Hi Mike, I have a PakTrakr current sensor installed with a bus bar. I've had no problems and would suggest doing it. I am also in a saltwater environment.
You mentioned putting the current sensor on the negative post of the negative most battery. If I remember correctly that setup will not give you charging or regenerating current. You will see current draw. I installed mine that way at first and changed the location to the positive on the negative most battery. I believe you can put the sensor on any battery cable other than the negative on the negative most battery and get both draw and input. Check the installation instructions.
I recently did a cool thing; I've got two separate 48 volt banks, I wanted to use a single PakTrakr display unit and switch between the banks for battery readings. A while ago I added an ON/ON switch to do just that. It worked well but with that setup I could only use one current sensor. After many hours scratching my head,drawing diagrams and getting information from Ken at PakTrakr I came up with a switching and wiring scheme that allows me to switch from one bank to the other and get separate information including current. The trick to the system is an ON/OFF/ON switch. You need to cycle the display unit off then on to get it to reboot and recalibrate for the new battery bank.
So now I have two current sensors with bus bars :-).
Mark
--- In electricboats@
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> Last year when the display on my Zantrex XBM battery meter display died. I purchased a Paktrakr battery monitor with the optional current probe as a replacement. But, thanks to a tip from Mathew Geier here on the Electric Boats list I was able to get a replacement part and fix the XBM:
> http://biankablog.
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> I still hooked up the Paktrakr which works great for measuring the individual battery voltages but, I never did hook up the current probe.The Paktrakr current probe requires I use a copper bus bar attached to the most negative battery negative terminal. The Paktrakr current probe slips over this copper bus bar and measures the induced current. I have been debating about whether or not I should install the current probe for the following reasons:
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> 1) It adds another connection point in the system and a possible failure point.
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> 2) I am concerned about corrosion issues. The bus bar which is copper will be connected to the battery terminal (lead) with a stainless steel bolt. My boat lives in a saltwater environment and worry that galvanic corrosion might be a problem.
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> So I am turning to those on the list for advice to this dilemma. It would be nice to have a backup current meter via the Paktrakr. Am I worrying to much about the corrosion/connectio
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> Capt. Mike
> http;//biankablog.
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