Digital Battery meter reliability

[joekapp]

How reliable are the digital battery LEDs? I had some battery issues and as soon as the meter dropped 1 bar, my batteries started dying, and now that I have new batteries, I am super gun shy when I see it drop a bar after 9 holes. No performance loss, but always worried it will crap out.



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[scottyb]

Honestly ....
The bar graft meters are pure CRAP.
And the LED digital meters are accurate as can be.

[ThreeCW]

My digital dash meter consistently reads 0.1 to 0.2 volts higher than my Fluke multi-meter on my 48 volt battery pack. That is only 0.2 to 0.4% difference which is close enough for me to watch the state of charge on my pack.

I agree with ScottyB that the bar meters are TOTAL CRAP ... I did not realize how bad my bar meter was until I replaced it with a digital dash meter. I would highly suggest replacing your bar meter with a digital meter so you can actually understand what you batteries are doing ... both in static and under load conditions

Find attached a few photos of my old Curtis bar meter and my current digital dash meter ... sorry for the picture quality of the close up ... was taken in the garage tonight with my phone. The 52.4 volts was 3 or 4 hours after the charger finished and the voltage had not stabilized yet.

Also attached is the State of Charge chart ... to help you understand what the digital meter is telling you.

[scottyb]

The bar meter resets itself to 100% every time you charge. Even if the batteries are old or bad it says 100% because the charger was plugged in.

I saved this picture of a bar meter and a digital meter connected to the same battery pack. The digital meter shows 36v which we all know is the voltage where the cart should be plugged in for re-charging... the bar meter shows full.
This misinformation would lead you to damage the pack by drawing the batteries down too low. Every cart should have a digital meter.

[joekapp]

Originally Posted by scottyb

The bar meter resets itself to 100% every time you charge. Even if the batteries are old or bad it says 100% because the charger was plugged in.

I saved this picture of a bar meter and a digital meter connected to the same battery pack. The digital meter shows 36v which we all know is the voltage where the cart should be plugged in for re-charging... the bar meter shows full.
This misinformation would lead you to damage the pack by drawing the batteries down too low. Every cart should have a digital meter.

How difficult is the swap out? I have the bar meter hooked to each end of the battery pack, can I just pull the bar meter and stick in the digital meter on the same wiring?


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[scottyb]

Our meters are 2 wire self powered units. They can be connected directly to the pack or switched with the key. We send instruction for both methods.

[joekapp]

Originally Posted by scottyb

Our meters are 2 wire self powered units. They can be connected directly to the pack or switched with the key. We send instruction for both methods.

Great! Can I buy through you? Do you have a website?


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[scottyb]

Scotty's battery meters and website here

[joekapp]

Originally Posted by scottyb

Scotty's battery meters and website here

Great! I will purchase later today!


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[NCPW]

I love my DVM but find that it reads exactly .1 volt less than my actual pack. Easy to keep up with and close enough not to really matter.