Battery monitor

[Latham]

Just about to wire up a battery monitor for the leisure and starter, I've run a cable from the monitor to the drivers seat where most of my install is, and was wondering if I can piggy back off the input cable from my starter battery that connects to my ctek 250 for the positive, has anyone done this or can see an issue with it?

Thanks

 

[Phil_G]

It will work but the limitation is that anything designed to take measurements really needs its own direct connection to the thing its measuring. This is called a Kelvin connection, its independent of any voltage drops caused by current draw over the existing cables. Your idea will work fine, it depends how accurate you want it to be. Always fuse connections.
Cheers
Phil

 

[T6Jay]

I've done the same thing. I've a 16sqmm cable from the starter battery to the passenger seat, so when it's full on charging my voltage reading will be about 100mV too low due to voltage drop. With the engine off, the reading will be spot on. Do the volt drop calcs and decide if you can live with the error.