Ammeter installation is driving me crazy! - Good Old RVs2024-03-29T13:37:05Zhttps://goodoldrvs.ning.com/forum/topics/ammeter-installation-is-driving-me-crazy?commentId=2093474%3AComment%3A242598&feed=yes&xn_auth=noCongrats on the new meter wor…tag:goodoldrvs.ning.com,2015-01-13:2093474:Comment:2437642015-01-13T14:00:41.053ZJohn "T" Nordhoffhttps://goodoldrvs.ning.com/profile/JohnT
<p>Congrats on the new meter working. Ive been sort of incognito in and out of internet since we left coldddddddddd Indiana Dec 29. We dry camped the first 8 nights in such places as Flying J,,,,,,,,,,,Church parking lot in High Springs Florida,,,,,,,,,,,,Bushnell Florida,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Zephyrhills Wal MaRT,,,,,,,,,,Craigs in Arcadia Florida for a bluegrass festival,,,,,,,,,,,Avon Park Florida,,,,,,,,,,,,,now at the Florida Flywheelers in Ft Meade Florida for 10 days where Im an exhibitor…</p>
<p>Congrats on the new meter working. Ive been sort of incognito in and out of internet since we left coldddddddddd Indiana Dec 29. We dry camped the first 8 nights in such places as Flying J,,,,,,,,,,,Church parking lot in High Springs Florida,,,,,,,,,,,,Bushnell Florida,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Zephyrhills Wal MaRT,,,,,,,,,,Craigs in Arcadia Florida for a bluegrass festival,,,,,,,,,,,Avon Park Florida,,,,,,,,,,,,,now at the Florida Flywheelers in Ft Meade Florida for 10 days where Im an exhibitor whewwwwwwwww lol We have 2 more tractor shows plus 3 more bluegrass festivals to attend. We base camp out of Avon Park and Sebring area but travel around like 2 months much of which is dry camping which necessitates my solar panels and 4 golf cart (460 Amp Hrs) batteries plus 110 gallons of fresh water storage capacity. </p>
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<p> A few remarks on an Ammeter: True if the voltage potential on BOTH sides is equal theres NO current flow. Current is like CFM of water flow, how many electrons are flowing while Voltage or potential difference is like water pressure. If the charger is higher voltage then the batteries, current flows INTO them charging them but if youre dry camping then current flows OUT of the batteries into your loads. </p>
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<p> I have an ammeter that's between my solar charge controller and my batteries so I can see how many charging amps the solar panels are pumping into the batteries. I have a digital voltmeter on my batteries so I can observe their voltage. 12.6 is fully charged while 12 is something like 50% (I didn't take time to look up the exact amount) depleted.</p>
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<p>John T Lake Bonnett Village Avon Park Florida</p> Thought I put closer on this…tag:goodoldrvs.ning.com,2015-01-12:2093474:Comment:2437572015-01-12T23:47:47.454ZP. Valleriehttps://goodoldrvs.ning.com/profile/PVallerie
Thought I put closer on this discussion. With a nice hot cup of coffee, feet up and hot roaring fire. Recieved the new 50-0-50 Amp meter. Wired it up and it works like a champ!! Got credited for the defective meter. Nice.Had to make a new panel to accomidate it along with a 1 amp panel fuse. I call it the "Frankenstein Panel". It reminds me of the old 1930 monster movies. The mad scientist looking at the dial meters, throwing switches and laughing a deranged laugh. More power Borus! It is…
Thought I put closer on this discussion. With a nice hot cup of coffee, feet up and hot roaring fire. Recieved the new 50-0-50 Amp meter. Wired it up and it works like a champ!! Got credited for the defective meter. Nice.Had to make a new panel to accomidate it along with a 1 amp panel fuse. I call it the "Frankenstein Panel". It reminds me of the old 1930 monster movies. The mad scientist looking at the dial meters, throwing switches and laughing a deranged laugh. More power Borus! It is getting close for me to do my annual blog so there will be pictures $ lots of other things. Thanks to all. P I need to address a mistake I…tag:goodoldrvs.ning.com,2015-01-02:2093474:Comment:2429592015-01-02T21:55:58.570ZRich Thomashttps://goodoldrvs.ning.com/profile/RichThomas
<p>I need to address a mistake I made in posting my reply on your amp meter problem. I was interrupted while writing my synopses (family showed up) and I didn't realize I had posted it. I am sorry for any problems it may have caused, any way from reading your last post it appears you and Dave C. have come up with a solution. Dave's an excellent resource for all things camper. </p>
<p>I need to address a mistake I made in posting my reply on your amp meter problem. I was interrupted while writing my synopses (family showed up) and I didn't realize I had posted it. I am sorry for any problems it may have caused, any way from reading your last post it appears you and Dave C. have come up with a solution. Dave's an excellent resource for all things camper. </p> That is an excellent way to d…tag:goodoldrvs.ning.com,2015-01-02:2093474:Comment:2428612015-01-02T15:19:09.304ZP. Valleriehttps://goodoldrvs.ning.com/profile/PVallerie
That is an excellent way to describe it! The current flow is bidirectional (both ways). It is important to have the correct gauge and wire size for the application intended to use it in. I am still waiting for new gauge to arrive for final test. Great job Dave. P
That is an excellent way to describe it! The current flow is bidirectional (both ways). It is important to have the correct gauge and wire size for the application intended to use it in. I am still waiting for new gauge to arrive for final test. Great job Dave. P here we go....John's gone and…tag:goodoldrvs.ning.com,2015-01-02:2093474:Comment:2427772015-01-02T15:10:45.729Zdavid crafthttps://goodoldrvs.ning.com/profile/davidcraft
here we go....John's gone and we got an electrical question. So, I'll try not to butcher this too badly. If we were measuring a change in voltage potential we would use a voltmeter. Think of a garden hose as the conduit. Potential is the pressure and amperage is the actual volumn of water.
here we go....John's gone and we got an electrical question. So, I'll try not to butcher this too badly. If we were measuring a change in voltage potential we would use a voltmeter. Think of a garden hose as the conduit. Potential is the pressure and amperage is the actual volumn of water. I thought I would chime in on…tag:goodoldrvs.ning.com,2015-01-01:2093474:Comment:2427622015-01-01T05:01:51.969ZRich Thomashttps://goodoldrvs.ning.com/profile/RichThomas
<p>I thought I would chime in on this for what it's worth. from looking at the wiring diagram and please I'm old school but I can't see a reason the amp meter would work at all because there is no potential difference for current to flow.</p>
<p>I thought I would chime in on this for what it's worth. from looking at the wiring diagram and please I'm old school but I can't see a reason the amp meter would work at all because there is no potential difference for current to flow.</p> Thanks both John and Dave. Jo…tag:goodoldrvs.ning.com,2014-12-29:2093474:Comment:2422992014-12-29T22:40:28.714ZP. Valleriehttps://goodoldrvs.ning.com/profile/PVallerie
Thanks both John and Dave. John you have done exactly what I an trying to do minus the solar panels at this point. Installing monitoring gauges at stratigic points doing the prep work when it's cold. Hopefully we will install a small array in the spring. The meter itself is defective. No deflection. Broken. I have spoken to the vendor and he seemed to be in agreement. It is on its way back to Santa's workshop. I should have a new one by the weekend to play with. It's snowing like crazy and…
Thanks both John and Dave. John you have done exactly what I an trying to do minus the solar panels at this point. Installing monitoring gauges at stratigic points doing the prep work when it's cold. Hopefully we will install a small array in the spring. The meter itself is defective. No deflection. Broken. I have spoken to the vendor and he seemed to be in agreement. It is on its way back to Santa's workshop. I should have a new one by the weekend to play with. It's snowing like crazy and bitter cold for the next couple of days. I'll post later There you go...if the charge…tag:goodoldrvs.ning.com,2014-12-29:2093474:Comment:2426062014-12-29T16:59:43.526Zdavid crafthttps://goodoldrvs.ning.com/profile/davidcraft
There you go...if the charge back from the alternator went to the converter side of the shunt then you could shunt between the converter and the batteries. Just put the load on the battery side. Otherwise the #1 install will give you charge minus load or "residual charge?". It will also show rate of discharge but on a 50 amp scale, I dont know how beneficial that would be.
There you go...if the charge back from the alternator went to the converter side of the shunt then you could shunt between the converter and the batteries. Just put the load on the battery side. Otherwise the #1 install will give you charge minus load or "residual charge?". It will also show rate of discharge but on a 50 amp scale, I dont know how beneficial that would be. Sorry, I just don't know th…tag:goodoldrvs.ning.com,2014-12-29:2093474:Comment:2422872014-12-29T12:15:42.669ZJohn "T" Nordhoffhttps://goodoldrvs.ning.com/profile/JohnT
<p> Sorry, I just don't know the problem that ammeter/shunt has... The only thing I can think of is if there are different size (ohms) shunts that correspond with different range values of the ammeter. The analog ammeter I installed was a straight in/out 30 amp with no external shunt so I have no idea about your problem other then the needle should surely deflect. An "ideal" ammeter would have ZERO resistance and an external shunt resistor in parallel serves as a current divider so x% flows in…</p>
<p> Sorry, I just don't know the problem that ammeter/shunt has... The only thing I can think of is if there are different size (ohms) shunts that correspond with different range values of the ammeter. The analog ammeter I installed was a straight in/out 30 amp with no external shunt so I have no idea about your problem other then the needle should surely deflect. An "ideal" ammeter would have ZERO resistance and an external shunt resistor in parallel serves as a current divider so x% flows in the shunt while the other flows in the meter itself so it doesn't have to pass high current like a full 30 amps. I would be interested in the ohms value of the shunt itself and then the meter itself if its possible to disconnect/isolate the two. The fact remains however that the ammeter and/or ammeter plus parallel shunt should be of extreme LOW resistance. Conversely, an "ideal" voltmeter would have INFINITE resistance.</p>
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<p> I placed my analog in/out 30 amp direct ammeter in series between the solar charge controller and house battery bank so I can directly observe the solar charging. If I had another one and didn't have solar, then it would wire in series between the Converter/Charger output and battery bank to monitor what amp charge the batteries were receiving via the Converter/Charger. I also have a digital voltmeter on the house battery bank as their voltage provides information of their state of charge. Another ammeter could wire between the house battery bank and the loads, but that's not as important to me since my input charging ammeter along with the voltmeter tells me all I need to know.</p>
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<p> If you talk to the Vendor ask about shunt sizes and proper matching them with a particular ammeter movement??? Again, there's a current divider between the shunt and meter itself.</p>
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<p> I just cant say what your meter problem is....</p>
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<p> John T Leaving for Florida TODAY</p> Now your following my thought…tag:goodoldrvs.ning.com,2014-12-29:2093474:Comment:2424742014-12-29T00:49:07.010ZP. Valleriehttps://goodoldrvs.ning.com/profile/PVallerie
Now your following my thoughts Dave! Your right I was also hoping for John T comments. He has an abundance of knowledge on this kind of stuff. Adding some monitoring gauges to build towards a better, safer dry camping experiences for the fair weather to come. I can't help myself. I am a perpetual puter. This renovation project is a labor of love and an excersize in patience. Pamela
Now your following my thoughts Dave! Your right I was also hoping for John T comments. He has an abundance of knowledge on this kind of stuff. Adding some monitoring gauges to build towards a better, safer dry camping experiences for the fair weather to come. I can't help myself. I am a perpetual puter. This renovation project is a labor of love and an excersize in patience. Pamela