Community Forums

birddog55 · 03-04-2015, 08:54 PM

Group,
I've been looking for an electrical diagram for a 2011 Bighorn 5th.
I moved the kitchen/living room light switch out of the cabinet to the side wall for easier access. Now I want to install a volt meter where it was so I can monitor the voltage for my batteries.
What I would like to do is monitor the batteries only, I'm afraid that if I hook the meter up and plug the 5th into land power it will read that power or worst burn up the meter.
Does anyone know where I should hook up the hot line and the negative line to make this work.

Thanks,

jwmaustin · 03-04-2015, 10:35 PM

If you connect at the battery post that's the best you can do. But yes when you charge the battery off of shore power or in any other way it will show the charging voltage. It won't hurt the meter.

wa8yxm · 03-05-2015, 05:08 AM

If you want to monitor battery voltage you need to run 2 wires all the way to the batteries That is the only way.. There will most likely not be existing wires you can use. I would add a push button to activate so the meter is not drawing power full time.

Timay · 03-05-2015, 11:46 AM

Even if you run the wires directly to the batteries, when the charger starts you will then read the charging voltage that is going into them, not the battery voltage. You would need to disconnect the batteries from the charger to read their voltage...no way to get around that. I bought one of the 'power port' voltage meters and plugged it into the 12V outlet in the kitchen. All you need to do is find 12V and tie your meter in there. It will show what the batteries are doing - to read only the battery voltage, unplug shore power - its the only way.

Oh - if you want to plug the hole left by the switch, go to your local hardware store and buy a blank plate and install it over the hole.

Tim