State of charge meters

[Silverstreak]

I have one of those analog state of charge meters. It seems fairly useless. Is this common with this type of meter? When the batteries are charged, they are right at the level of acceptable. If the pointer is just slightly below that area, its very low on charge. Is this a result of my old batteries, or is there something wrong with the meter, or is this just all these type of meters can muster?
Those digital ones look pretty cool. Could I just replace this analog one easily with a digital one? Should I just try buying a new analog one?
Thanks.

[crash12888]

Give Scotty a call, he has some nice ones for cheap.

http://www.cartsunlimited.net/Digita...ry_Meters.html

[sonicj]

analog can be just as accurate and useful if calibrated correctly. problem is, many are not.

sounds like you already have your heart set on upgrading... its a easy upgrade and you'll enjoy it every time you look at it.
-sj

[scottyb]

I find the analog meter useful on a hill. Any hill or under any load really. That's when I want to watch and see how far down it drops. If it dips to the red under load you are likely ready for the charger....... of course as with anything other than a digital meter you need to calibrate it so that you can equate the needle readings to actual voltage reading you can see on a chart like this.

[Silverstreak]

Thanks everyone.
How do you calibrate the analogs?

When mine is fully charged, it is just a sliver above the green area, in the white area. There have been times when its barely down in the green, when it loses lots of power.
It is useful for when I go up a little incline. If it drops way down into the green, I know the charge is really getting low. Its never been in that lower red area..........even when it wouldn't move!
While it charges, its up in that red area on the right. Does this mean it, no doubt, is not calibrated?

[Hypersprint]

OMG, I hope arcitech does not see this thread! He will have a real conniption fit

[scottyb]

All meters dip in the red under load. UNDER LOAD is the key wording. Under a load is like when you and your fat brother in law and his 3 big kids pile in the cart and you head up the hill toward the house. Now that's under load. On a fresh charge the needle will drop down under such a load but stay in the green......indicating a healthy charge. When the charge is lower but still in the green and everybody piles on & you mash the peddle to zip up the hill you can see the needle drop down into the red. That's when it is time to recharge.
Now if your meter does not do this EVER.... it may be bad?

Hope this helps!

[madoc1]

scotty, i see you modified the chart. did doug have a copyright on that? do we now have to pay him a commission each time we use it?

[scottyb]

Originally Posted by madoc1

scotty, i see you modified the chart. did doug have a copyright on that? do we now have to pay him a commission each time we use it?

He said we could use it, but he just wanted everybody to know it was his chart so I thought I would oblige.

[Silverstreak]

Thanks Scotty. It must be a bad meter, 'cause like I said, its never in the lower red, even when it won't move, from lack of charge.
Any idea how to calibrate it, or is that supposed to be done in the factory? It will be interesting to see what it does, when I get the new batteries put in.