Hydroxy Hut
February 07, 2012, 08:28:27 pm *
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
Did you miss your activation email?

Login with username, password and session length
News: Hydroxy Hut discovered!
 
   Home   Help Search Login Register  
Pages: [1] 2  All
  Print  
Author Topic: homemade ammeter  (Read 4269 times)
KF-Puffin1
Jr. Member
**
Posts: 58



« on: October 23, 2008, 08:36:00 pm »

I am looking for a supplier of parts to make a ammeter......simple i know.......but , i would like a accurate analog ammeter that has a range of 0-50 amps with 1 amp intravals or marks..i have been using my fluke meters with shunts to run in miliamps...but that sucks to be honest...i just dont like it....
if anyone knows where to get the parts or has seen one on the market allready built ....please let me know.
thanks
Logged

There are those that lead , And those who follow. My wife says i must follow , and hold her purse....."sigh"
Manta
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 689



« Reply #1 on: October 24, 2008, 11:29:24 am »

Why not buy a 1mA analogue meter and shunt it to whatever Amp range you want ?  All you need to know is the internal resistance of the meter.  DO NOT try to measure this with an Ohmmeter.

Manta
Logged

Good questions have a sting in the tail.
KF-Puffin1
Jr. Member
**
Posts: 58



« Reply #2 on: October 24, 2008, 03:13:29 pm »

Cause i really didnt like useing milliamps all the time im so used to useing my flukes at work in straight amps mode that i allways find myself doing a double or triple look at the meters when in milliamp mode.and its just driving me insane..........and on a lighter note........fluke amp fuses are not cheap from the snap-on truck ill tell you that.Just the other night was checking my resistance on a cell i was working on .and not thinking i grabbed the meter to check my amps on a diffrent cell ,but was not paying attention i guess....32 dollar mistake made.
Logged

There are those that lead , And those who follow. My wife says i must follow , and hold her purse....."sigh"
hydrotinkerer
Sr. Member
****
Posts: 338



« Reply #3 on: October 24, 2008, 07:42:29 pm »

Thats the reason I bought a clamp-on inductive. I also put a regular fuse in my meter and I haven't had a problem with it. I don't read amps with it anymore either.
Logged
KF-Puffin1
Jr. Member
**
Posts: 58



« Reply #4 on: October 24, 2008, 11:41:54 pm »

yea i was looking at the clamp on meter from fluke but was wondering the acuracy of it around smaller wires and at lower amps like 5-20 amp range.....ill find someone who has one and ask for a demo.
Logged

There are those that lead , And those who follow. My wife says i must follow , and hold her purse....."sigh"
Manta
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 689



« Reply #5 on: October 25, 2008, 06:21:25 am »

KF,

I think you are missing my point. 

If you get a 1 mA meter (I mean just the meter movement,  not a multi-meter) and wire a shunt across it,  all you have to do is put it in some kind of box, re-write the scale 1-to-40 ( or what ever you shunt it to ) and you have a single purpose meter.  No need to ever worry about reading the wrong scale or being set to the wrong range again.  Just don't feed it too many amps.

Manta
Logged

Good questions have a sting in the tail.
Manta
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 689



« Reply #6 on: October 25, 2008, 10:03:20 am »

KF,

Ignore the above for the time being.  There are better ways of doing it. I'll get back to this later.
Sorry about that   Embarrassed

Manta
Logged

Good questions have a sting in the tail.
KF-Puffin1
Jr. Member
**
Posts: 58



« Reply #7 on: October 25, 2008, 01:29:43 pm »

ok then .......lol, ill sit here and wait. Grin
Logged

There are those that lead , And those who follow. My wife says i must follow , and hold her purse....."sigh"
hydrotinkerer
Sr. Member
****
Posts: 338



« Reply #8 on: October 25, 2008, 06:08:14 pm »

My clamp on inductive is a dual range. It only reads 0-20 or 0-40 amp scale. Therefore its amp reading is pretty accurate. I use it for work in automotive amp draw measurements.
Logged
Trev H
Newbie
*
Posts: 3


« Reply #9 on: October 25, 2008, 10:37:04 pm »

KF,
   I use a Mini LED Digital Panel Meter made by C+C part no. QP5580 or CX102B.
This meter reads up to 200mV and need a 5V power supply.
The power supply that i use is from Silicon Chip Magazine May 2007 (p46 top48) available as a kit from Jaycar Electronics part no. KC 54463. You can vary the out put from1.3V to 22V at 1Amp depending on input voltage.
I use a 50 Amp shunt that reads 1mV per Amp and the scale on the meter reads down to 0.1 of an amp.
Logged
Justin Frye
Newbie
*
Posts: 46


« Reply #10 on: October 26, 2008, 11:46:01 am »

im lookiun on ebay for an amp meter and all ive found so far was for ac. i need dc correct?  can someone give me a link to a descent inline one i can use for experimenting with these things?  thanks alot








-justin
Logged
KF-Puffin1
Jr. Member
**
Posts: 58



« Reply #11 on: October 26, 2008, 07:48:29 pm »

justin heres one thats on ebay that will work for you and is 24.99 / free shipping on ebay.



http://cgi.ebay.com/High-Quality-Analog-AMP-Panel-Meter-Gauge-Shunt-DC-50A_W0QQitemZ220301492338QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item220301492338&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1418%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318
Logged

There are those that lead , And those who follow. My wife says i must follow , and hold her purse....."sigh"
Justin Frye
Newbie
*
Posts: 46


« Reply #12 on: October 27, 2008, 08:19:06 pm »

checked it out and thats what i was figuring i needed. how exactly do these things hook up?







-justin
Logged
KF-Puffin1
Jr. Member
**
Posts: 58



« Reply #13 on: October 27, 2008, 08:33:02 pm »

they are simple to hook up ...you just install them inline on your B+.

for instance it would wire like this.................battery + to amp gauge in....amp gauge out to shunt......shunt to your + on cell.......or if it does not have a shunt just (B+ to gauge/gauge to cell +)
Logged

There are those that lead , And those who follow. My wife says i must follow , and hold her purse....."sigh"
Cowboy
Full Member
***
Posts: 143


« Reply #14 on: October 28, 2008, 07:25:53 am »

www.mouser.com for your component needs. 
Logged
Pages: [1] 2  All
  Print  
 
Jump to:  

Powered by MySQL Powered by PHP Powered by SMF 1.1.10 | SMF © 2006-2009, Simple Machines LLC Valid XHTML 1.0! Valid CSS!