there ya go, buy the "Y" for 20$ and the volt meter from them for 16.50$ plus shipping maybe tax,,,,,,,, or just buy 4$ METER LIKE I HAVE AND SOLDER YOURSELF,,,,,, you pick the call

 

i dunno. my bike came standard with a voltmeter

 

Thanks for the tip!
I just ordered a small green LED 2 lead volt meter from Amazon. The reviews referred to the green light as not annoying like a red or blue light. OK...
My plan is to connect it to the charger leads very close to the charger (Maybe inside the cover?) and velcro or tape the display to the top of the HD Smart Charger where you are looking at it when you look at the charger (Same width).
My thought here is that with the charger unpluged from the 110 volt source, connect tender leads to the bike and battery voltage will show on the display.
Then plug the charger into the 110 volt recepticle - output of the charge will then show on the display.
Best of both worlds, if you see what I mean...

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by hanny View Post
there's Nothing worse then racing home from work to find your toy dead.

 

Quick, simple, cheap. I like it. I'll keep one with me on the bike. Good tool for trouble shooting electrical probs on my, or someone else's bike.

Thank you for sharing.

 

Just assembled the first of three volt meters. It's nice being able to see the actual voltage rather than just a green light.

Just a thought though, an old or weak battery may not have the necessary cranking amps to start the bike, regardless of whether the voltage is good.

 

For bikes with gauges, is there any reason not to just run a battery hot wire through a momentary switch to the OEM volt meter, then you just push the button and read your voltage from the existing gauge without turning the ignition on.

 

INTEReSTING THOT THERE,,,,, could do that. A digital readout would be best I think but that's a pretty cool idea

 

Thought of it when I first saw your thread but I've been away for the holidays and haven't got a chance to investigate it yet. I always thought it would be a good idea if all lights were on a relay so they don't come on until after the engine fired up. You cant get an accurate static reading from the OEM volt meter when you turn the switch on 'cause all the lights are sucking power.

 

My digital voltmeter arrived yesterday on the slow boat from China, but at $1.34 and 17 days, I'm not complaining. I picked up one of those two-prong trailer plugs at TSC, stripped a tiny bit of insulation from each wire, soldered the leads from the meter to the wires, and taped it all up. As previously mentioned, plug it in and if it doesn't work, flip it. Not sure why everyone is getting bunched up about "mounting it" on your bike--it's not staying there all the time, just when the tender is plugged in. It does work without the tender, too, which is nice--since I have all my battery tender pigtails wired the same, I can use this meter on my bike, wife's, the tractor, the RV, etc. Used blue electrical tape on the end that goes to the battery and red for the end that goes to the charger. Now even a caveman could hook it up.

Thanks again to the OP for this idea!