Best cockpit gauges?

[Stephen Trapani]

I took the advice here and disconnected the cockpit ammeter. Now, instead of a 20ft run of wire between alternator and solenoid, the wire is less than a foot. I'll probably put an ammeter back in a some point, but keep things right there at the motor.

But now I have two handy wires running to the cockpit. I thought one should definitely be a tach, since I don't have one. Should the other be a voltmeter? I have a fuel gauge and temp gauge already. How does a voltmeter help? Is there a better gauge I should have there?

 

[alexco38]

A lot of the newer instruments such as chart plotter (Cobra), Northstar speed-log etc has voltmeter built in. Not sure about Raymarine.

It helps for long distance trip knowing when to recharge the battery. Otherwise, just a nice to have.

 

[Stu Jackson]

Stephen, good move on your part. Please check that whatever wiring you have left from your alternator is large enough for the current it's passing. As far as a cockpit voltmeter, it's a good idea, but, again, wiring size comes into play. I have well over a 3% voltage drop in my wiring. I primarily use the voltmeter in the cockpit to assure that the glow plugs and starter solenoid are off when they should be (low voltage means something important). We have a panel mounted analog voltmeter in our nav station which is way closer to the batteries, plus our Link 2000.

Great to hear about your bolt story ending, congratulations, and Hi again to Mike!

 

[Stephen Trapani]

Stephen, good move on your part. Please check that whatever wiring you have left from your alternator is large enough for the current it's passing. As far as a cockpit voltmeter, it's a good idea, but, again, wiring size comes into play. I have well over a 3% voltage drop in my wiring. I primarily use the voltmeter in the cockpit to assure that the glow plugs and starter solenoid are off when they should be (low voltage means something important). We have a panel mounted analog voltmeter in our nav station which is way closer to the batteries, plus our Link 2000.

Great to hear about your bolt story ending, congratulations, and Hi again to Mike!

Thanks!

 

[Stephen Trapani]

I'm gathering from the lack of any solid answer that there is no great gauge I need up there that I don't have. Let me ask this. I have a temperature gauge. Can I also have a temperature alarm along with it or does it have to be one or the other? How could I install both?

 

[sailaway78]

Install both

You can have both a temp guage and an alarm buzzer, by a simple T off the guage port in the engine. Install the sending unit for the alarm on one side, the guage unit on the other side. As for a voltmeter, you don't need to worry about heavy guage wire. Voltmeter draws virtually no current. Almost any size wire will suffice.