simple gauge for batts.

[LeeG]

Could folks steer me to some simple set-up for monitoring two 12v #27 batteries for my boat. I suppose something that would be connected on the other side of the master switch to check each one seperately.

[Thorne]

By "simple" do you mean under a certain price? There are lots of tools for that function...

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/te...056&id=0032185

[LeeG]

simple as in switch, meter next to existing switch board. What I've got is a 30 sailboat with instrument panel for Yanmar and switch panel for basic electrical functions. As I'm getting to know the boat it occured to me that it would be nice to have a meter telling me the status of the batteries instead of checking with a hand held meter.

Looking at various catalogs I see basic switch panels with meters replacing what I have for another $400-$500 or so. Seems to me there should be a meter and switch out there for under $50.

[Paul Fitzgerald]

I use one of these, pretty simple, just make a separate power supply using alkaline batteries and a holder. It is in Oz, but you should be able to find something similar, or order on line


http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView...orm=KEYWORD&Pr

[Gary E]

http://www.batterystuff.com/tutorial_battery.html

6. Battery Testing can be done in more than one way. The most popular is measurement of specific gravity and battery voltage. To measure specific gravity buy a temperature compensating hydrometer and measure voltage, use a digital D.C. Voltmeter. A good digital load tester may be a good purchase if you need to test batteries sealed batteries.

You must first have the battery fully charged. The surface charge must be removed before testing. If the battery has been sitting at least several hours (I prefer at least 12 hours) you may begin testing. To remove surface charge the battery must experience a load of 20 amps for 3 plus minutes. Turning on the headlights (high beam) will do the trick. After turning off the lights you are ready to test the battery.

State of ChargeSpecific GravityVoltage12V6V100%1.26512.76.3*75%1.22512.46.250%1.19012.26.125% 1.15512.06.0Discharged1.12011.96.0

See the link, it's puts that data in table form so you can make sense of it