Seeking advice on a volt meter

[KRB64]

Have older Sea Rays here, with no way to monitor batteries while on the hook.

I recall seeing a digtal volt meter that plugs into the cigarette lighter. I think it was for truckers or something.

Does anyone know about these?

Or have advice on what I can use? I'm not opposed to hard wiring something in but I'd like it to be discrete or at least blend in with the 80's cockpit. The 260 has 3 batteries, two together and one on its own.

 

[KRB64]

Like this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Blue...ptZMotorsQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories

Anybody have experience with them?

 

[Don Sr]

doesn't your GPS/depth guage monitor battery voltage - my old Garmin 170 alarms at low voltage. I'm sure they about $50 on e-bay.

 

[KRB64]

No GPS, this boat is old school. The depth finder is in-dash, the old circular unit with the red ray that spins around marking the depth. Thats why I was looking for a plug in.

 

[Here For The Party]

Do you have a VHF radio? My last two radios have a volt gage in them.

 

[KRB64]

We do, but its from the 80s too. If it has a volt meter I haven't found it.

 

[KRB64]

My last two radios have a volt gage in them.

Do all/most new VHFs have a built in volt meter? Might be a good excuse - err reason, for me to upgrade the radio...

 

[2000SEARAY280SS]

The problem with the electronics reporting the voltage is that they will only report the voltage of the battery powering them, You would need to be able to switch to the different batteries in the banks to get there levels. You might be able to get two out of the three depending on the battery switches installed on your boat.

Basspro has quite a few general battery state meters and Blue sea sells a full function unit. I have not used any of these.