+-100A shunted Ammeter

not so much about the shunt .. thats the easy part
its about the +100 or 200 gauge ...
sure I can use a +- 60 (as most are) and recalibrate
just thought someone knows a decent looking gauge ...
there are some from electric vehicles ...
gmd

its not about cheap or no cheap ..
want to have a decent look and blend with the other
instruments on the dash .. and also about + -
with 0 in center of scale ...
well if worse comes to worse I buy some digital ones
and calibrate them .. Its ok in my truck camper though
thanks for posting
gmd

Yeh, understand you re how it looks. Must be round.
The digital version gives you +/-, and looks neat. Has 3 1/2 digits, so will give resolution down to 0.1A with 199.9A full scale. Can't do that on an analogue meter.

Havnt looked at it yet but sounds perfect ..
had been looking at VDO but didnt find anything beyond 60
great find .. will download infor .. and then see where to get ..
thanks for posting
gmd

gmd,
Click on "Instruments & Senders" (menu on left of page),
then..
Automotive catalogue 8A ..... It's on Page 6

yep, thanks
had found it just didn't have time to look in detail..
have done now .. yep perfect .. thanks for the find
gmd

shunt up lol

Electrics ... thats the language ...
An amperemeter measures electric current and is used in my case
to observe charge current and useage current of aux batteries. A shunt is used to
help wire the gauge with thin wires and is placed into the line of interest, e.g.
a charge line or use line from the battery wherever it is convenient or desired.

If one does not use a shunt (resistor for high current to create voltage drop for gauge) you have to wire the thick cables to the point where you mount the instrument .. too much effort with thick cables ..

Most people use voltmeters to check battery status but thats only half the truth and in some cases just wrong because a battery might have proper voltage but under load will discharge quickly or may not even be charged properly ... I have
two aux batteries on my boat and also two on the towing vehicle as well as
one in the truck camper .. all are charged from the vehicles alternator when driving.

The boat ones also when the boat is driving of course but also from the vehicle. I monitor each bank (set of batteries) with a seperate amp gauge and a separate charge line. One can see much better how a battery charges and when its full or almost full ... now the disadvantage of ampmeters/ shunts are that the dimensions of the shunt have to allow for the maximum current on the cable which can be generated by the source (alternator) and drawn by a load ... a winch would draw several hundred amps .. a 150 amp shunt would get hot or even get destroyed unless it can take the max current .. so you normally would not place an amp meter into the winch line ... but you have to use a shunt which is at least big enough to take the max charge current or use current of the system.

Amp meters are commonly found in solar installations and electric vehicles where you also find amp/h meters (charge/capacity meters).

Using an ampmeter allows better control of the eletrical system including the
alternator and the voltage regulator ...

hope this helps
gmd

Thanks for the answer/effort and for reminding why Auto Electricians were invented:-

FOR DUMB A R S E S Like ME.

I do know however the difference between + & - and that if you make them 'kiss' there is a nice firework exhibition.

If you do not know whats going on with your batteries you may not make it back to even see another forum!

The original question was a simple request for info on where to source a particular monitoring instrument followed by a perfectly reasonable explanation of some of the technicalities when requested.

Look, listen & learn.

i havent known whats been going on with my batteries for fourty years, so i guess ill be in trouble for the next fourty, one day ill reveal how to tell when a battery is on the way out, until then i guess ill have to look, listen & learn. cheers