Ammeter

[Brick Top]

Good day Drz fans,

I am in process of making a new dash for my Drz adventure. Is anyone running an Ammeter instead of a voltmeter in their dashboard? I know some of the older bikes had ampere meter, the only negative I can see is that all the current have to flow through the ammeter and this means big cables from battery to dashboard.

B.Top

[Noble]

Yea cars and motorcycles have not used amp meters since the 60's.  Unless you are building a retro, I would not add an amp meter.  More to go wrong and a lot of re-wiring.

[DrzDick]

The modern way to do it is to place a current shunt in the cable at/near the battery, this turns the large currents into small voltages which can then be carried via small wires to the dash - digital or analogue meter. 

 

Just have to make sure that your starter motor circuit is not part of the circuit passing through the shunt, that way the current meters range can closely match that of the bikes charging/normal usage.

Only down side is you'll loose a tiny amount of charging capacity/current/speed as the current shunt will add a small amount of resistance (thus a small voltage drop), I doubt this will be noticeable in the real world however.

Problem is there isn't really much point in knowing what the current drain/charge is.

If you're worried that your accessories are going to take more than the stator can supply then simply fit a digital voltmeter.

Edited September 25, 2013 by DrzDick

[DrzDick]

If you want a very simple lightweight solution you could try these.

[Radtech]

I updated my dash recently and added a simple waterproof volt meter.  http://www.ebay.com/itm/0-28-waterproof-DC3-50-30-0V-GREEN-led-digital-voltmeter-for-12v-car-Motorcycle-/111088510520?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item19dd642638&vxp=mtr  It seems to work well and if there is a problem, it should let me know.  

 

[Brick Top]

Thanks for the input, Noble yes the ammeter is a pretty old idea...gave away my age there, I liked it because you could see what the alternator was doing depending on the revs. But yes it would be a pretty big job to "wire" it in.

 

DrzDick that would be an option thanks for the suggestion, I will most likely go with small volt display.

 

B. Top. 

[Brick Top]

I updated my dash recently and added a simple waterproof volt meter.  http://www.ebay.com/itm/0-28-waterproof-DC3-50-30-0V-GREEN-led-digital-voltmeter-for-12v-car-Motorcycle-/111088510520?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item19dd642638&vxp=mtr  It seems to work well and if there is a problem, it should let me know.  

 

Thanks I will look into that, that dash looks very neat!

[Arthur1265]

I updated my dash recently and added a simple waterproof volt meter.  http://www.ebay.com/itm/0-28-waterproof-DC3-50-30-0V-GREEN-led-digital-voltmeter-for-12v-car-Motorcycle-/111088510520?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item19dd642638&vxp=mtr  It seems to work well and if there is a problem, it should let me know.  

 

 

that is an amazing looking dash, what are are those on/off switches for?

[Radtech]

that is an amazing looking dash, what are are those on/off switches for?

 

Thanks, I'm happy with the way it turned out.  The dash panel is just a 3/16" black plastic material and it is covered with some 3M carbon finish vinyl.  The switches are for the lights and the grip heater, 1 is not used at this time.  I can start the bike and warm it up with the lights off.  The small waterproof button on the lower right is for the "Ron mod" garage door opener...  

[George 99]

Great looking dash. I just cut out a piece of aluminum panel yesterday to do something like that and to provide rigidity for my ADVMonster fairing/headlights. I'll post a few pics here soon's things come together.

 

I'm adding the volt meter, too. Simple farkle. Amp meter is less necessary than the used to be with magnetos and 'lectric generators.

[Rhinoracer]

Thanks for the input, Noble yes the ammeter is a pretty old idea...gave away my age there, I liked it because you could see what the alternator was doing depending on the revs. But yes it would be a pretty big job to "wire" it in.

 

DrzDick that would be an option thanks for the suggestion, I will most likely go with small volt display.

 

B. Top. 

 

You're not alone ? . I like ammeters too, they tell you immediately if anything goes wrong in your charging system although they are a fire risk (at least in my very old full size jeep)  but I refuse to remove it.