Digital battery gauge

[onamission]

So I bought a digital battery gauge on eBay. No wiring instructions but found some pretty helpful ones online. The gauge has 3 terminals that are labeled +,-, and C. Wired the + and - respectfully on my 48V system. The gauge works that way. From what I understand the "C" should be wired to the key for power on/off. Like I mentioned the gauge works without "C" hooked up. When "C" gets power it shuts the gauge down, when power is removed it switches back on. Any help?

[DonBenigno]

Originally Posted by onamission

So I bought a digital battery gauge on eBay. No wiring instructions but found some pretty helpful ones online. The gauge has 3 terminals that are labeled +,-, and C. Wired the + and - respectfully on my 48V system. The gauge works that way. From what I understand the "C" should be wired to the key for power on/off. Like I mentioned the gauge works without "C" hooked up. When "C" gets power it shuts the gauge down, when power is removed it switches back on. Any help?

Who makes it ? An image would be helpful. Usually a guage is set up so that there is a third wire that turns the gauge (display) on. The b+/- is always connected so that it is reading the charge voltage unless your key switch input is wired through the main contactor.

[Furyous]

You may have the positive power for he gauge switched with the positive reading lead.

Three wire gauges have one positive to power the meter at a predetermined voltage, and a positive lead to go to your main pack. If your meter is capable of being powered by say up to 60v, connect both pack power and meter power to your keyswitch. If it is rated to be powered like mine from 5-30v, you will have to power it with your accessory battery or voltage reducer and the test lead goes to the pack. Negative will be shared with both pack and meter power negatives.



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[onamission]

Originally Posted by DonBenigno

Who makes it ? An image would be helpful. Usually a guage is set up so that there is a third wire that turns the gauge (display) on. The b+/- is always connected so that it is reading the charge voltage unless your key switch input is wired through the main contactor.

Not sure how my key is wired. But that is exactly how I have the meter wired. + to the B+ and - to the B-. The "c" terminal I have wired to the switch. It works with the key cut off. When it recieves power from the key, it turns off. Turn the key off and the meter is back on again.



This is the meter I purchased.

It's wired exactly as they recommend.

Installation Connections
The terminal marked "+" is for positive volts. The terminal marked "-" is for ground. These must be hooked up for the indicator to record battery usage. With only these two terminals hooked up, there will be no display showing. This is done to conserve battery power, but the meter is monitoring the batteries.

When you want to see the display, connect the terminal marked "C" to a positive volt source (+ and - terminals should still be connected).

"C" can be hard wired to have the display showing all of the time or can be used through a momentary contact switch to see the battery status by depressing the momentary contact switch. Another method for installation would be to connect "C" to a terminal coming from a switch key that goes hot when the key is turned on. Remember that + and - must always be connected.

NOTE: For the meter to be reset to full, it is necessary that the meter sees the charging voltage for as little as 1/2 second. If you have your meter hooked up only from a switched source for both the + and "C" terminal, you must switch this on during the recharge cycle for less than 1 second to reset the meter.

[Furyous]

Thanks for the input!

The meter I got is three wire, and my concern was the ground being shared between the pack negative and accessory battery negative.

I wired it up as shown it the diagram above three weeks ago and have no problems as of yet to report, but I still haven't attempted to charge the accessory battery and the pack at the same time.

This was part of a custom gauge cluster I made- came out nice. Motor temp, pack voltage, and accessory voltage.



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