Volt and amp metre connection

Submitted: Monday, Dec 26, 2005 at 13:41

ThreadID: 29170 Views:11584 Replies:5 FollowUps:1

This Thread has been Archived

JB Patrol

Hi,

I have a camper trailer with two 6 volt batteries coupled to produce 12 volts. I have a volt metre and an amp metre I wish to install to monitor the voltage and amps.

I am not sure how to install these. I believe the volt meters connects eith side of the battery, + & -.

The amp metre I am not sure of, it has a bridge on ther back of the gauge connecting positive and neg. it then has a positve cable and a negative cable connected to the rear of the metre as well.

I am guessing i need to break the positive cable leading to the battery and insert the positive side of the amp metre and the negative side straight to ther battery. Is this correct. If so How do i connect the positive side. When I break the positive side to the battery, do i then connect it to the positve side of the metre, then from the metre back to the battery.

I hope this makes sense

Thank You

John

Back Expand Un-Read 0 Moderator Share

Reply By: MartyB - Monday, Dec 26, 2005 at 14:50

Reply By: JB Patrol - Monday, Dec 26, 2005 at 17:05

Monday, Dec 26, 2005 at 17:05

Hi Marty,

Thank You for your prompt responce. If I may ask, The Positive lead going to the battery is the + line feeding from my trailer plug to charge the batteriess in the camper trailer. Do I run this positive wire to the negatie bridge side of the amp metre and another positve wire from the postive side of the metre to the + side of the battery.

Thank You
John

AnswerID: 145608

Follow Up By: Member - Roachie (SA) - Tuesday, Dec 27, 2005 at 09:15

Tuesday, Dec 27, 2005 at 09:15

John,
I would say that the power input cable from the vehicle should still go directly to the trailer battery terminal. You are trying to monitor the amps which the various accessories are using (which has nothing to do with what the car is putting in).
So, on the + battery terminal you should have

(a) the car's input cable and an output (via a self resetting fuse...aka "fusible link" or "circuit breaker") then onto

(b) the + post of the amp meter.....with neg leading onto the accessories (if you have quite a few things to run, it would be adviseable to use a multi-post fuse block here too).

(c) the voltmeter

In practice (in my camper trailer's case), I have not bothered with the amp meter as I don't believe they are really necessary to have. Also, in my particular case, I have a Narva 6 post fuse block and use one of those posts to get power for the voltmeter, rather than hooking it straight up to the + post of the battery. I also have an on-board 240v battery charger, so the + terminal of my batteries (I have 2 x 12 volt in parralel) have the + cable from the charger, the + cable from the truck, and the + cable going directly to the fuse block. From the fuse block, I have cables going to the voltmeter, the fridge, the various 12 volt appliances (CD, water pump, lights etc), and another one to a double 12 volt socket in the battery compartment. That way everything is "fused".

Hope this helps; not confuses you even more...hehehe

Cheers
Roachie