Silvertip
Supreme Mariner
- Joined
- Sep 22, 2003
- Messages
- 28,771
Re: Battery charge gauge
It's only a useless feature if you don't know what you want it to tell you. If you look at the voltage vs % charge table you will see very little difference in voltage. Will 75% start your engine? Will a voltage equating to 75% charge truely be 75% when a load is applied. A voltage reading is really only of value when it is compared with something else. If it reads 14.5 with the engine running, you know the charging system is working. If it doesn't, its not. If you were running a trolling motor off that same battery the locator is on, it would be of value as you can measure the voltage with the motor at full speed. If it drops significantly where it didn't with a full charge, you know it's time to charge the battery. But without something to reference all you know is the battery at any one instant is at xx.xx voltage. Only you can determine if that's good or bad. If you set the alarm for 11.5 volts, what does that signify when the alarm goes off? It can only signify that the voltage is 11.5 volts with whatever you have running. Again -- is that good or bad?
It's only a useless feature if you don't know what you want it to tell you. If you look at the voltage vs % charge table you will see very little difference in voltage. Will 75% start your engine? Will a voltage equating to 75% charge truely be 75% when a load is applied. A voltage reading is really only of value when it is compared with something else. If it reads 14.5 with the engine running, you know the charging system is working. If it doesn't, its not. If you were running a trolling motor off that same battery the locator is on, it would be of value as you can measure the voltage with the motor at full speed. If it drops significantly where it didn't with a full charge, you know it's time to charge the battery. But without something to reference all you know is the battery at any one instant is at xx.xx voltage. Only you can determine if that's good or bad. If you set the alarm for 11.5 volts, what does that signify when the alarm goes off? It can only signify that the voltage is 11.5 volts with whatever you have running. Again -- is that good or bad?