T-Pain Is On A Boat: Re: [Electric Boats] 39 dollar clamp on ebay ammeter.

Monday, August 10, 2009

Re: [Electric Boats] 39 dollar clamp on ebay ammeter.

Your welcome.

I kind of like the second link a little better because that meter has a 40 amp range as well as a 400 amp (I really only need it to max out at 200 amps) . My boat cruises rather nicely drawing 28 amps and having the ability to monitor at a lower current range I think would be more accurate for precise measurements. But, that's just my setup on my boat. As they say your mileage and current needs may be different. There may be other choices and current ranges on Ebay too.

Mike
http://biankablog.blogspot.com

--- On Mon, 8/10/09, Hans Kloepfer <hanskloepfer@yahoo.com> wrote:

From: Hans Kloepfer <hanskloepfer@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [Electric Boats] 39 dollar clamp on ebay ammeter.
To: electricboats@yahoogroups.com
Date: Monday, August 10, 2009, 5:10 PM

Thanks for the great links Mike.

Hans

--- On Mon, 8/10/09, Mike <biankablog@verizon. net> wrote:

From: Mike <biankablog@verizon. net>
Subject: Re: [Electric Boats] 39 dollar clamp on ebay ammeter.
To: electricboats@ yahoogroups. com
Date: Monday, August 10, 2009, 10:27 AM

Hi Hans:

I bought my meter over a year ago. I think it is an Extech. But, it is probably sold under a bunch of different names and styles. Not sure why yours burnt out when you connected it up to the house. You DID use a well filtered 9 volt regulator to knock down the 12 volt to the 9 volts required. Right?

Matthew is right you need to be careful of the specs when buying the meter. Doing a search on EBAY "clamp dc meter" will bring up a lot of choices not all will measure DC amps some just do AC current. Two I found with just a quick look are:

http://cgi.ebay. com/400A- Digital-AC- DC-Clamp- Amp-Multimeter- Meter-NEW_ W0QQitemZ1403378 35769QQcmdZViewI temQQptZLH_ DefaultDomain_ 0?hash=item20acc 96ef9&_trksid= p3286.c0. m14

and

http://cgi.ebay. com/New-Uni- T-UT203-Current- Digital-Clamp- Meter-DC- AC-400A_W0QQitem Z270419978643QQc mdZViewItemQQptZ LH_DefaultDomain _0?hash=item3ef6 496993&_trksid= p3286.c0. m14

Make sure you look very carefully at the specs and the meter picture. A lot of them show only AC current measurement capibility as Matt mentioned. Hope this helps.

Mike

http://biankablog. blogspot. com

--- On Sun, 8/9/09, Hans Kloepfer <hanskloepfer@ yahoo.com> wrote:

From: Hans Kloepfer <hanskloepfer@ yahoo.com>

Subject: [Electric Boats] 39 dollar clamp on ebay ammeter.

To: electricboats@ yahoogroups. com

Date: Sunday, August 9, 2009, 9:35 PM

Hey there. I would like a 39 dollar clamp on dc meter. Do you know if these are still available. I wanted one but all the clamp on ammeters I saw only did AC amps, or were a couple hundred dollars. Can you give a link or name the ebay seller that sells this 39 dollar meter.

Thanks,

Hans

--- On Tue, 8/4/09, Mike <biankablog@ verizon. net> wrote:

From: Mike <biankablog@ verizon. net>

Subject: Re: [Electric Boats] Xantrex XBM Battery monitor failure

To: electricboats@ yahoogroups. com

Date: Tuesday, August 4, 2009, 11:42 AM

Hi Arby:

Already have one. In fact that's what I used on the return trip. My $39 Ebay meter was clamped around the positive battery cable so I could adjust the propusion amount so that I was also charging the battery (a little) and not draining it while still moving forward under electric propulsion. Worked very well as opposed $$$ XBM. But, I needed to go into the cabin to see it. I'd like to find a unit that I could mount near the helm where the XBM is mounted. I'm looking for a remote current sensor that I could clamp around the 2 AWG battery cable and mount the indicating meter near the helm. I have already ordered a Paktraker that will be installed in the cabin to keep an eye on the individual batteries when down below. But, would like something at the helm too to monitor current draw when underway. Don't really feel like springing for another $$$$ Xantrex XBM right now after this failure. Any ideas?

Mike

http://biankablog. blogspot. com

--- On Tue, 8/4/09, Arby Bernt <arbybernt@yahoo. com> wrote:

From: Arby Bernt <arbybernt@yahoo. com>

Subject: Re: [Electric Boats] Xantrex XBM Battery monitor failure

To: "electricboats@ yahoogroups. com" <electricboats@ yahoogroups. com>

Date: Tuesday, August 4, 2009, 12:05 PM

Carry a clamp-on current meter, for goodness sake.

A 10ga wire has about .001 Ohms per foot, so if you have digital voltmeter you can get an approximate reading. 1 millivolt drop over 1 foot = 1 amp.

Be Well,

Arby

On Aug 4, 2009, at 1:06 PM, Mike <biankablog@ verizon. net> wrote:

I did a quick 18 nm mini cruise last week. I got started later than I planned (as usual <g>) and because lot the lack of wind I motored the first part of the trip. I was moving along at 5.5 knots SOG helped by a little current push. I could not tell how much because my knot meter had fouled. But, the real disappointment was that the Xantrex XBM battery monitor seems to have gone south so I could not tell how many amps I was drawing off the battery bank. It seems the display is kaput so that it reads "8888" all time time. I tried unplugging and resetting it. Still no good. It is a little disappointing because it was purchased in April 2008, installed last June and failed in July this year and of course the warranty is for one year! Has anyone had a similar failure with the Xantrex XBM battery monitor? On an electric boat it is like traveling without a fuel gage and is very helpful when testing and motoring as I was. Other than the Xantrex battery

monitor issue the electric propulsion preformed very well during the trip.

Mike

http://biankablog. blogspot. com

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