Re: Current Shunt

Chris W wrote:
I was considering putting a current shunt in my car to monitor current draw from the battery. I found a 200 A current shunt and was wondering if that would be enough. Obviously during normal operation I'm not going to be pulling near that. But during start I could draw significantly more than 200 A. The shunt I am looking at is ....

http://www.allelectronics.com/cgi-bin/item/SNT-200/search/200_AMP_SHUNT,_50MV=200_AMPS_.html


I'm guessing since it is rated at 200A, it can handle 200A continuously. If it can, it doesn't seem like short bursts of high current during start would cause it to heat up too much to cause any problems. If the 200A shunt isn't going to handle the start current, I guess I could find a way to have it measure current for everything but the starter motor. Then I could get away with a 100 A shunt.


Normal automotive practice is to run a big heavy cable straight to the starter (or to a relay on an inner fender), with a smaller wire going off of that to all of the rest of the electronics. If an ammeter is installed at all the shunt is in that 'little' wire.

Do you have an overriding need to monitor the starter current?

--

Tim Wescott
Wescott Design Services
http://www.wescottdesign.com

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