Monitoring Bank With Analog Volt Meters

[midwoud1]

Make a bargraph voltmeter as posted by JW (ecelab )
With a selector switch you can check each battery apart.
Write numbers on the selector outputs that belong to the batteries.

  - Frans -

[Frank S]

Because if I did that, despite the fact that it would be really cool, my wife would look at it and go, "What the hell is this?"   
--
Chris

Chris I can see it now

[bob g]

you guys are gonna get a kick out of this

when i built my shop, i used a 40ft shipping container for the back wall, and put a 6foot pony wall on one side and shed roofed down and out 24ft to make a 24x40 open floor shop, with clerestory windows to in the upper portion of the pony wall to the south,,, works well for letting in the winter sun...

anyway getting to the point, the generator room is set to be the last 10-12 ft of the container at the double door end.  i plan on dividing this section off with a double pane sliding patio door and then use the next section as my battery/inverter room...

i am looking for one of those cool consoles typical of control rooms back in the day.

failing that i am going full on steampunk!

why not?  it just seems like the way to go to me! 

complete with a jacobs ladder  prominently displayed to finish the motif.

the pic posted by frank just happened to tip me over, thought i would share a bit of my insanity.

one only lives once, so why not have a bit of fun along the way?

there will be those that take a dim view of this as not being practical, however my response is this... my offgrid dream came to an abrupt end a couple years back as my health declined... so i can't do the full on offgrid thing, however where i live in this small town, without inspectors and code enforcement, i can at least have a bit of fun with what i have left that i can physically do.

besides i think it will freak out the local kids!  that alone is worth the effort.



bob g

[Frank S]

Bob why does it have to be insanity? To do the things one likes to do no matter how impractical it is perceived by others if one enjoys doing it and does not adversely harm others or themselves while on their quest how can this be called insanity?
 In 1989 I bought a Cummins Dodge the first month that I owned it I averaged 600 miles per day took to the dealer twice in that month for the free oil change and service they offered. He happened to mention thatI drove as much as a long haul trucker and that he wouldn't be at all surprised if I started adding gauges to it.
 the next time I took it in I had mounted an aluminum dash strip panel above the dash with 15 gauges, 10 glow handle toggle switches  in it and a Pyrometer and tachometer on the side of the steering column.  an overhead console with a scanner a SSB CB and a Motorola 2 way and had 2 mic's hanging down  He just shook his head and said i wondered why you only came in once this month.

[Bruce S]

Chris;
I like analog meters, they really do not take anything to power them, you can look directly at them and just know what's going on. AND they can be had for free if you look in the right places.

Bob g;
Let me know hen you're ready for that Jacobs ladder! I have a quick setup one built with nothing but hanger wire and a neon light transformer.
I'll send it to ya!  My wife's been trying for years to get it out of the house, says i scares the kiddies away during Halloween. I just keep telling her that's the whole idea!
I get a pic on here tomorrow!

Cheers;
Bruce S

[ChrisOlson]

I like analog meters, they really do not take anything to power them, you can look directly at them and just know what's going on. AND they can be had for free if you look in the right places.

Bruce, I like them too.  These are just some Radio Shack meters that I got for about 15 bucks each.  They work really good.

The main reason I really like analog vs digital is because when you walk into the utility room and see all the needles laying right up against the pegs you KNOW at a single glance that you got power baby.  They can never build a digital meter that has the same charisma as a pegged out analog   
--
Chris

[Bruce S]

I completely agree!! With a little more work they can be adjusted for about any given voltage swing.

AND if you get any real down time  those can have the back light changed out for LEDs, which is what I had begun doing on the old MB300. those little $4/ea lights would burn out pretty darn quick, and get expensive after the first round.
The one item I'm currently missing now is my old VTVM!! loved having the ability to read down into the lower ohms. correctly

[FoolAmI]

I love Analog meters, their cheap, accurate, and look good and very reliable,        But with my poor eyes nowdays I generally use the digitals.