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Forum Index : Windmills : Where to wire eBay Volt/Amp Meter.

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wallablack

Senior Member

Joined: 10/08/2011
Location: Australia
Posts: 164

Posted: 03:14pm 21 Jul 2012

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Good Morning All,
I have had this eBay meter for a couple of weeks now, single meter with a cool little button that switches between displaying amps and volts, bit tacky but they work, well, it has caused me a bit of confusion.
My wind turbines + and - run directly to the 12V battery, controlled by a Coleman Air charge controller, also connected directly to the battery which controls a relay that switches on/off the dump load.
Question is:
Where and how do I connect this animal so I can measure amps and volts produced by the wind turbine?
All of the connections I have attempted have failed, but the meter does work when tested on other stuff.

Foolproof systems do not take into account the ingenuity of fools.

Madness

Guru

Joined: 08/10/2011
Location: Australia
Posts: 2498

Posted: 07:02pm 21 Jul 2012

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In the circuit replace the load with your wind generator. Connection 1 goes to + battery terminal, the shunt resistor (thing with a bolt on each end) goes between the battery - and wind generator - lead. So you need to take - wire off the battery connect the large shunt connector to the battery and the lead from generator to the other end of the shunt. Connection 2 and 3 on the meter go to the 2 small screws on the shunt, connection 4 and 5 could go to your battery to power the meter if you running a 12 volt system. If you are running 24 or 48 volt system you will need a power source for the meter.

There are only 10 types of people in the world: those who understand binary, and those who don't.

Downwind

Guru

Joined: 09/09/2009
Location: Australia
Posts: 2333

Posted: 06:33am 22 Jul 2012

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A word of warning......Check if the meter can be powered from the same source as it is monitoring, as many of these meters CANNOT

I normally dont like to see resistance added the the Negative of any power supply, as it can cause ground loop problems.

With further thought the wiring shown in the diagram and how Madness has suggested wont work well for a mill, as the common ground to the meter for amps and voltage is through the shunt. (meter common Gnd is on the windmill side of the shunt) hence the first ground loop problem.

Then not all digital meters are able to read the high side, so i question if the meter is well suited.
Maybe with an isolated power supply to the meter (6-15v DC)it might work on the high side. (shunt in positive supply wire)Edited by Downwind 2012-07-23

Sometimes it just works

wallablack

Senior Member

Joined: 10/08/2011
Location: Australia
Posts: 164

Posted: 06:26pm 04 Aug 2012

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Thanks guys, that worked an asolute treat...

Foolproof systems do not take into account the ingenuity of fools.

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