wiring in my gear lever console. Other wires used for various things, I only installed the switch:


D.C. voltmeter in place:


It's yellow / amber, so the camera flash spoiled the pic:


In person, it looks great at night:


For more details please see my installation video at :-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edSg8Fhndtw

Edit: Forgot to mention that this D.C. voltmeter was ordered from Aliexpress and took only 2 months to reach me. I ordered 2 different colours - one came and one seems to be lost in transit. These are available on ebay India, but you would need to pay almost 3-4 times the Aliexpress price.

Great!! I'm always a fan of DIY projects.

There are some nice voltage meter cum clock cum temperature meters in Aliexpress which can be bought within 1000 bucks.
IMO cigarette lighter is not regulated. I had a Orange TPMS which had a voltage monitor option built into. It showed more than 14V when the car was running.