Sparkbright Eclipse LED colors

I just fitted a SparkBright Eclipse voltage monitor LED and I get no amber color for "undercharge", it's solid red. Green for normal charge and blinking red for danger zones, but no amber. This was with a variable power supply connected with no battery. For those folks who use one of these, is the amber supposed to be obvious?

There is a blurb on their webpage about some users reporting the amber looks red. I've had this experience myself while wearing a tinted helmet visor or sunglasses (or both). The amber is not too far off from red hue on these. I wonder if certain types of colour blindness might also be related to this?

In the instructions it talks about this. Red only flashes, if it's solid it's amber..

That's what Andrew told me as well. Hope I can get used to a red light as being "OK".

I've fitted two now and they both run mostly in the green but do cycle to solid amber for a period then back to green.
I suspect the amber shows when the regulator hits it's cutout threshold and sends alternator output to ground ( RM23 & Podtronics)
If I'm running the heated vest along with 60 watt halogen headlight, the light shows steady amber when cruising. This is fine.
Yes, the amber looks like pale red.

Glen

Correct me if i am wrong but my understanding is amber is a warning for over charge.

fredful said:

Correct me if i am wrong but my understanding is amber is a warning for over charge.

Click to expand...

Nope...it's the under charging voltage rate indicator.

From their webpage (note poor column organized when pasted here):

Interpretation:
Voltage: Output: Engine running: Engine stopped (electrics off):
>15.20v ■■ Green / Red alternating over-charging – regulator problem not applicable
>13.20v ■ Green steady normal charging exceptional battery charge (uncommon)
>12.45v ■ Amber steady under-charging – alternator problem normal battery, charged and in good health
>12.25v ■■ Red slow flashing not charging – battery low fair battery charge
>12.05v •• Red 2 flashes, repeating not charging – battery low low battery charge
>11.80v ••• Red 3 flashes, repeating not charging – battery very low very low battery charge
<11.80v •••• Red 4 flashes, repeating not charging – battery very low consider renewing battery
* this table reflects a monitor correctly installed as per the instruction guide, and not connected to a high load circuit
(e.g. headlights)
** a small number of users confuse the amber and red colours. However, amber is always steady, reds are always flashing

Sparkbright has other calibrations as standard. They supplied me with one calibrated for a LiFePo battery, which is low charge between 13.1 and 13.4 volts:

Yes, I have the following thresholds that are designed for LiFePo batteries –
The values can be set differently if you wish, however these are what I would recommend.

Click to expand...

I've checked the switch points with a DVM and they're right on the mark.

worntorn said:

Yes, the amber looks like pale red.

Click to expand...

Somewhat deceiving then to call it amber. Sure looks red to me. The pics on their web site show a real amber. For my system I expect to be in the "amber" range quite a bit. By convention, amber would be "caution" and red would be "danger". But I'm sure I'll get used to it.

As long as it's constant on, then you just accept it as the amber condition. Flashing red or green/red flashing indicates draining/over charging.