Forum Discussion

landyacht318's avatar
landyacht318
Explorer
Jul 24, 2015

One 50Mv 500A shunt, two ammeters?

I've already got a Deltec 500a 50Mv shunt wired into my system for my battery monitor.

The issue is I have a desire to see alternator charging amps when driving and my battery monitor is not safely visible from driver's seat and is not going to be relocated just for this desire.

If I could find another digital Ammeter which takes a 50Mv shunt, and not the seemingly more popular 75mV, can one use the same shunt for 2 different ammeters and still get accurate readings?

28 Replies

  • I'm not concerned about accuracy under 2 amps.

    I should not have bothered pointing out that my 100 amp project meter was inaccurate under 2 amps.

    All I care about is whether 2 50Mv Ammeters can be hooked to one 50Mv 500 amps Shunt, which is already in place for my battery monitor, and which does accurately read currents under 2 amps.

    But since there does not appear to be an inexpensive 100 amp ammeter that uses a 50Mv shunt.........

    If I could have an inexpensive dashboard digital ammeter without wiring up another shunt, great, If I can't, I'm not going to have a hissy fit.

    If two different meters cannot use the same shunt, I was hoping to learn why, and further my understanding of things electrical.
  • Remember, these meters are just (milli)volt meters. They certainly should have a high enough impedance that 2 won't make a difference- they should put no load on the shunt. If I can measure a current draw using a fuse as a shunt, it should be easy.
  • Anything accurate at 2amps shouldn't handle 500 amps. I would be suspicious.

    Look for a milli-ammeter for under 10a, and use the big boy for the heavy stuff.
  • Ivylog's avatar
    Ivylog
    Explorer III
    At 2 amps or less who cares how much your alternator is putting out? OH, you do, but not sure why.
  • That is basically the 100a meter I used on my project that was inaccurate at 2 amps or less and could not read amps below 0.8a.

    I do not want to have to rewire my system to accommodate another shunt, but if I could just run some new twisted pair to an inexpensive 50Mv Ammeter from my existing shunt and have it be somewhat accurate, I would do so
  • Ivylog's avatar
    Ivylog
    Explorer III
    I'd put a on/off/on toggle switch at the current location so only one is in the system. You could switch back and forth to check accuracy of the new one...
    Or for $10.33 you can buy a shunt and digital V/A meter like what I installed when I put in a home refer here.

  • I'm having difficulty even finding a 50MV digital meter. I have found a larger analog meter but for 70$, I am not really interested, and implementing it on my dashboard would be more difficult.

    I had employed a 20$ Drok 75MV combo v/a meter on a separate project, and it was not accurate at amperages less than 2, but well within my acceptable expectations for monitoring charging current.
  • i have never seen this done
    it would depend on the input impedance of the two meters
    at a very high impedance on both meters it might work
    there is no guarantee the readings would be exactly the same
    but should be close enough for monitoring, while driving

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