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singletrakmind
Joined: 24 Feb 2011
Posts: 10
Location: Pewaukee, WI
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 Link Posted: Thu Feb 24, 2011 7:48 pm Post subject: Volt & Amp Meters not reading correctly |
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I've powered up my panel and the volt & amp meters (asia engineer) are registering odd numbers. Mostly 6's. If I power down with the key and then power up again I get only a decimal point illuminated on the amp meter, nothing else. If I remove the power cable and try again I get 6's again. Checked the wiring, can't find a mistake. Any ideas?
Everything else seems to be working. Have the rest of the brewery done, will do a wet check tomorrow.
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rosenjm
Joined: 21 Dec 2010
Posts: 249
Location: Ballston Spa, NY
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| Link Posted: Thu Feb 24, 2011 11:54 pm Post subject: |
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Try upping the voltage from your variable DC power supplies. I noticed that if the 5FDIC input was too low, the meters read erratically.
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singletrakmind
Joined: 24 Feb 2011
Posts: 10
Location: Pewaukee, WI
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| Link Posted: Fri Feb 25, 2011 3:26 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks, have the volts just above 5 now. Bypassed my original wiring with new, no change in behavior. Will try going to 5.5 volts next.
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singletrakmind
Joined: 24 Feb 2011
Posts: 10
Location: Pewaukee, WI
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| Link Posted: Fri Feb 25, 2011 3:41 pm Post subject: |
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Have gone to 5.5 volts, and swapped the input wires, no change. I'm thinking the meters are toast. ?
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crush
Joined: 28 Dec 2010
Posts: 706
Location: Telemark, Norway
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| Link Posted: Fri Feb 25, 2011 6:51 pm Post subject: |
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Mostly 6's, as in 666? scary!
_________________
...just one more.
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singletrakmind
Joined: 24 Feb 2011
Posts: 10
Location: Pewaukee, WI
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| Link Posted: Fri Feb 25, 2011 7:52 pm Post subject: |
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yeah, that had crossed my mind. Maybe I need a priest.
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konrad
Joined: 02 Feb 2011
Posts: 29
Location: Mass
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| Link Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2011 8:42 pm Post subject: |
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Did you ever figure this out?
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singletrakmind
Joined: 24 Feb 2011
Posts: 10
Location: Pewaukee, WI
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| Link Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2011 9:32 pm Post subject: |
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No, any thoughts/solutions would be most welcome. I haven't taken them out yet. Was going to fire up the whole system and see what else needs fixing, give my brain a little longer to ponder.
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rosenjm
Joined: 21 Dec 2010
Posts: 249
Location: Ballston Spa, NY
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| Link Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2011 9:36 pm Post subject: |
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My guess is you have bad meters. My amp meter is stuck on -188, I'm waiting on a replacement to see if the meter is bad. I'm getting a clean 5 VDC out oof the power supply nd at teh back of the meter.
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singletrakmind
Joined: 24 Feb 2011
Posts: 10
Location: Pewaukee, WI
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| Link Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2011 9:57 pm Post subject: |
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I agree with you, I just can't find anything else wrong. I have good volts too, set them at 4.5 before I hooked them to the meters so I'm fairly sure I didn't do anything wrong. Would feel better about ordering new meters (from same vendor?) if I had done something wrong I can identify. Please post again when you have new meters.
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rosenjm
Joined: 21 Dec 2010
Posts: 249
Location: Ballston Spa, NY
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| Link Posted: Mon Feb 28, 2011 10:07 pm Post subject: |
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I will. There have been several reports of bad meters. I ordered my new amp meter from a different vendor. I guess we'll see what happens. Luckily the meters don't affect your ability to use the brewery, it is just my OCD that won't let them go unfixed 
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konrad
Joined: 02 Feb 2011
Posts: 29
Location: Mass
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| Link Posted: Tue Mar 01, 2011 2:25 am Post subject: |
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My amp meter worked till I decided to mess with it and now it doesn't display at all.
I don't know how check if it works. I'm not getting any voltage when I attach my probes to the 2 wires going from the shunt to the meter. I also don't know if I should be seeing something there.
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Spike Innovations
TheElectricBrewery.com manufacturer
Joined: 26 Feb 2011
Posts: 245
Location: ME
Working on: Your Brewery!
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| Link Posted: Tue Mar 01, 2011 3:07 am Post subject: |
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| konrad wrote: | My amp meter worked till I decided to mess with it and now it doesn't display at all.
I don't know how check if it works. I'm not getting any voltage when I attach my probes to the 2 wires going from the shunt to the meter. I also don't know if I should be seeing something there. |
If you have the Sure Electronics meters with the wiring pigtail (vs the other kind that just has screw terminals), I found that my meter did not work as well until I started wiggling the wires around. Turns out the connector they send you is cheap and the pins are very loose. If you are very careful, remove the wires with a pointy object such as a pick by pushing slightly down on the pin from the bottom of the connector while slowly pulling the wire out.
Once you have the wire and pin out (without damaging it), I made sure to bend the small securing hook back up slightly and then widened the larger "loop" that the pin makes. The pin should be somewhat tough to slide back in, but once inside will spring back to stay in place. This guarantees that it will make a good connection with the meter.
IF you don't have that connector, or that isn't your problem, did you try to measure and make sure there is 5VDC at the meter?
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konrad
Joined: 02 Feb 2011
Posts: 29
Location: Mass
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| Link Posted: Tue Mar 01, 2011 3:23 am Post subject: |
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Mine has 4 terminals for the connection. I verified the voltage and I had 5v going in to it.
Now that I think about it maybe I was shipped different voltage meter. They were offering 5, 9 and 12 volt meters. I'll have to check the box the meter was in.
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konrad
Joined: 02 Feb 2011
Posts: 29
Location: Mass
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| Link Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2011 2:57 am Post subject: |
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I got my amp meter to work. My meter takes 9-12v ac or dc. I had 5v going to it. Once I increased it to 11v it started reading. I just don't know how accurate it is. I get 1.4A when I have my pump on but 0.0 when it is off. I would think that 2 power supplies would show up on the meter.
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singletrakmind
Joined: 24 Feb 2011
Posts: 10
Location: Pewaukee, WI
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| Link Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2011 3:09 am Post subject: |
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I fired up the full system tonight and wouldn't you know it the amp meter is working, sort of. Doesn't seem consistent but I was getting 1.4a most of the time when one pump was running. Voltmeter is still stuck with 66.6 so I have to chase the demons from that yet.
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