Along with my new converter/new house battery rehab project, I acquired one of those digital plug-in voltage meters...just LUV running from socket-to-socket, watching it work! But I wish I knew more about what I'm looking at......

1. 12v sockets in the coach are a no-brainer (I think)....Those read house battery....But what about the dash cigar lighter socket? House or start battery? I'm guessing that one came from Chevy with the chassis?

2. If I bring the start battery online with the house battery, what am I reading now? An average between the batteries? The one with the highest charge?

3. Wouldn't ya just cringe if you called out an electrician to your home and I showed up?!

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Originally posted by Lee:
I acquired one of those digital plug-in voltage meters...just LUV running from socket-to-socket, watching it work! But I wish I knew more about what I'm looking at......

If it looks like:



I have had very negative experiences with them. I loved my first one so much I bought several as gifts. Now my kids hate me. I got tired of returning them. Camping World hates me now, too. They are often inaccurate and inconsistent. The meters, not CW. Well, I guess CW, too.

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1. what about the dash cigar lighter socket? House or start battery? I'm guessing that one came from Chevy with the chassis?

Yup. Tut I've put in lighter sockets all over. Inside, outside.

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2. If I bring the start battery online with the house battery, what am I reading now? An average between the batteries? The one with the highest charge?

Not exactly an average, but somewhere between the two. I can't remember the exact formulae.

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3. Wouldn't ya just cringe if you called out an electrician to your home and I showed up?!

LOL. Sort of reminds me.....In high school, my summer job was construction, and I learned a lot and could do most stuff. My dad had just moved my grandfather's tenant house from the farm to our lot on the lake, with the intention of remodeling it to make a summer cottage. So he engaged a local contractor to have some of the work done. Much to his surprise, the crew boss sent me and one of the town drunks (who worked for the outfit when sober) to do the work.

My dad never got over how much it cost him for me to have a summer job. BTW, I did the electrical work for free later, after the remodeling was done.

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Originally posted by Lee:
But I wish I knew more about what I'm looking at......

But what about the dash cigar lighter socket? House or start battery? I'm guessing that one came from Chevy with the chassis?Your guess is most likely correct. Most everything in the dash is start batteries. The only exception would be the switch for the low voltage start or "Boost Switch"

If I bring the start battery online with the house battery, what am I reading now? When you bring them online are you using a manual switch for paralleling or are you referring to starting of the coach?

If it's while running down the road thru the isolator then your voltage will level off and be about the same between both circuits after a little bit of use.

If you have a manual cutoff/selector switch you would be reading the same voltage right away on all circuits. Which would make it "An average between the batteries" but just until it levels off and gets charged up by the alternator.

Static voltage (parked) is lower then running voltage.

Bill N.Y.

Geeeeze Bill....Where were you BEFORE I ordered the dang thing? That's probably fourteen MORE dollars down the toilet.....

At least the meter and it's operator are pretty well paired-up...It gives me bad info and I really don't know what it's telling me anyway, so win/win....

Guess I'll just chaulk it up to another episode in the saga of the 28 year old, 24 foot, $20-grand (+/-) Barth hobby that my bride refers to as a serious personality disorder......

Thanks for the info.....

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Originally posted by Lee:
Geeeeze Bill....Where were you BEFORE I ordered the dang thing? That's probably fourteen MORE dollars down the toilet.....

At least you only bought one

I am considering gutting one of mine and putting in a Lascar EMV 1200 display. I have already cobbled up a temporary one attached to a lighter plug and love it. It is accurate and consistent throughout the operating range of the system, according to our calibration lab at work.



Just a spare plug, a small hinge and some Shoe Goo.

I took mine apart and found the little pot (variable resistor) in there that I could re-calibrate it to a known good reference. Now it is very accurate but only right around nominal voltage, linearity is awful!

BTW, my lighter socket on the dash and in the overhead compartment, Cummins chassis, is from the house batteries. The only indicator for the chassis batteries I have is the analog meter on the dash!

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Originally posted by MWrench:
I took mine apart and found the little pot (variable resistor) in there that I could re-calibrate it to a known good reference. Now it is very accurate but only right around nominal voltage, linearity is awful!

I did that, too, but I couldn't depend on it even at the calibrated voltage. Every so often it got wierd, so I lost confidence in it. Sure would be neat thing if it worked, though.

My multimeters are all FLUKEs. They last forever and are accurate. The newer ones I have are FLUKE 73s.

They do cost more than 14 dollars but as I have had one of them since 1980 I think the cost over time is a suitable number.

Pick up a Fluke 190 Series recording scope while you are at it, they are fun tools too. Ok the Scope is costly and while I, N.Y. Bill or Bill H. may see the need for one of these if you don't no worries.

Timothy

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Originally posted by timnlana:
My multimeters are all FLUKEs. They last forever and are accurate. The newer ones I have are FLUKE 73s.

They do cost more than 14 dollars but as I have had one of them since 1980 I think the cost over time is a suitable number.

Pick up a Fluke 190 Series recording scope while you are at it, they are fun tools too. Ok the Scope is costly and while I, N.Y. Bill or Bill H. may see the need for one of these if you don't no worries.

Timothy

Yeah, my employer found that cheaper meters were false economy. Again and again. For my 38 years there, the only meters that proved cost-effective were the Simpson 260 and the Flukes. The Flukes even replaced the VTVMs we had to use for nulling LVDTs etc. We were not even allowed to use out personal (easier to carry) meters without running them through certification yearly. We all hated the hassle of checking out a Fluke every time we needed one, and preferred to carry our own. Few passed even the first time. Even fewer the next year.

Can't take the bait on the scope, Tim. I still use the (tube)one I built from a kit in the '50s.

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Can't take the bait on the scope, Tim. I still use the (tube)one I built from a kit in the '50s.

I picked up a Radio Shack 46-range digital multimeter years ago that had a PC interface on it. (Windows 95 era) Still works great with XP on my laptop and is not just fun but can be left in baby-sitting mode for hours and hours. Then playback can show what happened.

Helped me nail a problem on a connection inside a Heart Freedom 25 that went into equalize mode whenever it felt like it and hard-boiled batteries. Took several days to pick that off and the record mode of the laptop using the meter was the perfect tool.

Shack still carries these and I think the current price is around $70. Only catch is your laptop or pc has to have a serial interface - which is getting rare.

The meter by itself has been bounced, dropped, kicked (but not dipped) and keeps on working.

Mike

Some Flukes will capture and hold a peak reading. I have actually sent a few on airplane rides to find out what was going wrong.

I got yelled at once for doing that because I didn't turn in the meter at the end of the shift. They actually told me that they could authorize me to ride along and monitor the meter, but they could not allow a meter to ride unaccompanied.

Bill H: Does that qualify you to get "Frequent Flyer Miles??



"THE TOY" 88 33' Regal SE Coach #3448

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Originally posted by MWrench:
I took mine apart and found the little pot (variable resistor) in there

Bill h: got yelled at once for doing that because I didn't turn in the meter at the end of the shift. They actually told me that they could authorize me to ride along and monitor the meter, but they could not allow a meter to ride unaccompanied.

Sounds like Bill h's bosses were smoking a little pot.

I recently purchased another Fluke 77 meter to leave in the Barth. Plenty on E-Bay with leads. I paid $42.00 Total.