voltmeter and ameter wiring

petebee · Post by **petebee** » Fri Nov 23, 2007 8:30 pm

Im fitting a 3 dial pod above my radio. Clock,voltmeter and ameter

switched to read starter battery and leisure battery independantly.

Can anyone advise where to tap into the starter battery wiring for the

gauges to work when the ignition is on?

stringman · Post by **stringman** » Fri Nov 23, 2007 8:52 pm

Clock is pretty straight forward. It will need a permanent live and earth which can be taken from the radio wiring or the fuse box.

The volt meter will need a two pole switch (try Maplins) with a fused feed from both batteries one to either side on the inputs to the switch then the switched side going to the positive side of the volt meter and earth the other side of the meter to chassis.

The ammeter is a bit more difficult as it needs to be wired in series with the load to which you want to read the current flow. I would suggest that you only really need this for the leisure battery so take the main feed from the leisure battery to the ammeter and from there wire it to your Zig unit. Then you will be able to see how much current you are drawing when on site. Hope this makes sense but if you need more help PM me your number and I'll try to explain better

Steve

petebee · Post by **petebee** » Fri Nov 23, 2007 10:19 pm

stringman thanks for the reply you have confirmed the wiring ive done so far is correct.

My problem is finding best place to tap into a positive on the starter battery side

hope you can help

Post by **Simon Jones** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 2:07 am

Petebee, I would be wary about allowing the starter motor current to pass thru an ammeter as it could probably draw 100A amps when starting from cold. Sorry I cant offer any other solution. I'm wiring up a digital ammeter to the leisure battery & that uses a 50A shunt, which is more than high enough to deal with frideg, inverter etc.

moonshine · Post by **moonshine** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 9:10 am

I would certainly confirm that, Simon! In fact, a starter motor could draw up to 400 amps!!

Only wire the ammeter to register the consumption of items after the starter motor, or better still as Stringman says, wire it into the leisure battery only as that's all you will really need.

pippin · Post by **pippin** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 9:55 am

Surely, modern ammeters read the voltage drop across a remotely fitted shunt resistor. No?

petebee · Post by **petebee** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 11:43 am

thanks for all the replies. This project started because I wanted to

fill the cubby hole over the stereo with something more interesting

so bought clock, voltmeter, and ammeter [all round with chrome rings]

from Ebay.

I have the voltmeter switched to starter battery,off or leisure battery

and have decided to wire the ammeter to the leisure battery only.

Very happy with the sporty look.

think the Bongo is my late mid life crisis Im obsessed!

mikeonb4c · Post by **mikeonb4c** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 2:44 pm

petebee wrote:think the Bongo is my late mid life crisis Im obsessed!

A friend said my wife had told him my Bongo obsession was a mid-life crisis. I smiled and said to him "What she hasn't worked out is that the Bongo is a rest-of-my-life crisis"

Send some pics of your installation please

voltmeter and ameter wiring

voltmeter and ameter wiring

voltmeter and ammeter wiring