When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
That's good to know. Continuing my experiment from above, many days later I walked out and the battery tender had a green light, meaning it thought the battery was fully charged. I'm sure it had turned green after a couple days or so, but I hadn't checked. Interestingly, the tracker only showed 70% but "battery ok". Would have thought it would have shown around 100% after being on the tender for many days. I don't remember voltage reading. I then drove the car around for 30-40 miles, and the tracker reported 12.97V and 99% upon my return. Two days later (today), without charger attached, it shows 12.55V and 91%.
Last edited by alwayswantedone; 03-08-2021 at 03:37 PM.
This was a bit concerning when I went to the garage this morning but the car started right up without any hesitation so I guess I shouldn't be taking the percentage reading too seriously
This was a bit concerning when I went to the garage this morning but the car started right up without any hesitation so I guess I shouldn't be taking the percentage reading too seriously
Hmmmm, so if it's not accurate, what's the point or real benefit?
Hi lowbee, assuming this is one of the lead/acid battery trackers is that correct? The percentage is based on and tied to the the actual voltage(which is accurate) but not the actual capacity. So it's a general conservative notification to let you know it's lower than normal and may be in need of charging based on where the actual voltage is. The goal being to not let the battery a point where it is over discharged. Hopefully that helps clarify but as always please feel free to reach out with any questions.
Best regards,
Chad (chad@antigravitybatteries.com)
Hmmmm, so if it's not accurate, what's the point or real benefit?
I can't speak to the accuracy of the percentage reading because I don't know how it is calculated but the voltage reading is accurate enough (+/- 0.05v according to my multi-meter). My post was not intended to knock any product but to inform other users that they don't need to panic when they see a low percentage reading on the monitor. The battery monitor is still a useful tool to me and I am glad I've got it,, I just need to learn/experiment at what "low" voltage on my battery would cause a hesitation when starting the car.
I can't speak to the accuracy of the percentage reading because I don't know how it is calculated but the voltage reading is accurate enough (+/- 0.05v according to my multi-meter). My post was not intended to knock any product but to inform other users that they don't need to panic when they see a low percentage reading on the monitor. The battery monitor is still a useful tool to me and I am glad I've got it,, I just need to learn/experiment at what "low" voltage on my battery would cause a hesitation when starting the car.
That makes sense. Do you or the AG guys know at what voltage or reading the car likely won't turn over and start? Is it just above 12 or will it work even into the 11s?
That makes sense. Do you or the AG guys know at what voltage or reading the car likely won't turn over and start? Is it just above 12 or will it work even into the 11s?
Generally from what we've seen I think about 12.2v as anything below that is technically in a state of discharge on a lead/acid battery , down to 11.9 technically dead. Lithium is different in that it the discharge value is lower (closer to 10.5) but it will also of course depend on the vehicle and the battery itself and I'm sure there will be exceptions to that where someone has seen a lower voltage be able to start possibly even in the upper 11v range.
Best regards,
Chad
Installed this wonderful gadget on my 997.2 C2S. Working great and could see the voltage graph history through past 2 weeks maintaining bet 12.5-12.9. I haven't used the car for 6 days now. I was trying to see how many days can the car sit idle/off before battery voltage drops below 12.2V or <70%.
This am I checked and initially showed 12.56V @ 98% battery status. Then I touched the door handle and opened the door by key fob then it dropped to 12.31V @ 97%. Maybe the electronics woke up when the door opened and set off some current drawdown? Anyway, I worried that V may be low so switched on ignition and cranked the engine and it fired up promptly. Cranked at 10.3V, charging at 13.9V low rpm idle & ticked up 14.0V at load. So seems all systems indicate very good status of the battery.
@Chad: Does the real-time voltage indicator level correlate with % battery status? Will a low 12.2V level correspondingly show a low 60% or 70% status? When the voltage level dropped to 12.3V earlier, the battery status was still at 97%. Which of these two parameters should I watch out for and monitor closely - is it the actual voltage reading (below 12.2V) or the % battery status (blue icon)?
Really cool device from Antigravity. Now I can check how many days/weeks can the car sit idle before I hook up on the CTEK battery tender.
Installed this wonderful gadget on my 997.2 C2S. Working great and could see the voltage graph history through past 2 weeks maintaining bet 12.5-12.9. I haven't used the car for 6 days now. I was trying to see how many days can the car sit idle/off before battery voltage drops below 12.2V or <70%.
This am I checked and initially showed 12.56V @ 98% battery status. Then I touched the door handle and opened the door by key fob then it dropped to 12.31V @ 97%. Maybe the electronics woke up when the door opened and set off some current drawdown? Anyway, I worried that V may be low so switched on ignition and cranked the engine and it fired up promptly. Cranked at 10.3V, charging at 13.9V low rpm idle & ticked up 14.0V at load. So seems all systems indicate very good status of the battery.
@Chad: Does the real-time voltage indicator level correlate with % battery status? Will a low 12.2V level correspondingly show a low 60% or 70% status? When the voltage level dropped to 12.3V earlier, the battery status was still at 97%. Which of these two parameters should I watch out for and monitor closely - is it the actual voltage reading (below 12.2V) or the % battery status (blue icon)?
Really cool device from Antigravity. Now I can check how many days/weeks can the car sit idle before I hook up on the CTEK battery tender.
Hi Sam, replied directly to the message you had sent over the weekend but just to touch on for anyone else looking for info...the voltage number is the more accurate figure to go by. The percentage value is loosely attached to this but does not represent actually capacity or voltage of the battery itself. I don't recall the % value that was tied to the 12.2 voltage reading but it should start dropping in value and reflecting in the app at that point..
Best regards,
Chad
Totally agree and I like the idea as well! it may be something for down the road...one thing to keep in mind there is that it would likely effect cost though too since data would probably have to be hosted for remote accessibility so then your looking at those services or servers that may have to be taken into account. But again I do like the idea and bet that could be really useful for fleet services and a ton of other applications. For now we just really wanted to present something simple, affordable and easy to use for the individual who may have a few vehicles at home and wanted a convenient way to monitor and keep track of everything. For anyone else interested in a little more info feel free to check out the video
-Chad https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkFMBfqS-Hk
Sorry if I’ve missed this later in the thread (or the intervening 2 years), but isn’t the wifi solution set a bit different?
leave the Bluetooth monitoring unit unchanged
create a second product, that plugs in to an outlet in the garage, that itself is both wifi enabled and talking to the base Bluetooth unit in the car
this second unit can be purchased by folks who want wifi connectivity, for added price, and do so without materially increasing the price or drain by the at-battery monitoring device.
Sorry if I’ve missed this later in the thread (or the intervening 2 years), but isn’t the wifi solution set a bit different?
leave the Bluetooth monitoring unit unchanged
create a second product, that plugs in to an outlet in the garage, that itself is both wifi enabled and talking to the base Bluetooth unit in the car
this second unit can be purchased by folks who want wifi connectivity, for added price, and do so without materially increasing the price or drain by the at-battery monitoring device.
Wow your timing is great....
WIFI would be great, but unfortunately it puts a bit of cost onto the product. Our objective originally was for something very low cost that someone could monitor their battery from their phone without getting into the Car, then easily know if they had a low battery , or had excessive parasitic drain, and could have history and such. We are actually working on a WIFI solution, but there are some other considerations we are trying to think about..but thats getting into next year an aimed more at Fleets or Storage places though it could work for the average person also.
The GREAT NEWS is we will be releasing the NEW The Battery Tracker PLUS+ in about 2 weeks. I'm finishing a video on it soon and will post. It has been updated significantly and has many new features comapred to the original.
Changes that we've incorporated on the Battery Tracker PLUS+ are:
-You can now Monitor 4 Cars at one time, with unlimited vehicles that can be put into the App. So you can see the live voltages and State of Charge of 4 Vehicles at a time. Again, you can put in unlimited Cars but you'd have to switch which 4 cars you would want to monitor at a time, but it takes a few seconds to switch to another vehicle. But this works great if you have a few cars in your Garage or you Collect them or have a fleet. You can see which Car are getting low or dead or which Motorcycle is low. I personally (familly actually) have 6 Car/Trucks and 9 Motorcycles/Powersport vehicles so it way easier now because I actually DON"T leave all my vehicle on Chargers because it gets way to messy with a bunch of chargers.... but most don't have big parasitic drains so I'm good for a few months of not riding or driving some of them , but this helps so much to be able to know which one needs a charge because now I can see 4 voltages in one window. The quickly look at the others too. I even monitor the Teslas Computer Battery with a Tracker.... which the Tesla app does not show me. It rarely has any issues but I still check it.
- You can name each vehicle so they show up by name or whatever you choose.
- You can now monitor 6v, 12v, or 24v Batteries in Cars and other Vehicle , or if you have any battery system that you want to check on. so you can connect most any battery now instead of only 12v as on the Original Battery Tracker.
- You can now monitor Lead/Acid, Lithium or other battery chemistries with the new model, no buying a specific version anymore. We have standard settings for the Lead/Lithium batteries, but you can you can input your own settings if you have a different battery chemistry or want to enter a customer parameter for you particular use.
- The App has been updated, it actually a completely differrent App you download, but it fresher, and as mentioned above offers the ability to track 4 vehicles at one time... each vehicle is signified by a differrent color in the graphs and readings, so its easy to tell them apart...
- The History area of the App you can now see Voltage, State of Charge or Temperature as Historical Graphs... instead of just voltage only as before. You can also select 1-day, 3-days or 5-days History Graphs instead of just one day at a time. This helps alot...
- One of the big things we were asked for was Downloadable Data.... and now you can download a spreadsheet of the data for the historical voltage and other data points.
- One of the new features I like is "Find Car", while it seems silly it works well for its intended use... For example if you go to some event or anywhere actually, the Battery Tracker will Track your last Location you turn-off the Car or Vehicle. I did use it twice in real life because I was parked in the Airport and I forgot the Terminal where I parked because we came out a difference exit. It will also work if you are at a Big event and forgot where you parked your car at a Stadium or something.
- It can be used to Track Mileage and Cost of Travels and such because, it links to your phones GPS and Tracks Miles Driven, you have to input some data then it will Track and provide Costs.
- Connecting to addltional Battery Trackers is super easy due to it finding them and loading them when the app is open. Also it walks you through the set up procedure for type of Battery. For example vehicle or system, Lithium or Lead, parameter you want ect....
- The new Battery Tracker still only draws 1ma of energy which is inconsequential in terms of draining the battery in your Car, 1ma is exceptionally low. However as with any App communicating with a Bluetooth Device it can cause a phone drain similar to what other Bluetooth apps might. Not more and it not fast, it just is similar to what other bluetooth devices do.
- I has a limited but functional use with the Apple Watch as as an App. YOu can see voltage and such. We are uploading that to Apple in the next few days.
- It works via Bluetooh so you can get your data if you are withing about 30r-25 ft of the vehicle in most Cases. Seems to be fastest if you are about within 20 ft of the vehicle when it transfer its data into your Phone App.
- As before it has 5 minutes of your real time voltage in a Real-Time Graph which is sort of cool for analyzing voltage sag from certain accessoreies, or for using it as a multmeter if you are dinking around with your car.
- As before is has an automatic Starting Test Feauture, which shows voltage sag during your last Start Attempt. Voltage Sag can indicated a battery losing it ability to provide a good level of Cranking which can also indicate it going bad, or is too low.
-As before it has an Alternator Charging Test feature... we a few more test viariable in diode ripple voltage.
- As usually it take about 2 minutes to attache to your battery and a few minutes to put the App on your phone and be up and running...
- We have a new design that is a take off on our MICRO-START Jump Starters Shape.. which is sort of cute... and also you can tell if the unit is on now physically because it has a tiny LED that blinks every 4 seconds on the Battery Tracker itself. I did not have this before....
Last edited by Antigravity; 03-24-2024 at 09:17 PM.
WIFI would be great, but unfortunately it puts a bit of cost onto the product. Our objective originally was for something very low cost that someone could monitor their battery from their phone without getting into the Car, then easily know if they had a low battery , or had excessive parasitic drain, and could have history and such. We are actually working on a WIFI solution, but there are some other considerations we are trying to think about..but thats getting into next year an aimed more at Fleets or Storage places though it could work for the average person also.
h
Not clear: a separate, second, new device for wifi seems to solve for all these challenges.
The existing voltage reader and its Bluetooth stays unchanged in price, draw, etc.
The new wifi device just communicates via Bluetooth (to then existing voltage reader), from within the garage.
Anywho, will check out and pick up the new gen voltage reader when out!
Not clear: a separate, second, new device for wifi seems to solve for all these challenges.
The existing voltage reader and its Bluetooth stays unchanged in price, draw, etc.
The new wifi device just communicates via Bluetooth (to then existing voltage reader), from within the garage.
I may have not been clear.. basically the Wifi version we are looking into is fairly advanced. I can't really get into details on that because it is a developement project, with many question we are figureing out also... and determining the market for.
Existing and NEW Battery Tracker are still via Bluetooth and the App.... NEW one will cost more we will have pricing shortly, but as noted is more advanced.
03-08-2021, 03:34 PM
