DC or AC ammeter, or both?

Anything electric, AC or DC

Postby Dale M. » Sat Aug 23, 2008 3:11 pm

wlooper89 wrote:I'm probably going overboard on this but have ordered the three ammeters. One is D/C 50-0-50 for battery charge and discharge, one A/C 0-50 and the other D/C load 0-50. They should provide many hours of entertainment for someone like me. I imagine I will want to look at them every few minutes. :D Will follow up with a photo of the install. Nothing fancy. They will go inside the lid of the electrical compartment with the voltmeter.

Thanks again for all the ideas and suggestions.

Bill


Want to buy a DVD on how to watch grass grow?..... :D :D :D :D

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Re: Watching Grass Grow

Postby wlooper89 » Mon Aug 25, 2008 3:41 pm

That was funny! This is also to indicate that I made an edit to my previous post to explain the reason for going with meter limits of 50 amps in my install.

Regards, Bill
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Postby ARKPAT » Mon Aug 25, 2008 7:39 pm

Now where did I place that OLD paper type CHART PLOTTER ( 24 hour ) for my solar charger and loads! 8) :lol:

:thumbsup:

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Postby Sonetpro » Mon Aug 25, 2008 7:47 pm

Image

:lol:
}><)))'> ~--------------·´¯) SteveT
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Postby Cliffmeister2000 » Mon Aug 25, 2008 8:30 pm

Sonetpro wrote:Image

:lol:


Now THAT'S what I'm talking about!
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Postby ARKPAT » Mon Aug 25, 2008 9:47 pm

I like the fire supperession buttons at the top of the panel! :lol: 8)


:thumbsup:

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Postby cuyeda » Tue Aug 26, 2008 1:22 am

These meters are from Harbor Freight. Not as fancy looking as some of the more expensive solutions. Has anyone used these? Perhaps the increments are not as precise, but will give you an idea if your battery is low.

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In-Dash Amp Meter
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95778-0VGA
$4.99

Sorry, couldn't find a smaller picture...
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8 volts (min) to 16 volts (max)
Large easy-to-read numbers
All metal housing
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Postby ARKPAT » Tue Aug 26, 2008 4:13 am

Cliff that is interesting. I did not think to look at HF; $5 for an anolog meter. :o

Good find. ;)

:thumbsup:

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Postby Cliffmeister2000 » Tue Aug 26, 2008 8:16 am

cuyeda wrote:These meters are from Harbor Freight. Not as fancy looking as some of the more expensive solutions. Has anyone used these? Perhaps the increments are not as precise, but will give you an idea if your battery is low.

Image
In-Dash Amp Meter
Cen-Tech
95778-0VGA
$4.99



I have a similar meter I bought on eBay. I'm an analog kind of guy. I'm happy with it.
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Postby cuyeda » Tue Aug 26, 2008 8:56 am

ARKPAT wrote:Cliff that is interesting. I did not think to look at HF; $5 for an anolog meter. :o

Good find. ;) :thumbsup:

Pat


Yup! Neither did I, that's the reason I posted it here. Now to figure out where in the electrical flow chart it should be wired in, including switches.
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Teardrop Cockpit

Postby wlooper89 » Tue Aug 26, 2008 10:57 am

Patricia's boss asked her what I could possibly be doing to spend so much time on a tiny trailer. She wants to send him a copy of the "teardrop cockpit" by Sonetpro to explain. Great work with photo editing! It took a moment or two for me to realize that it was our own trailer. :thumbsup:

Many thanks, Bill & Patricia
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Postby NightCap » Tue Aug 26, 2008 2:37 pm

Do the inexpensive amp meters go inline? For example cut the red wire and insert gauge? Is there a wiring diagram for guages? I have not seen one in my travels through T&TTT.
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Postby Dale M. » Tue Aug 26, 2008 3:26 pm

NightCap wrote:Do the inexpensive amp meters go inline? For example cut the red wire and insert gauge? Is there a wiring diagram for guages? I have not seen one in my travels through T&TTT.


Most automotive ammeters just go inline in main charge/discharge lead.... So yes it would just go inline....

IF it seems to read backwards just reverse wires....

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Postby BPFox » Tue Aug 26, 2008 5:08 pm

cuyeda wrote:These meters are from Harbor Freight. Not as fancy looking as some of the more expensive solutions. Has anyone used these? Perhaps the increments are not as precise, but will give you an idea if your battery is low.


Silly me, all of these years I have been using the brightness of my lights to tell me when my batteries were getting low. :lol:
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Postby Cliffmeister2000 » Tue Aug 26, 2008 5:09 pm

NightCap wrote:Do the inexpensive amp meters go inline? For example cut the red wire and insert gauge? Is there a wiring diagram for guages? I have not seen one in my travels through T&TTT.


As I remember it, an ammeter like this is really a voltmeter that measures the voltage drop across a shunt. A shunt is a very exact, very low resistance resistor. The meter is calibrated with Ohm's law, which can be represented as (p=ie, p=i(squared)r, i(squared)r=ie, ir=e, i=e/r (I couldn't figure out how to superscript the 2 to make it represent "squared", so I just wrote squared)

p=power (watts)
i=current (amps)
e=electromotive force (volts)
r=resistance (ohms)

So, with a known resistance, you measure the voltage drop across that resistance, divide the voltage drop by the resistance and you get amps.
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