State of charge meter

[skipsmith521]

I ordered a digital Volt meter from Scottyb.

My cart has one of those analog soc meters. It does not show any readings on the needle unless you plug in the chrager. I tested the wires in the back of the meter with my handheld DVM and it tested okay with the pack charge.

What size wire gauge should be on these wires to a Soc meter or led meter I purchased from Scottyb?

Thx

Skip



Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

i use 16 gauge wires

[skipsmith521]

I guess I am confused...

If the lcd Volt meter wires is carrying the full 36 plus volts of the entire pack, why would 16 gauge be sufficient?

Just trying to learn about this stuff...thanks for the help...


Skip

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

[tag50]

Meter draws very few amps.


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[Rickochet]

Originally Posted by skipsmith521

I guess I am confused...
If the lcd Volt meter wires is carrying the full 36 plus volts of the entire pack, why would 16 gauge be sufficient?
Just trying to learn about this stuff...thanks for the help...
Skip

Been a few years since I installed my meter from ScottyB but as I recall the wires attached to the meter are very small. Someone please correct me if I am incorrect but as far as wiring size it is more an issue of amperage not voltage. The amp draw by the meter is very small. I ran a dedicated set of wires from by battery pack for the meter. I also installed an inline fuse.

you are correct , the wires that come with meters are 18~ 22 gauge

[JohnnieB]

Amp flow determines wire gauge needed.
Voltage and environmental conditions determines the insulation needed.

I used 18/2 power cord to connect my DVM battery meter, which is overkill.
Clear PVC insulation, one tinned conductor, one bare copper.

[Sergio]

Just a note that sometimes the wire gauge that comes standard on some equipment is a product of good engineering but terrible consumer practice.

The gauge of a wire by itself does not introduce any practical current limits on a circuit.

That is a tough concept to accept at first, but lots of people have practical experience with it.

When You run your brand new 2ga cable with low-resistance lug connections to Your 300amp fuse, You don't think about that tiny little wire gauge inside the fuse limiting the current flowing through your beefed up 2ga cable set.

So sometimes using good engineering cost savings principles, a product may use a short section of small gauge wire for their external connections, which is technically correct.

The problem comes in when a consumer notices the wire that was used and tries to extend the circuit using the same gauge wire.

The length of the wire in combination with the gauge used will increase the resistance of the wire and potentially create an unsafe condition or excessive voltage drop.

This is not an issue on something like a SOC meter, but it can be a big issue on a DC-DC converter where the wire used for the 12v output is only correctly sized for the 1 ft length used.

I agree with previous suggestions:

For 36/48v:

16ga wire is a good size for solenoids, etc.

For 12v:

16ga is a good size for gauges, led lights etc.
14ga is good for accessories up to 200w.
12ga is good for accessories up to 300w.
10ga should be used between DC converter and fuse box.