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Battery and Voltage Monitor Battery and Voltage Monitor
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Photo by Andy Miller, UK, Taking a rest, Jokulsarlon, Iceland

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Photo by Andy Miller, UK,
Taking a rest,
Jokulsarlon, Iceland



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  #1  
Old 12 Dec 2012
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Thumbs up Battery and Voltage Monitor
I have just fitted this clever little gadget called a monsoon10 and it works a treat.
Andrew makes them and he is very helpful
Just make sure your positive feed comes from a circuit which is turned off when the ignition is off.
Different colours tell you what your battery is up to and whether it is being charged.
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  #2  
Old 12 Dec 2012
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Good idea, I like it, will you buy me one for xmas
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  #3  
Old 12 Dec 2012
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Excellent product
Have them on 4 bikes, though the 8mm size !

Wouldn't have saved me on my Shorai battery fail . . . but still excellent to know whether it's battery or charging circuit failure to nurse your ride home.

A new version should be out, soon.
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  #4  
Old 12 Dec 2012
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I don't know if mine was made by the same people, but Monsoon wouldn't have been a very good name: It failed after about three weeks use in the wet.

The earth connection BTW needs to be perfect if you want to see it go green, best to run a cable all the way back to the battery.

Andy
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  #5  
Old 12 Dec 2012
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That looks very neat. I made a slightly simpler one about five or six years ago to keep an eye on the charging system on my CCM and it cost me about seven pounds for all the bits and an hour or so of soldering, so £10.90 for a ready made one seems not bad at all.

I'm not sure all the various flashing modes are all that helpful - mine just has steady red green and yellow for under, normal and overvoltage - but I suppose it only flashes when something has gone wrong so maybe that's when it's needed.

It's been useful - a couple of times wires have come loose and I've noticed the change in the leds in time to do something about it and it's also helpful if you're running stuff like heated jackets, extra lights etc as you can see from the colour change when you've pushed the alternator output to its limit.
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  #6  
Old 12 Dec 2012
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bertrand View Post
I have just fitted this clever little gadget called a monsoon10 and it works a treat.
Andrew makes them and he is very helpful
Just make sure your positive feed comes from a circuit which is turned off when the ignition is off.
Different colours tell you what your battery is up to and whether it is being charged.
This is one of the reasons why I hate being partly colorblind


Casper
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  #7  
Old 18 Dec 2012
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Question
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Originally Posted by casperghst42 View Post
This is one of the reasons why I hate being partly colorblind


Casper
Casper- sorry to read about your problem- Just a thought
Maybe if you contacted Andrew he might be able to resolve this by perhaps swapping colour with number of flashes?
As in One flash every 'x' seconds for 'battery being charged'
Twin flash, 'battery needs charging'
Three for problems?
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  #8  
Old 18 Dec 2012
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bertrand View Post
Casper- sorry to read about your problem- Just a thought
Maybe if you contacted Andrew he might be able to resolve this by perhaps swapping colour with number of flashes?
As in One flash every 'x' seconds for 'battery being charged'
Twin flash, 'battery needs charging'
Three for problems?
Bertrand, I've learned to live with it, but as more than 40% of the male population have this problem, I am amazed that vendors still use colors for these things.

I'll might contact them to see if they can use different color diods (red,yellow,green, blinke etc.), as that will make it easier for people like me.

Casper
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  #9  
Old 18 Dec 2012
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Question Separate lights.
Quote:
Originally Posted by casperghst42 View Post
I'll might contact them to see if they can use different color diodes (red,yellow,green, blinke etc.), as that will make it easier for people like me.
A configuration like they use for traffic lights - separate lights, where 'red' is always at the top, 'green' at the bottom would be better than the combined one light. Takes more room and harder to mount.

If you look at the original site you will see Sparkbright Nano that has a 'bar graph' display ... that I think would meet your needs? The separation from top to bottom is not much between individual LEDs but should be enough to 'see' a step of say 3 LEDs. Most likely a fault will only be really seen when it goes to the top or bottom anyway even by a colour sighted person, no one takes that frequent notice of their dash board, too busy with traffic and/or scenery.
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  #10  
Old 14 May 2013
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This one went RTW on my KTM and continues to function 5 years later....


Signal Dynamics | Signal Dynamics Corporation 1-800-785-1814 | Motorcycle Safety Lights | Break Light Signal Module | Motorcycle LED Lighting | Signal Dynamics - Creator of BackOFF


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  #11  
Old 16 May 2013
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Why not just buy a voltmeter, its more informative.

0.56" 4.5-30V RED LED Waterproof Car Motorcycle Voltmeter Panel Meter 9V 12V 24V | eBay
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