Sawmill Voltmeter

Magicman · October 06, 2015, 01:40:26 PM

Now my sawmill has it's very own voltmeter. I installed one of these on the RV to monitor the onboard voltage, and instantly thought of another use, so I ordered another. LINK This is not the exact source where I got mine, but it is the same voltmeter. (Mine came from ebay.)

I drilled a 1 1/8" hole in my Autoclutch housing.

And installed this little waterproof jewel where it would always be visible. It is connected directly to the battery (starter solenoid) with no switch, so it is always "on".

flatrock58 · October 06, 2015, 10:38:23 PM

MM, Nice install.

I have thought about adding a volt meter and temperature meter. They are on the list along with modifying outriggers and many more projects.

terrifictimbersllc · October 07, 2015, 06:13:27 AM

I like it! Although I'd need binoculars to see it most of the time on my mill. Unless there's a large print one.

47sawdust · October 07, 2015, 07:05:57 AM

Magicman,
Could you put an in line switch on that gauge so the light is not on all the time?

Magicman · October 07, 2015, 07:57:45 AM

Sure, and I also could put it behind the ignition switch, but for now, I wanted it as close to the battery as possible without any extra wiring, etc. That voltmeter draws so little, that I do not believe that it will be an issue. Anyway, I can instantly see if there is too much drain. It says the exact same 12.6 this AM.

4x4American · October 07, 2015, 09:05:57 AM

So there are parts of your mill that remain orange lol

Magicman · October 07, 2015, 09:31:42 AM

And GLOW in the dark. ;D

Ga Mtn Man · February 12, 2016, 09:15:30 AM

Magicman, did this work out as expected on your mill? I was thinking about getting a couple for my mill.

Magicman · February 12, 2016, 09:21:35 AM

Yes, I wish that I had done it sooner. It's very nice knowing. I also have one on the RV.

drobertson · February 12, 2016, 09:23:00 AM

Nice mod, I like the diagnostics feature on my mill, tells you the same with a turn of the key, I suppose your 12.6v is while the machine is not running?

Magicman · February 12, 2016, 09:26:57 AM

Yes, which is a good number.

Ga Mtn Man · February 12, 2016, 09:55:01 AM

I see these are available in red, blue and green. A google search revealed that the human eye sees the wavelength of green best. Anyone have any real-world experience with the visibility of the different colors in daylight?

btulloh · February 12, 2016, 09:58:37 AM

The green lasers are a lot easier to see in daylight that the red ones.

Bandmill Bandit · February 12, 2016, 10:42:42 AM

if by real world experience you mean this?

That is a shot in the dark and light of my laser during the alignment process of installation. There are pics and notes on how I did it in the usefull sam mill mods thread.

Ga Mtn Man · February 12, 2016, 07:05:52 PM

Ok, so let's see the red and blue one so we can compare. :laugh:

submarinesailor · February 12, 2016, 07:33:25 PM

Just ordered me several of the green from Amazon. $8.80 each.

MM - thanks for the info.

Bruce

Kbeitz · February 12, 2016, 08:16:17 PM

Quote from: Ga Mtn Man on February 12, 2016, 07:05:52 PM
Ok, so let's see the red and blue one so we can compare. :laugh:

Heres the blue . Picture taken just now and it's very dark outside.

Magicman · February 23, 2016, 02:38:41 PM

Reckon bringing this topic back up jinxed me. Anyway I noticed that my voltage was low and the alternator was not bringing it back up. Not even getting to 12 volts. Thankfully I have a local alternator repair shop so I pulled the alternator off and away I went. Yup, it was crispy inside and needed new guts.

Now everything is new and shiny.

14.6 volts is a good number.

And since the battery was 3½ years old, it got replaced.

The old gal is ready to saw again. That plus the Wood-Mizer service guy will be seeing me in March. ;D

Kbeitz · February 23, 2016, 04:52:24 PM

That volt meter is kinda hard to read....

Magicman · February 23, 2016, 05:09:47 PM

No, the voltmeter is hard to take a picture of. It is very readable.

ScottAR · February 23, 2016, 09:50:20 PM

Magic probably had the flash on. Reflects off the unused bits of display.

Magicman · February 23, 2016, 10:09:31 PM

The voltmeter told me that I had a problem before the hydraulics slowed down. A low voltage situation will do some serious damage to electric motors, so I was thankful that the voltmeter gave me an indication for me to shut it down. True enough there is a red lamp indicator on the control panel, but I am not watching the control panel, I am watching the log being sawn and the voltmeter is in my line of sight. Anyway, it worked as planned, just sooner than I planned. $115 sooner.

No more sawing now until after the Chilly Chili.

Bandmill Bandit · February 23, 2016, 10:46:32 PM

Lynn good idea to get the Iceberg cool frame for the alternator.

the alternator will run a lot cooler and I put a half inch smaller pulley on mine too. Cut operating temp by almost 30 %. mine runs about 160 to 200 now instead of 250 plus.

Its in the alternator issues thread.

https://alternatorparts.com/cs130-alternator.html

Kbeitz · February 24, 2016, 03:26:53 AM

I had a surprise last week. I cut up two logs and shut down the engine and went to move my carriage home
and it would not move. Here I forgot to turn the power switch on. The mill ran with the power only coming
from the alternator. All power to move the carriage down the track and to lift it was powered only by the
alternator. I would have not thought that it could handle all that. I put my hand on the alternator to see
if it was hot. Not even warm and it's only a 60 watt alternator.

Magicman · February 24, 2016, 08:55:25 AM

When the wind is wrong, especially ERC sawdust will build up on the rear of the alternator and has to be brushed off quite frequently. Yes, heat is an alternator killer. This alternator had been rebuilt in July, 2011 which is not bad considering how hard it works.