Battery Monitor

I'd been looking for some easy way of monitoring the battery output of my motorcycle. This can be especially useful when I'm about to use lots of heated clothing and lighting, and don't quite know the state of the charging system. It's also useful to keep a watchful eye on the charging system... it's nice to know if things are going wrong before the battery goes dead.

At a recent motorcycle show I picked up a device that gives me enough information without being obtrusive. Click on the smaller photos for larger images.

It has a single LED that glows different colors depending on the voltage.

Green - 12 volts and up
Amber - 11.9 to 11.5 volts
Red - less than 11.5 volts

The Electrical Connection company's battery Monitor web page has some other photos. They also make version that's enclosed in a little plastic box.

The Universal Kit (part number 04101) comes with

The LED attached to a fused electronics package
A couple of moounting bezels (one white, one clear) for the LED
Extra wire, and various electrical connectors
Two foil decals

I decided to mount it on the plate that sits just below the handlebars and above the gas tank. The plate removes with just two screws, so it was a natural place to put the LED. I had the gas tank off already because of some other maintenance work I was doing, so installing the LED was timely.

I drilled a 1/4" hole in the plate and inserted the black bezel, then pushed the LED into the bezel from the back of the plate. The LED snaps into place. The black bezel doesn't diffuse the LED, the clear one does. I preferred the cleaner look of the black bezel, and thought it would make the LED more visible during daylight hours.

I used one of the red wire connectors to tap into an existing wire that is switched on with the ignition key. The ground wire got connected to a nearby screw. A couple of wire ties keeps everything in place.

I opted not to place one of the adhesive labels supplied over the LED, figuring that the color display is pretty obvious.

The device seems to work as advertised. When I first hooked it up, my battery was run down, and it glowed red as expected. When I got the bike charged and started, it glowed green. I've seen it go amber a couple of times during idle when the battery was not quite charged.

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