amp meter calibration

Thread Starter

rodbolt100

Joined Feb 1, 2012
3
Hello,
I bought a 3 1/2 digital panel dc amp meter with shunt. It is a 200 amp. Unknowing to me at the time i bought the instructions say to hook up a 200 amp load to it and then adjust a small potentimeter until the display reads 200 amp. My question is how do i calbrate it when i dont have a known 200 amp load. I bought the meter to use on a hygrogen generator i plan to use on my car. The amp meter is used to adjust the concentration of electrolite. The target amp load is 16 amps. I should have done more research because i dont need to measure any current over 50 amp. I should have got a 50 amp meter instead. Also i guess i need an isolated power source, cant use the same power source to power the meter that i want to measure current. Can I used a known value of a resister as a load to calibrate, and how can i isolate the power. I dont have alot of electronics experience . Thank you in advance. Forgot to mention meter came with a 200 amp 75mv shunt thanks
 

GetDeviceInfo

Joined Jun 7, 2009
2,192
Hello,
I bought a 3 1/2 digital panel dc amp meter with shunt. It is a 200 amp. Unknowing to me at the time i bought the instructions say to hook up a 200 amp load to it and then adjust a small potentimeter until the display reads 200 amp. My question is how do i calbrate it when i dont have a known 200 amp load. I bought the meter to use on a hygrogen generator i plan to use on my car. The amp meter is used to adjust the concentration of electrolite. The target amp load is 16 amps. I should have done more research because i dont need to measure any current over 50 amp. I should have got a 50 amp meter instead. Also i guess i need an isolated power source, cant use the same power source to power the meter that i want to measure current. Can I used a known value of a resister as a load to calibrate, and how can i isolate the power. I dont have alot of electronics experience . Thank you in advance. Forgot to mention meter came with a 200 amp 75mv shunt thanks
the meter will have a movement based on a small current, which should be stated on the meter. You'd recalc your shunt for a more manageable current.
 

mcgyvr

Joined Oct 15, 2009
5,394
so i dont have to calibrate it because of the low current i want to measure?
no matter what it would need to be calibrated.. What he was saying is that you could calibrate it at a lower value and hope the sensitivity is perfectly linear (in that calibration at 20 Amps "should" be the same as 200 Amps.)
 

BillB3857

Joined Feb 28, 2009
2,570
Most of the digital panel meters I've worked with have a basic range of 0.2volts (200mv). The shunt you have, if it follows what I've seen, will develop 200mv with 200amps flowing through it. Hydrogen Generation (over unity power) and Automobiles are two taboo subjects on this forum so this thread will probably be closed. Check the Terms of Service for further explanation.
 

DickCappels

Joined Aug 21, 2008
10,153
It should be good enough to calibrate this at your maximum working current. If the zero is set properly it should be accurate from zero to you maximum working current.
 
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