24 Volt System - Input/Advice - updated 6/19/15

jeepboy_90

Observer
6-19-15

Here are a few pictures of what I have done so far. Made a battery box out of marine grade plywood and a metal frame, which bolts to the frame of the vehicle. Completed new wiring on the engine side of the system, all marine grade wire. The house batteries will fit in the box also and I will complete the remaining wiring then. Solar is almost ready to be hooked up. Slowly it's coming together. Once complete the battery box will be painted black.

Any input is always welcome:)

Setup behind the front seat:


With battery box installed:


With Cover installed - Safety Hub 150


inside the door:
 

dwh

Tail-End Charlie
What I did was place the positive (red) and negative (black) from the multimeter to the positive and negative from the solar panels. This is not correct?

As was said, that will show you the open circuit voltage. No load. The voltage will be lower under load. If there's no load, then there won't be any amps because there is no power flowing (except a couple milliamps flowing through your meter).

And to measure amps, you gotta have your meter inline (series, not parallel).
 

dwh

Tail-End Charlie
A regular old multimeter will have a single ground (common) plugin, and two different places to plugin the hot. One is for normal readings, the other is for reading amps. So you have to move the hot lead to there and then put the meter inline in the circuit. For instance, unhook the battery cable, and connect one meter lead to the cable, and the other to the battery and measure the amps that flow through the meter.

It won't measure amps, unless the amps are actually flowing through it, not around it.

BUT as was already mentioned - most meters have a 10a fuse inside to protect them and if you measure an amp flow over 10a, you'll blow that fuse.


Best way to do it is to get a clamp meter:

https://www.google.com/search?q=clamp+on+amp+meter&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8


Just make sure it says it can do DC as well as AC, and if you're spending the money anyway, you should also try to get one that can measure "inrush current".


Here's a cheapo from HF, but it says it only does AC current:

http://www.harborfreight.com/digital-clamp-on-multimeter-95652.html



This looks decent for the price, and does both AC and DC current, and inrush:

http://www.amazon.com/MASTECH-MS210...995198&sr=8-11&keywords=clamp+on+meter+inrush
 
Last edited:

jeepboy_90

Observer
Problem fixed, had a bad multimeter. Nothing like going crazy only to find out the tool you have was the problem.

Thanks for the input, as always.
 

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