ammeter & voltmeter

[ambivert]

Anyone recommend any...? preferably matching. For fitting in the dash or possibly in a pod.
Also, it looks like inline ammeters only go up to 10A, so I'm guessing that I need a clip-on, are they any good (accurate?)

[Oldiebut goodie]

In the 60's our motorbikes used to have -30-0-+30 or -50-0-+50 inline ammeters so you must be able to get them still somewhere (they were needed more because the bikes we had had dynamos as opposed to alternators.With the advent of reliable alternators they were phased out. But really you will find that it is unnecessary to have an ammeter, a voltmeter will give you as much info as you need.That is all that I have fitted.

[AngeloEvs]

Agree, fitting an ammeter, a lot of hassle for liitle benefit!

[CovKid]

Theres some nice blue backlit ones on ebay (rectangular digital affairs) from the far east. Tempted by those myself! About £6 I think.

[kevtherev]

I have both VDO ammeter and voltameter
even when all the toys are on I can see if the alternator is doing ok

[ambivert]

cheers guys, I mainly want an ammeter because I'm fitting a leisure battery & split charge relay, so I can see (a) what current my appliances are actually drawing (useful for things like fridge which have no light to tell you they're working) and (b) what sort of current will be typically flowing thru the relay, cos I got a cheap one and may need to upgrade it. I decided to play it safe with the wiring between the 2 batts though, and used 25 mm2.... actually tried 35 mm2 first, but it wouldn't fit! I'm hoping to build a little panel containing the 2 gauges plus a multi-position switch, for choosing between batt 1, batt 2, and off (to avoid draining batt when not in use, I don't want it to be switched to the ignition, cos I want to use the gauges at any time whilst camping...) I'm actually wondering if digital is a better way to go... then you can get auto-ranging which might be able to give you mA accuracy at low currents whilst also being able to measure currents over 100A)

[CovKid]

Yep, thats the way I've gone and for the same reasons. Again, these units are only £7 from 'Asia Engineer' on Ebay.

[ambivert]

great, i just had a look there, but its a bit hard to find them in amongst everything else... do you have a link to a specific product?

[Oldiebut goodie]

Have you tried the search function - it works for me!!!

[CovKid]

http://stores.shop.ebay.co.uk/Asia-Engi ... QQ_armrsZ1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; - look under meters in left hand column. They do loads.