Dale M. wrote:...Ironically most cars now actually have abandon ammeters and now have voltmeters...
Dale
True... although it is probably even more common to have neither an ammeter nor a voltmeter. The last vehicle I had with either was a 1980 Chev pickup (with a voltmeter).
Although I can see Dale's logic, I think the real reason for the choice of instrument in cars in simply that a voltmeter is cheaper to install.
Cliffmeister2000 wrote:I think it would be more important for the AC side, when you are running appliances like A/C to know how close you are to maxing it out. I am looking for one that I can put between the trailer and the electrical supply just once to see the loads of the A/C, coffee pot, battery charger. That's all I have that is AC. Once I establish the loads, I should never need the meter again.
This makes perfect sense to me.
If the concern is on the DC side, to understand the loads and battery capacity, then a real
battery monitor is even better (but much more expensive) - it is basically an ammeter and logic to accumlate (add up, or actually "integrate over time") the current readings to determine how much net charge (in amp-hours) has been removed from the battery. The commonly mentioned one seems to be the
Xantrex Link 10.