voltage gauge

[pbk05]

has anyone installed a voltage gauge to a vt commodore.. i am having a bit of trouble with it

thanks alot....

[mazzstein]

two wires mate,

positive to the battery
negative ground it to the car some where.
also if theres a light wire that taps into the headlight switch

[immortality]

i agree, it is the easiest gauge to wire up.

[miltiadis_s]

where is a good spot to mount this meter in a VT/VX?

[VrWagz1]

On the bonnet. with led's

[DannyboyDS]

if you just hook it straight to the battery wont it be reading all the time?

[axemurderer101]

connect ur positive wire to your ignition wire under the steering collumn, or your acc wire, i chose the ignition wire so i could see how how much the volts drop when i crank the engine

[immortality]

i thought you could get a little gauge cluster that holds 2 gauges for late model commodores that fits into the top of the dash.

[Phreddy]

Immortality - those gauge pods are for VY / VZ, not VT unfortunately.

Pkb05 - what stereo unit do you have in your car? Another forum member here - rch13z - has a VT with some aftermarket gauges fitted to a custom filler panel below the stereo head unit (he's taken out the original and has a single DIN unit fitted) Looks quite nice...

BTW - to hook a voltage gauge directly to the battery (so it's reading all the time) isn't such a terrible thing. Voltage meters draw VERY little current, you won't flatten your battery... (unless it's already in a pretty bad way) But I do also like the idea of connecting it to the "ignition" circuit axemurderer - the voltage drop on heavy load is the best way to estimate the overall condition of your battery.

Cheerz!

[commsirac]

connect ur positive wire to your ignition wire under the steering collumn, or your acc wire, i chose the ignition wire so i could see how how much the volts drop when i crank the engine

You will still see how much the volts drop when you crank the engine if you have the gauge connected to the battery, ....actually anywhere on the car where there is a voltage supply.
You know you have one on the trip computer.....granted its not as good as having a full time one, but depends what you have in mind.
Personally Id like a full time one so if I see the voltage rising up or down I can do something about it before it perhaps fries something.

[immortality]

You will still see how much the volts drop when you crank the engine if you have the gauge connected to the battery, ....actually anywhere on the car where there is a voltage supply.

unless you have it wired into a accesory circuit. then it looses power when you crank the engine

[commsirac]

unless you have it wired into a accesory circuit. then it looses power when you crank the engine

for goodness sake, yes we could measure the voltage at the parklights, but if they are off it wouldnt be much good........obvious Id of thought

I did say anywhere where there is a voltage supply, obviously if you put it somewhere where the voltage disappears when cranking the motor then there is no voltage supply@#$%.

where would I put the gauge. Id put it on the same circuit as the rest of the instruments is using which of course receive voltage when the starter is cranked and also receive voltage without the ignition circuit being active. This really depends on what people want it for, if it were mainly to monitor the condition of the battery while powering the stereo when the engine isnt running, then the accessories or radio fuse is the place to pick it up.

[immortality]

You will still see how much the volts drop when you crank the engine if you have the gauge connected to the battery, ....actually anywhere on the car where there is a voltage supply.

I did say anywhere where there is a voltage supply, obviously if you put it somewhere where the voltage disappears when cranking the motor then there is no voltage supply@#$%.

sure to be sure, but not all "VOLTAGE SUPPLIES" are constant live with the ignition off or with the key on accesory only or when cranking. we wouldn't want to give ambigious information to other members

but i guess you have that figured out now that you have corrected yourself with your second post (i quoted it above for you just incase you can't remember what you wrote the first time)

[commsirac]

No not ambiguous information, if it is read carefully. and I stand by every word of it.
The point was that the voltage supply will be more or less the same anywhere it can be accessed(Im sure you took that in).
ie
Perhaps you felt the need to just clarify what I said, if you thought it was ambiguous....that's fair.
Just say: that people need to keep in mind whether the access point will need to have voltage switched to it when they want it(but it wouldnt be a voltage supply if it were switched off then would it!@#$#@!.)

But to suggest my information is wrong for the sake of trying to score points(because that person has been exposed for providing bs on this site by myself b4)......that's when I do get annoyed with the forum trolls around here.

[immortality]

But to suggest my information is wrong for the sake of trying to score points(because that person has been exposed for providing bs on this site by myself b4)......that's when I do get annoyed with the forum trolls around here.

so your the one keeping scores ehh. ohh well. good to know someone cares

[apoc585]

my mate wired a voltage guage in his car and when we were looking into it the best & easiest way we found was to wire it up directly to the battery. yes it will always be on but it draws next to no current so it'll never drain ur battery and you can see the voltage drop at start up etc.
as for the illumination we just wired it off his headlight signal cable.

[the_random_hero]

my mate wired a voltage guage in his car and when we were looking into it the best & easiest way we found was to wire it up directly to the battery. yes it will always be on but it draws next to no current so it'll never drain ur battery and you can see the voltage drop at start up etc.
as for the illumination we just wired it off his headlight signal cable.

Best an easiest? How is running two wires (which creates a fire hazard, mind you) from the cabin out to the engine bay easier than finding accessories, ground and an illumination wire under the dash?