All volt gauge users!...

[Paul14a]

Where did you pick up ur feed for the volt gauge?

I know theres plenty of 12v feeds inside the car but what one is ignition live and gives you a charging reading when the car is running?

[RoboS13]

try removing gear stick surround and either lighter or other wiring to link to. thats what i did.:thumbs:

[Paul14a]

What reading do you get when your cars running mate?

cheers

[RoboS13]

iirc its about 14 to 16v

[mav]

Volt meters permanent live should be wired direct to the battery with an inline fuse, after all its the battery voltage that you need to keep an eye on. Its all very well picking a permanent live inside the car somewhere but this can and does fluctuate causing misleading readings with the permanent direct to the battery you can be pretty sure its accurate, the average S13 gives you 12.3 volts engine off (depending how good your battery is) and 14.6 volts engine running, engine cranking over should read no less than 9. volts
Ignition can be taken from prety much anywhere and the illumination from the loom that goes to your stereo.

[RoboS13]

wont directly to the battery be permanently draining power? i found it works better off ignition, but thats just me.:wack:

[Ian200 - nakamichi]

mine is wired to live on the head unit,so only comes on when ignition is on.
Earth to a bolt on the engine bay.
Reads around 14/15 volts with engine running.

[JDK]

wont directly to the battery be permanently draining power? i found it works better off ignition, but thats just me.:wack:


put a switch in it:wack:

[mav]

wont directly to the battery be permanently draining power? i found it works better off ignition, but thats just me.:wack:

No because the ignition feed turns the voltmeter off.
If however you only have one live feed and one earth then you just take the ignition source from the radio or better still the 12 volt socket.

[tej]

I was too lazy to take a feed from the battery and have just hooked it up to the stereo wiring, I just wanted a rough reading to give me a quick insite to the condition of the battery at any given time..

Anyway, I usually get about 14.4-14.6v whilst running, and 12.8v switched off.

[xlogic]

I know mine doesnt run that high. At idle i'm sometimes under 12v, ill check the exact figures and post them up but i'm running a reconditioned alternaror (reconditioned 2 months ago) and one of the Apex Westco batteries.

Does anyone else have a problem with these batteries or could it be something else?

[tej]

If your car was charging at only 12v you'd know about it pretty soon as it wouldn't be charging your battery...

use a multimeter on the battery terminals themselves and it'l be closer to 14v, your gauge is probably just reading low (possibly due to innadequate wiring or bad calibration)

[Paul14a]

Volt meters permanent live should be wired direct to the battery with an inline fuse, after all its the battery voltage that you need to keep an eye on. Its all very well picking a permanent live inside the car somewhere but this can and does fluctuate causing misleading readings with the permanent direct to the battery you can be pretty sure its accurate, the average S13 gives you 12.3 volts engine off (depending how good your battery is) and 14.6 volts engine running, engine cranking over should read no less than 9. volts
Ignition can be taken from prety much anywhere and the illumination from the loom that goes to your stereo.

Yep that is what i was getting at. Picking up a illumination feed isnt a problem its getting the reading direct off of the battery so the volt gauge becomes live when the ignition is on only!

[mav]

It depends on what type of volt meter you have, If you have Live, ignition and Earth then Live to the battery direct as thats where the feed comes from to givethe readings.
If you only have one live and an earth then you need to pick up an ignition supply from somewhere on the car, personally I wouldnt use the live feed to the radio as that can and does fluctuate giving inconsistent readings, your much better off going direct to the ignition barrel loom and using the non cranking ignition live for a more acurate reading.