I call this the neat little voltmeter as accurate as my now obsolete Fluke 189
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The title I picked relates to the state-of-the-art digital age/ old analog meter. For the last 10 years leading meter manufacturers such as Fluke and Megger have been using both digital number and bar graph displays, there is a reason for this, more so in the more expensive meters, more expensive because they are used by professionals and need to capture problems.
So we are going to skip the steps as to how the meter functions and jump in and explain the difference, first if we were using an analog meter and had a voltage spike for less than 1 millisecond, the meter movement is a magnetic field operating on a jewel movement, it has a small mass but does require a sustained field to reach a position equal to the applied force--no need to go further. A digital meter requires very little energy to operate, can detect voltage changes in the nanoseconds, so much more accurate ( when I say nanoseconds my THS720P Tektronix scope ). With digital meters a new problem came up, measuring and displaying couldn't take place at the same measure of time, it was discovered that a bar graph could be driven directly off the voltage measurement before it went into the digital processor for the display.
Another feature cropped up, record, it too used a bar graph type display but simulated a scope waveform, the advantage of this was the time lag in converting numbers could be eliminated and an accurate measurement was retained, without going to the expense of a scope.
For all the above statements by me, I have neglected to mention that the bar graph/ displays mimicked an analog meter, left to right. So to go further, and it was purely by accident I found the neat little voltmeter, I purchased what appeared to be similar to Signal Dynamics Head-Up voltage Monitor, which in fact was garbage $40, this was purchased from a reputable motorcycle Farkle supplier.
The reason why I like it, as the voltage climbs, more LEDs come on from left to right, secondly, is the normal operating voltage range using a series regulator on the Versys is the 3 green LED's, next down is two yellow, this is the 13.3 to 13.6 VDC, these happen on when at idle with the high beam and fan on, toggle between one green and the last yellow with fan only. The reason I like this, your brain doesn't need to process what is a safe operating voltage number to continue riding. Some people may get paranoid and look at a digital display every couple of minutes, or as one member did, even though he had a heads up, he didn't notice a problem until it was too late and he needed a tow to get home.
I relate to the green 3 led's similar to traffic lights, I don't stop at each light when it is green, I keep riding, a red light is a definite stop for me when the display shows only yellow or red led's you still have about 1 hour of riding left provided your battery hasn't failed. There was some mention in a discussion, of checking every 30 minutes or every hour on a digital display, I notice a change instantly, that 30 minutes to an hour could mean having enough battery to get me 60 to 100 KM back home ( towing charges on a bike are expensive, tilt and load is generally the only way).
When I discover an awesome product I like to share this knowledge, this neat little voltmeter has 3M double-sided tape, punched out with an identical footprint, also comes with 2 threaded studs and nuts and washers, I have pressure washed this with 2000PSI, I have also checked accuracy with my Fluke 189 meter. why would you want to know 14.4*14.3*14.2*14.1*14.0*13.9*13.8*13.7*13.6*13.5*13.4*13.3*13.2*13.1*13.0*12.9* and the numbers keep going, when do you get worried? are you staring at it too much? Nothing like seeing green all the time, the occasional yellow ( like a traffic light). No eyeglasses are required to read numbers up close, the only downfall is if you are color blind, that can be overcome by placing a paint mark at the last yellow LED, anything right is thumb::thumb::thumb:
So I have two values, the lower value or first value is the voltage to turn the existing led and the second value is the threshold to turn on the next higher value. As an example, 1 green led 12.60 VDC minimum to turn on to 13.09 VDC at 13.10 a second green comes on. So here goes;
1 orange 12.10 minimum to 12.19VDC single orange
2 orange 12.20 minimum to 12.59 VDC two orange
1 green 12.60 minimum to 13.09 VDC one green
2 green 13.10 minimum to 13.49 VDC two green
3 green 13.50 to 14.50 VDC, three green around 14.7 VDC the orange to the right of the 3 green comes on flashing, above 15 volts it stays on solid.
So a Condensed summary for those less technically inclined. Green is Good That is as long as 1 green led remains illuminated, your battery will be within 95% capacity, once you go/reduce to two orange you are discharging your battery since this is current per hour going out = to voltage, it is hard to say what capacity you are losing. As an example my Versys uses a 10 amp hour battery, so the difference between what the stator puts out and what is being drawn from the battery may be for example 3 amp at 12.59 VDC the two orange or ( watts is voltage times current 12.59 X 3 amp=37.7 watts) 37.7 watt /HR, our battery is rated 10 amps X 12.9 VDC = 129 watts / HR ( baseload is between 160 and 170 watts at 14.2 VDC ) so using those values you could probably ride for 3 hours before your fuel injection and everything started shutting down.
The title I picked relates to the state-of-the-art digital age/ old analog meter. For the last 10 years leading meter manufacturers such as Fluke and Megger have been using both digital number and bar graph displays, there is a reason for this, more so in the more expensive meters, more expensive because they are used by professionals and need to capture problems.
So we are going to skip the steps as to how the meter functions and jump in and explain the difference, first if we were using an analog meter and had a voltage spike for less than 1 millisecond, the meter movement is a magnetic field operating on a jewel movement, it has a small mass but does require a sustained field to reach a position equal to the applied force--no need to go further. A digital meter requires very little energy to operate, can detect voltage changes in the nanoseconds, so much more accurate ( when I say nanoseconds my THS720P Tektronix scope ). With digital meters a new problem came up, measuring and displaying couldn't take place at the same measure of time, it was discovered that a bar graph could be driven directly off the voltage measurement before it went into the digital processor for the display.
Another feature cropped up, record, it too used a bar graph type display but simulated a scope waveform, the advantage of this was the time lag in converting numbers could be eliminated and an accurate measurement was retained, without going to the expense of a scope.
For all the above statements by me, I have neglected to mention that the bar graph/ displays mimicked an analog meter, left to right. So to go further, and it was purely by accident I found the neat little voltmeter, I purchased what appeared to be similar to Signal Dynamics Head-Up voltage Monitor, which in fact was garbage $40, this was purchased from a reputable motorcycle Farkle supplier.
The reason why I like it, as the voltage climbs, more LEDs come on from left to right, secondly, is the normal operating voltage range using a series regulator on the Versys is the 3 green LED's, next down is two yellow, this is the 13.3 to 13.6 VDC, these happen on when at idle with the high beam and fan on, toggle between one green and the last yellow with fan only. The reason I like this, your brain doesn't need to process what is a safe operating voltage number to continue riding. Some people may get paranoid and look at a digital display every couple of minutes, or as one member did, even though he had a heads up, he didn't notice a problem until it was too late and he needed a tow to get home.
I relate to the green 3 led's similar to traffic lights, I don't stop at each light when it is green, I keep riding, a red light is a definite stop for me when the display shows only yellow or red led's you still have about 1 hour of riding left provided your battery hasn't failed. There was some mention in a discussion, of checking every 30 minutes or every hour on a digital display, I notice a change instantly, that 30 minutes to an hour could mean having enough battery to get me 60 to 100 KM back home ( towing charges on a bike are expensive, tilt and load is generally the only way).
When I discover an awesome product I like to share this knowledge, this neat little voltmeter has 3M double-sided tape, punched out with an identical footprint, also comes with 2 threaded studs and nuts and washers, I have pressure washed this with 2000PSI, I have also checked accuracy with my Fluke 189 meter. why would you want to know 14.4*14.3*14.2*14.1*14.0*13.9*13.8*13.7*13.6*13.5*13.4*13.3*13.2*13.1*13.0*12.9* and the numbers keep going, when do you get worried? are you staring at it too much? Nothing like seeing green all the time, the occasional yellow ( like a traffic light). No eyeglasses are required to read numbers up close, the only downfall is if you are color blind, that can be overcome by placing a paint mark at the last yellow LED, anything right is thumb::thumb::thumb:
So I have two values, the lower value or first value is the voltage to turn the existing led and the second value is the threshold to turn on the next higher value. As an example, 1 green led 12.60 VDC minimum to turn on to 13.09 VDC at 13.10 a second green comes on. So here goes;
1 orange 12.10 minimum to 12.19VDC single orange
2 orange 12.20 minimum to 12.59 VDC two orange
1 green 12.60 minimum to 13.09 VDC one green
2 green 13.10 minimum to 13.49 VDC two green
3 green 13.50 to 14.50 VDC, three green around 14.7 VDC the orange to the right of the 3 green comes on flashing, above 15 volts it stays on solid.
So a Condensed summary for those less technically inclined. Green is Good That is as long as 1 green led remains illuminated, your battery will be within 95% capacity, once you go/reduce to two orange you are discharging your battery since this is current per hour going out = to voltage, it is hard to say what capacity you are losing. As an example my Versys uses a 10 amp hour battery, so the difference between what the stator puts out and what is being drawn from the battery may be for example 3 amp at 12.59 VDC the two orange or ( watts is voltage times current 12.59 X 3 amp=37.7 watts) 37.7 watt /HR, our battery is rated 10 amps X 12.9 VDC = 129 watts / HR ( baseload is between 160 and 170 watts at 14.2 VDC ) so using those values you could probably ride for 3 hours before your fuel injection and everything started shutting down.
