Plug in voltmeter

I'm looking for some advice on a voltmeter (preferably digital) that
will plug into the "cigarette lighter" of my airplane. I found one on
the J. C. Whitney site, but $50 is too much for what I want to use it for.

I've got a JPI analyzer which reads voltages off the avionics bus, and
also a Davtron clock which does the same. Curiously, they differ, with
the JPI reading 0.3 to 0.5 volts lower! Furthermore, the voltage on the
avionics bus seems to be less than I'd expect, anywhere from 12.2 to
13.0 (instead of the 13.2 I'd expect). Further-furthermore, the voltage
drops during flight (I guess as the voltage regulator cuts off the
alternator as the battery is recharged after starting) to the point
where I get low-voltage warnings from the JPI.

No other symptoms of electrical problems. Been doing this for many
months (since I had the JPI installed) but still cranks fine.

Anybody know of a reasonably priced gadget that will let me monitor the
MAIN bus feeding the cigarette lighter?

Rich

Bob writes:

I'm looking for some advice on a voltmeter (preferably digital) that
will plug into the "cigarette lighter" of my airplane. I found one on
the J. C. Whitney site, but $50 is too much for what I want to use it for.

I've got a JPI analyzer which reads voltages off the avionics bus, and
also a Davtron clock which does the same. Curiously, they differ, with
the JPI reading 0.3 to 0.5 volts lower! Furthermore, the voltage on the
avionics bus seems to be less than I'd expect, anywhere from 12.2 to
13.0 (instead of the 13.2 I'd expect). Further-furthermore, the voltage
drops during flight (I guess as the voltage regulator cuts off the
alternator as the battery is recharged after starting) to the point
where I get low-voltage warnings from the JPI.

No other symptoms of electrical problems. Been doing this for many
months (since I had the JPI installed) but still cranks fine.

Anybody know of a reasonably priced gadget that will let me monitor the
MAIN bus feeding the cigarette lighter?

Rich

www.google.com - "cigarette lighter voltmeter" yielded
http://www.cetsolar.com/voltmeter.htm - $16.99

The "reasonable price" limitation of your query, though, might not help
the situation. I suspect that you want an instrument which will give you a
reference voltage. A "reasonably priced" voltmeter may be less accurate.

Hope the link helps.

-Jack

Bob wrote:
I'm looking for some advice on a voltmeter (preferably digital) that
will plug into the "cigarette lighter" of my airplane. I found one on
the J. C. Whitney site, but $50 is too much for what I want to use it for.

I've got a JPI analyzer which reads voltages off the avionics bus, and
also a Davtron clock which does the same. Curiously, they differ, with
the JPI reading 0.3 to 0.5 volts lower! Furthermore, the voltage on the
avionics bus seems to be less than I'd expect, anywhere from 12.2 to
13.0 (instead of the 13.2 I'd expect). Further-furthermore, the voltage
drops during flight (I guess as the voltage regulator cuts off the
alternator as the battery is recharged after starting) to the point
where I get low-voltage warnings from the JPI.

No other symptoms of electrical problems. Been doing this for many
months (since I had the JPI installed) but still cranks fine.

Anybody know of a reasonably priced gadget that will let me monitor the
MAIN bus feeding the cigarette lighter?

Rich

The problem is you need accuracy and cheap and accuracy don't go together.

I would be surprised if the accuracy of the existing voltmeters are much
better than about 2%, which would easily account for the difference.

Multimeters in the $50 to $100 range have a typical accuracy of 1% for
DC. That translates to +/- .13V at 13V, which gets you close, but is
a bit much to pay for a one-shot measurement (unless you have other use
for the multimeter).

The cheapest option would be to find someone that already has a decent
meter (HAM, repair guy, etc.) that will let you borrow his so you can
make a calibration chart for the meters in the A/C.

As to the voltage, it does sound a little low.

One check you can make is to note the voltage with everything turned
on at runup RPM. Then turn everything you can off and note the voltage
again. There should be no change.

If there is a change, I would check, clean and tighten the connection(s)
from the battery to the avionics bus.

While you're doing that, I would also check to see if the JPI and Davtron
have their power and grounds connected to the same things.

Some installations also have a ground bus where all the avionics grounds
come together with one heavy connection to the A/C ground. If you have
one of those, check, clean and tighten the connection between the bus
and the A/C ground.

Then run the check again. If it still changes you probably need a trip
to the avionics shop to fix it unless you happen to be good at this
sort of thing.

--
Jim Pennino

Remove -spam-sux to reply.

YEAH!
That's the device I'm looking for! Now to see what shipping would be...
or how to find it locally (I'm in SE Mich).

Jack, I agree with your counsel and Jim's, that calibration may be an
issue. However, I've got a pretty good digital multimeter, and a REALLY
GOOD Hewlett Packard laboratory power supply that should allow me to
calibrate it (or create a deviation card) sufficient for my purposes.

Good suggestion to check grounds, too. I'm SURE they are grounded to
different places. I can see where the Davtron mounts... gonna have to
figure out the wiring on the JPI (which is using a previous GEM 602
harness).

Thanks again!

Rich

Jack Cunniff wrote:
Bob writes:


I'm looking for some advice on a voltmeter (preferably digital) that
will plug into the "cigarette lighter" of my airplane. I found one on
the J. C. Whitney site, but $50 is too much for what I want to use it for.


I've got a JPI analyzer which reads voltages off the avionics bus, and
also a Davtron clock which does the same. Curiously, they differ, with
the JPI reading 0.3 to 0.5 volts lower! Furthermore, the voltage on the
avionics bus seems to be less than I'd expect, anywhere from 12.2 to
13.0 (instead of the 13.2 I'd expect). Further-furthermore, the voltage
drops during flight (I guess as the voltage regulator cuts off the
alternator as the battery is recharged after starting) to the point
where I get low-voltage warnings from the JPI.


No other symptoms of electrical problems. Been doing this for many
months (since I had the JPI installed) but still cranks fine.


Anybody know of a reasonably priced gadget that will let me monitor the
MAIN bus feeding the cigarette lighter?


Rich


www.google.com - "cigarette lighter voltmeter" yielded
http://www.cetsolar.com/voltmeter.htm - $16.99

The "reasonable price" limitation of your query, though, might not help
the situation. I suspect that you want an instrument which will give you a
reference voltage. A "reasonably priced" voltmeter may be less accurate.

Hope the link helps.

-Jack

YEAH!
That's the device I'm looking for! Now to see what shipping would be...
or how to find it locally (I'm in SE Mich).

Glad to help. Someone on the Piper mailing list has mentioned this device
before, but the groupthink has been that the JPI would be more accurate
than a cigarette-lighter voltmeter like this. Still, if one didn't have
another way to get a quick voltage reading, it's better than nothing.

Jack, I agree with your counsel and Jim's, that calibration may be an
issue. However, I've got a pretty good digital multimeter, and a REALLY
GOOD Hewlett Packard laboratory power supply that should allow me to
calibrate it (or create a deviation card) sufficient for my purposes.

Again, glad to help.

-Jack

On Wed, 17 Dec 2003 17:28:37 +0000 (UTC), Jack Cunniff
wrote:

Bob writes:

I'm looking for some advice on a voltmeter (preferably digital) that
will plug into the "cigarette lighter" of my airplane. I found one on
the J. C. Whitney site, but $50 is too much for what I want to use it for.

I've got a JPI analyzer which reads voltages off the avionics bus, and
also a Davtron clock which does the same. Curiously, they differ, with
the JPI reading 0.3 to 0.5 volts lower! Furthermore, the voltage on the
avionics bus seems to be less than I'd expect, anywhere from 12.2 to
13.0 (instead of the 13.2 I'd expect). Further-furthermore, the voltage
drops during flight (I guess as the voltage regulator cuts off the
alternator as the battery is recharged after starting) to the point
where I get low-voltage warnings from the JPI.

No other symptoms of electrical problems. Been doing this for many
months (since I had the JPI installed) but still cranks fine.

Anybody know of a reasonably priced gadget that will let me monitor the
MAIN bus feeding the cigarette lighter?

Rich

www.google.com - "cigarette lighter voltmeter" yielded
http://www.cetsolar.com/voltmeter.htm - $16.99

The "reasonable price" limitation of your query, though, might not help
the situation. I suspect that you want an instrument which will give you a
reference voltage. A "reasonably priced" voltmeter may be less accurate.

Hope the link helps.

-Jack

I think that wherever he takes a voltage reading, there will be a
difference. What he needs to do is to hook up the Davtron and JPI to
the exact same post, both + and -, use the exact same type of
connector and insure that the same wire size is used as lead.
Incidentally, I've seen about a dozen Davtron/JPI equipped planes, and
none agree on the voltage. One may have built this "flaw" to drive
some of the flying population crazy.

Stu Gotts wrote:

I think that wherever he takes a voltage reading, there will be a
difference. What he needs to do is to hook up the Davtron and JPI to
the exact same post, both + and -, use the exact same type of
connector and insure that the same wire size is used as lead.
Incidentally, I've seen about a dozen Davtron/JPI equipped planes, and
none agree on the voltage. One may have built this "flaw" to drive
some of the flying population crazy.

Theoretically, if you have a sensitive enough voltmeter, that's true,
but for the currents drawn by modern solid state avionics if you get
..1V drop accross a connection, it's probably a bad connection.

The biggest source of error, assuming both the Davtron and JPI are installed
correctly, is their basic accuracy.

Most of these things read to .1V resolution, but to get .1V accuracy at
13V means the meter accuracy must be better than .1/13 which is about
..8%.

To further complicate the discussion, since these things are digital, you
need to have half last digit accuracy to ensure the last digit changes
halfway between two values. That is, you need to have .05V accuracy to
ensure the last digit switches from .2V to .3V as the voltage passes
through .25V for example.

At 13V, that means .05/13 which is about .4% accuracy. Most bench test
equipment is only good for about 1% accuracy; .4% is starting to get into
the realm of lab equipment.

On top of all that, there are also the problems of temperature coefficient,
how much the reading changes as the temperature of the instrument changes,
and periodic calibration to compensate for compenent aging.

Anyone taken their Davtron or JPI out to check calibration lately?

The practical thing to do about the Davtron and JPI is to get the most
accurate meter you can find and note the difference between the 3 meters.
For the range of interest, i.e. about 11-13V the difference is going to
be linear so all you need is a single correction factor for each meter
as opposed to a correction card covering a range.

The bottom line is these in panel meters are just reference, not lab
equipment, unless someone went to heroic lengths (and a heroic price to
match) to get the accuracy and calibration that close and the periodic
recalibration to ensure it stays there.


--
Jim Pennino

Remove -spam-sux to reply.

If you already have a good DMM, do what I did--

Go to Wal-Mart and buy a cigarette lighter plug for $0.99. Strip the leads
and clip to your DMM. Start your motor and go.

With my Fluke 87A, I could even trap voltage spikes on the system.

Mike M.

That was going to be my "fall back" plan... and I may still do it,
depending on the readings I get from the Plug in Voltmeter. Reason for
the plug in unit was to have something I could leave in the plane and
monitor over the course of several flights.

Unit is on its way to Michigan from "Auto Barn" in New York. Couldn't
find one at several Auto Specialty shops locally.

Rich

Michael J. Myers wrote:
If you already have a good DMM, do what I did--

Go to Wal-Mart and buy a cigarette lighter plug for $0.99. Strip the leads
and clip to your DMM. Start your motor and go.

With my Fluke 87A, I could even trap voltage spikes on the system.

Mike M.

Bob wrote:

Anybody know of a reasonably priced gadget that will let me monitor the
MAIN bus feeding the cigarette lighter?

If you connect a third voltmeter, you will now have three different
readings. Which are you going to believe? It like wearing three watches,
which one is "closest" to the correct time?

The only thing that really matters is what is the voltage at the battery
terminals. If your batteries are lasting more than three years, and as
long as the starter consistently cranks, then the voltage cant be
too far off.

If you are not consistanly adding water to the battery, then your bus
voltage is not too high.

If your starter is not laboring, and your airplane starts consistantly,
then your bus voltage is not too low.

The "acid test" (pun intended) is to check the Specific Gravity of the
battery with a hydrometer.

MikeM
Skylane '1MM
Pacer '00Z