Hall Effect DC amp meter
eBay has some new hall effect sensor meters rating -50 amp to +50 amp reads charge discharge no counting or anything these are similar to the 70amp ones that were available 6 or 7 yrs ago with ...
Forum Discussion
I have acquired the Bayite ammeter linked 2 posts above,
It came with the 6 inch cable as well as a 2 meter long cable. It says the sensor is matched to the display at the factory and to not mix them up if one employs more than one.
It will read amp flow in both directions, but instead of a - before the number it uses another decimal point after the tenth of an amp such as 10.2. ie 10.2. = -10.2 amps
Its resolution is only 0.2, and the voltage screen was 0.2v low but can be programmed to read only amperage. There are no calibration potentiometers on the circuit board
I compared it to my other ammeters and all agreed in the 2/12 and 20 amps ranges but not extremely closely. I am not sure which one is most accurate. i found the 4 year old alkaline aaa batteries in my sears clamp meter to be down to 1.28v and using nimh's in it when new had caused significant errors
I've not tested it at high amperages than that, yet. But it appears to be accurate enough for my purposes.
It says the sensor is good to only 140F, so engine compartment mounting is out.
I intend to measure total alternator output with it, at some point, but doing so will require disconnecting one of my parallel circuits, and I want to upgrade the other circuit further as it is just 6 awg jumper cables doubled together with an improper termination on the alternator end, as I did not have a proper tool when I added it.
I have some temperature data on battery, alternator and voltage regulator with a new toy that can display 4 different results from 4 different thermocouples. Need to refine results, but the battery heated more than expected, past the 77F from well below that , and the transpo 540hd voltage regulator also heats up more than I expected, and low rpm is when it gets hottest. The alternator temperature also rises significantly at lower rpms even moving, and when coming off the highway and idling at a light it really skyrockets. and the battery was only requiring ~25 amps to be held at 14.5v at the time, but I did have lights and blower motor on high for about a 33 amp load.
I'll start a new thread with these temp datapoints once I record them. Yesterday I just observed and did not record readings, and the total alternator amperage would be a good data point too and this Bayite HES Ammeter should help to refine the data.
It came with the 6 inch cable as well as a 2 meter long cable. It says the sensor is matched to the display at the factory and to not mix them up if one employs more than one.
It will read amp flow in both directions, but instead of a - before the number it uses another decimal point after the tenth of an amp such as 10.2. ie 10.2. = -10.2 amps
Its resolution is only 0.2, and the voltage screen was 0.2v low but can be programmed to read only amperage. There are no calibration potentiometers on the circuit board
I compared it to my other ammeters and all agreed in the 2/12 and 20 amps ranges but not extremely closely. I am not sure which one is most accurate. i found the 4 year old alkaline aaa batteries in my sears clamp meter to be down to 1.28v and using nimh's in it when new had caused significant errors
I've not tested it at high amperages than that, yet. But it appears to be accurate enough for my purposes.
It says the sensor is good to only 140F, so engine compartment mounting is out.
I intend to measure total alternator output with it, at some point, but doing so will require disconnecting one of my parallel circuits, and I want to upgrade the other circuit further as it is just 6 awg jumper cables doubled together with an improper termination on the alternator end, as I did not have a proper tool when I added it.
I have some temperature data on battery, alternator and voltage regulator with a new toy that can display 4 different results from 4 different thermocouples. Need to refine results, but the battery heated more than expected, past the 77F from well below that , and the transpo 540hd voltage regulator also heats up more than I expected, and low rpm is when it gets hottest. The alternator temperature also rises significantly at lower rpms even moving, and when coming off the highway and idling at a light it really skyrockets. and the battery was only requiring ~25 amps to be held at 14.5v at the time, but I did have lights and blower motor on high for about a 33 amp load.
I'll start a new thread with these temp datapoints once I record them. Yesterday I just observed and did not record readings, and the total alternator amperage would be a good data point too and this Bayite HES Ammeter should help to refine the data.
