Amp meter connections?

[Banshee365]

My charge meter hasn't worked since I got the truck. I decided to take it out of the dash today and put a load meter on the connector to see if there's a charge coming though, I know the generator works because the batteries havn't died. Any-who... Is there only supposed to be one connection with the waterproof connector or is there a ground also? There's a post and nut on the back of the gauge that's not hooked up to anything. I'd think there would have to be a ground on for it to work.

BTW, I tried to look it up in the manuals but they seem to be taken down, will they be back up? Thanks guys.


-Kelly

 

[ida34]

The ground is a chassis type ground to the instrument panel. I think there are supposed to be two posts that the gauge retaining bracket uses along with two nuts. Is this the post you are talking about?

 

[Boatcarpenter]

Just checked the wiring diagram. Shows one wire and ground to panel. Checked mine and that's what I have and mine works.
BC

 

[Banshee365]

The connections are all there then, but still no charge. Which setting should I put on the multi meter to check the line? 20V or something like that?

-Kelly

 

[Recovry4x4]

Meter should read in the area of 28V so a setting higher than that. It's really a volt gauge not an amp gauge unless someone has swapped it out.

 

[cranetruck]

Is this the gauge? If so the readout should be what you would measure across the battery terminals with a DVM.

 

[ida34]

It sounds like you have a digital multimeter like mine. Put in on the 200 volt DC range. If you put it on the 20 volt range it will not tell you anything when hooked up. It will show 0 for the voltage.

 

[rmgill]

An amp meter would have to either have a CT around the main battery Positive feed OR be between the battery and the load on the electrical system to measure the flow of current. As Bjorn says, the gauge in question is a volt meter.

 

[OPCOM]

The M35 all have voltmeters. An ammeter would be a good addition for those adding electronics to the deuce in order to monitor the loads on the system. Or two -one for battery charge/discharge and one for alternator output. Guage-mongers take note! Too bad there is only so much space in the instrument panel.

 

[Banshee365]

Sorry, I meant voltmeter. Being in aviation all day everyday all I see is amp meter's. I'll check the voltage across the batteries the next time I fire it up, I know it's charging though. I'm just wandering if there's a problem with the meter wiring or the gauge itself. I'd bet money it's the gauge.

-Kelly

 

[rmgill]

Amp meters can be a problem because they usually flow the entire quantity of current through the gauge which means very large leads.

 

[OPCOM]

There is the alternative of a shunt type meter for measuring high currents. The shunt takes the place of the meter movement and is mounted in a location convenient to the high-amperage wiring, and then a pair of relatively small wires runs to the meter itself which is commonly designed to read full scale at 50 millivolts. The shunt has very large bolts for the electrical contacts, so it has less chance of causing a problem down the road. Makes it easy to have a 300 amp meter in a location where you could actually read it.

On your voltmeter, once you have it removed, just connect 24V to the center pin and the negative side of the case, it should indicate the voltage.

 

[pullthepin]

Banshee 365,
You might find this an interesting site.
Gregg
http://www.madelectrical.com/electricaltech/amp-gauges.shtml