AnEv942 wrote:
Few pics up there are 2 small black boxes on floor-you were describing hooking up the ac then the dc-? are they just junction boxes? I don't see them on the diagram (FYI-not that you need it now but could you screen capture the dia. image (alt+ print screen) and paste into paint or something?). On the meter-what switches readout volts/amps, and where does the 9v come from?
The black boxes are just junction boxes. They are not shown on the rough circuit diagram (it is more of a circuit diagram than a schematic for the modules), but the diagram does have a rough box drawn in the middle encapsulating the components that were to be fitted to the control panel. So the junction boxes just show as points where all the wires connect together.
You are right - I should scan that wiring diagram so I have a soft copy. I have put the original in the book case in the camper along with the manuals for the other camper systems.
The 9v comes from a regular 9v battery - the type used in smoke alarms. The problem is the ammeter is supposed to have a completely isolated power supply - i.e. isolated from what it is reading. Otherwise it will read incorrectly (at least that is what the instructions say). There are isolation modules for sale, but they were more expensive than the ammeter, so I went with a battery instead. Maybe in future I will upgrade, but for the moment I reckon I will only be using the ammeter / voltmeter occasionally (at least once the novelty has warn off and I have stopped checking it every 5 minutes), so a battery should be fine.
Another thing I forgot to say in the write-up - where I crimped the smaller wires into those blade connectors (or whatever you call the push-on connectors) I used heat-shrink shielding to cover part of the connector and the wire. That was to 1) make sure there were no gaps and therefore exposed conductor - I know I have exposed conductor in a couple of places, but the more of it the more likely you are to have a short circuit; 2) to provide some strain relief and 3) so if a wire did come lose the sleeve should catch it before it just jangles around and shorts against something else.
Steve.
