I have a combined electronic ammeter and voltmeter on my Jubilee and I run 6 volt electrics through a modern rectifier/regulator.
The voltmeter reading and power (illumination) to the meter are fine.
My question is how to wire up the ammeter.
According to the instructions: "For current measurement load has to be in series with the meter." I do not understand what 'load' means in this context.
The instructions also state that: "The red wire is current supply side PW+. The black wire is COM current load side."
For my positive earth arrangement I have wired the red wire to earth but I have no idea where to connect the black wire.
The black wire at the moment shows 6.3 volts on a multi-meter when the other multi-meter probe is connected to earth (frame). This is without the ignition switched to 'on' i.e. permanently live. There is an 'on/off switch' on the ammeter/voltmeter.
Any help would be appreciated.
Dennis
One terminal of the ammeter…
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Nice one
Nice one David a good reply. BUT one small issue, more with your words. second line-'The only breaks in that connection...' Yes the the brake light and horn do come DIRECT from the battery, they do not 'break' that connection.
If Dennis Thompson is still confused by the above he can get in touch directly so that I can see his diagram with the Voltmeter/Ammeter.
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Alan...Good point...but the…
Alan...Good point...but the wiring diagram seems to show a bullet connection where the wires to the horn and brake light depart. I've no idea if that is accurate. It looks asking for trouble if it is!
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I get it now thank you.
David,
Good explanation and I get it now. In fact, as you probably know, the ammeter connections are in the loom within the headlight shell; I don't know how I missed them. In mitigation, the new loom I bought has non-standard colours in particular the ammeter connection back to the ignition switch is purple with a white stripe, not a dark blue wire. To be fair to the supplier, he labelled up all of the connections so fitting the loom was OK but the masking tape labels are dropping off now!
To check the wire from the ammeter to the ignition switch I had to remove the switch from the headlight shell, peel back the rubber shroud and check the position of the solder connections. From that I deduced that the wire colour is wrong.
Alan - thank you for your input.
Dennis
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One terminal of the ammeter is connected directly to the negative battery terminal, no switch, which is why you see battery voltage correctly with multi meter. The only breaks in that connection are the supplies to the horn and brake lights, so their current draw (their 'load' on the battery) is not measured.
The 'load' is then everything else that uses electricity. The wire goes from the ammeter to the ignition switch, and also to the light switch.
The wiring diagram looks like a masterpiece in display of too much information into too small a space!
A voltmeter is very much not standard. Voltmeters are much more fragile than ammeter, so they are never (normally) fitted. An ammeter measures current passing through it, and has big chunky wires. The voltmeter must allow a tiny current to pass through it from the battery to earth via tiny fragile wires, so it must be switched on by the ignition switch or it will flatten the battery when it's parked up. I'd go back to standard, especially if you are not sure about it. Then the published wiring diagram will apply.