.

[AndrewTO]

You're overthinking this.

I get that a lot. Though I try and try to understand why, I can't seem to see what others see in me.

Just clear your mind of all distractions & let the gutteral Austrian baritone reverberate thru your head as you chant the mantra...

OK.

toor-bough-ull-ze-veigh...

To go all the way?

toor-bough-ull-ze-veigh...

Tour boat hull at bay?

toor-bough-ull-ze-veigh...

To vote for a say?

toor-bough-ull-ze-veigh...

Tore through all the way?


This....

could go on all day...

OOOHHHH, OOOOHHH, AAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!! Geez man, you HAD IT! It was right THERE and you fumbled! It's killing me now, but I don't want to ruin it.

Geez, this is worse than CHRISTMAS! It's funny, but since this thread is already bastardized beyond most hope (who started it again? SORRY!!!! REALLY!!!!!) ..... I don't care much for being out in snow, but don't mind it when i'm warm inside somewhere. Doesn't matter where, just not in the cold. I like that Christmas-time song, too, y'know ..... Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle LA LA LA!

Funny, now i'm missing this 'visualize rural sheep' bit. :?

 

[Toorbough ULL-Zeveigh]

oooh, again!
That last one was soo close.
You gave up just one step too early.


Alright, I'm no cruel, heartless bastard. :wink:

You're killing me with your guesses, too funny! :lol:
I'm just painting myself into a corner now, cuz the answer isn't gonna live up to what you expect.

Because you have the courage to ask, where no one else would, the answer is...

in your email. :lol:

 

[xyster]

Funny, now i'm missing this 'visualize rural sheep' bit.

Keep thinking about it! :lol:

 

[Toorbough ULL-Zeveigh]

This is turning into a virus.

 

[D-Man]

.

 

[D-Man]

The $11.95 panel meter arrived yesterday! Been working on it. Here's a couple pictures.

 

[D-Man]

Got the resistors on ok and shorted the correct contacts to get the decimal point I wanted. The only problem was that the red capacitor had a loose connection on one of the legs so had to re-solder that. Looks like I'll have to mount it to another board to mount it to the bike.

 

[D-Man]

Then I had to make a switch box as I want to monitor two different batterys. Lots of fun here. :lol:

 

[D-Man]

Ok, here it is. All done and ready to mount on the bike. It's dead on accurate as verified by a fluke meter. Still have to put it on the bike and test it though.

 

[xyster]

Nice work. Is this the allelectronics meter? Looks like it...that's the one I'm thinking of getting as a single subpack monitor to complement my full-pack connected analog voltmeter.

 

[D-Man]

Yeah its from allelectronics. Ok, now for the bad news. The gauge works fine until you turn on the throttle. Then it doesn't know what to do. It goes to 0 then 14, 24. But release the throttle and then its fine. Is this what happens when you buy a cheap gauge? :lol: Anyone have a solution to this problem?

 

[D-Man]

Hooked my power supply to the boost battery circuit. Meter works fine while varying the voltage. Ran the motor on 42 volts (non boost) while doing this. Meter works fine. This would mean there is no outside radio type interference going on. Now, with switch box set to main voltage. As soon as I barely open the throttle with wheel off the ground, reading goes straight to zero. All I can think of is there must be some type of internal interference going on in the wires with the motor or amps. Maybe there is a in-line filter of some kind a person could get. Anyone?

 

[Reid Welch]

An R-C filter will fix that.
It's reading instantaneous voltages, right. So at partial throttle the pulses are narrow. The meter catches some, misses others entirely, and reads what it sees.

fechter will be better qualified than myself to suggest a suitable R value.
If the meter has high input impedance, I suppose a ten k or greater resistor in series with the signal, and a smallish capacitor like .o22uF would be fine.
Depends on the meter's draw for its LCD and guts.
Try it out? If that isn't sufficient, double filter and cut the noise in half again and or smooth the choppy signal.

bat r c r c meter
the other leg of the cap goes to bat neg.

 

[D-Man]

Thanks for the reply Reid. I was just running it again on the power supply running a small brushed motor. Meters runs fine. Maybe it has something to do with the brushless motor pulsing. I wonder if there is negative voltages produced that causes the meter readings to drop and go all over the place. Maybe it needs a diode?

It does have high input impedance >100Mohm and also has adjustable calibration which they say is a resistor.

Edit: Tried a 100uf capacitor. No luck. Tried some other things; saw sparks; meter now junk. Oh well, it didn't work on the bike anyway. Think I'll just forget the whole boost thing.

 

[D-Man]

R.I.P. - I'll get another one and try this again.

 

[D-Man]

Ok, got another gauge and its funny how you order the same panel meter twice and all of a sudden they send you "version 2." Well, all I can say is that version 2 has the same interference as verison 1. :lol: I think I have figured out the problem though and I think that the 9 volt battery wiring was too long (around 1.5 foot) and turned into an antenna. I shorted the wire as short as possible and the interference seems to have left. Still, if you touch the 9 volt battery with your finger, you get interference. I've wrapped the 9 volt with electrical tape so its not so conductive. I haven't really road tested it too much yet because its not finished yet. Almost done with the mounting though. Had to re-do some things as they changed to circuit board design. Anyhow, here is what version 2 looks like. Also, I tried all kinds of capacitors and resistors before I figured this out. It doesn't need any of this. (As of right now)

 

[TylerDurden]

You might check into using a ferrite bead/ring on some of those leads... could help suppress RF.

The elec-gurus will know better than I.

 

[D-Man]

Thanks for the suggestion Tyler. We won't be needing it. The gauge works great! Its accurate and I'm happy with it. Just got back from a run and it was a blast. Here are some pictures.

 

[fechter]

Cool.
I got a couple of the cheapie digital gauges from AllElectronics. I fried one of them accidently within a day or so. I got the one that has a common power ground, so it could be powered by the source it's measuring. I had to make a small linear voltage regulator to step down the battery voltage. I used a zener diode, a resistor and a transistor. Since the meter does not draw much current, the transistor doesn't get very warm.

It matches well with the trusty Fluke, so it's a winner. When the input voltage gets down to around 10v, it drops out.

 

[D-Man]

Yeah, they seem to fry easily. I should have bought 2 at the beginning. Thats pretty good you were able to use the main voltage to power the gauge. Too bad they don't tell you that and give instructions. Mine doesn't allow for a common ground according to the instructions. Actually, I thought when purchasing the meter that it would be all enclosed in a case for easy mounting as described, but its in a case alright but with the circuit board on the back. Kind of stupid really. I sealed the sides between the 2 boards with strips made from a 2 liter bottle of soda and some spare rubber adheasive I had lying around and then used black electrical tape for color. Kind of rigged but no one will see. It works.

 

[fechter]

Yeah, they're super-cheezy. I was lucky and found a plastic box that just barely fit around it. It's still open on the back, but you have to look from underneath to see it.

 

[fechter]

Here's a pic of the mini voltage regulator circuit I made. I think the transistor is rated for 100v. I stuck it onto the voltmeter board with double sided foam tape.

 

[D-Man]

.

 

[D-Man]

Looks like the voltmeter gauge is having some problems still. It works fine at full throttle but at part throttle (not accelerating) it reads lower then at full throttle. I checked with a fluke meter. I'd imagine its probably more noise coming in on the input side. One other thing, I noticed that when I read the boost battery, its voltage will drop a few tenth's even when I'm not using it. (under acceleration) I guess this cheap gauge is for people who like to experiment.

 

[monster]

so let me get this straight...

if you have a brussless motor a DC volt meter wont alow you to see real time voltage because it comes in pulses. -what about an AC volt meter?

what about current reading using a DC meter and shunt, thats the same problem i suppose?

i've just ordered a shunt and amp meter thinking it would all be simple to wire up. wish i'd read this post first!