Voltmeter power draw

[pb1967]

Ok guys, in order to fix my fried battery issue I went out and bought two new deep cycles today. I will wire brush, strip and neutralize once again all of the metal and paint in the battery holding area (see my other battery thread) this weekend, as well as prime and re-paint. Along with the batteries I bought a voltmeter for no other reason than just wanting to permanently attach it to the batteries so I have a good idea of how much power is left in them after usage, between charges etc...

If I just directly hook it up to my batteries and left it hooked up will I lose any power between trips?

Thanks.

[Team Fugowee]

Yes.
Anything attached to the battery that is a continuous loop is a draw.
I would always put a fuse at the battery. Then mount a momentary push button switch in-line to the meter.

[BIG DADDY BLUE RANGER]

I keep a small, pocket size, led type volt meter in the boat to check things once in a while and have a larger more accurate, volt meter / 100 amp load tester in the garage....... plus my Lowrance is set to always read my crank battery volts. (thanx Jeff).... a really nice feature since I run my livewells continously all the time now


but yes, anything like a volt meter hooked up all the time will draw juice

[Hitman]

If you're running a Lowrance with GPS it will give you a volt reading in the GPS PAges.

[tunaman]

Actually, you can add the voltage (Overlay Data) to the map or sonar pages, at least on any of the newer units (332 on up). I always add it to both, and set it to Small size, remove the label, and move it to the lower-left or upper-left corner of the screen.

Roger

[TonyL]

Sounds like tunaman is talkin trolling motor batts.The sonar would be reading crankin/big motor battery.

[TonyL]

Correction , I meant PB1967 is talkin trolling motor batts.

[tunaman]

That's probably true... I was responding to Hitman's post in general, but you're right in that this would only monitor the cranking battery.

Thanks for the clarification.

Roger