[KiwiEV]

EVAmerica are quite cheap and I've used them for all my major parts in the conversion, however I was stumbling around eBay last night and found a massive supply of different ammeters and voltmeters from a seller in China.
Not only are these cool looking with coloured backgrounds and LCD displays, they're a quarter of the price of the analogue "needle" gauges.



This is the 0-200V DC Voltmeter for sale at $4.99 US.




And that's the 500A DC Ammeter for sale at $25 USD including the Shunt.

Check out this guys eBay Store if you want more details.

Too good to be true or just a good bargain?

[Mr. Sharkey]

Originally Posted by KiwiEV

Too good to be true or just a good bargain?

Neither, just the miracle of modern manufacturing and cheap slave labor.

If the accuracy is good, pick up a few. The price of the ammeter is about what you'd pay for a precision shunt alone.

Be aware, though, that digital meter may look high tech, and give a to-the-tenth reading, but in a moving vehicle, they are much less than desirable than a "needle gauge".

Why?

Because your brain processes the two forms of information in different ways. Looking at a digital display requires you to recognize the numbers, translate them into a meaningful reading, then compare them to a known minimum/maximum/nominal value that you have to remember.

An analog meter can supply the same information by the relative position of the needle, which you can instantly recognize as in-or-out of the proper range without actually knowing the numeric value.

I have both digital and analog meter in my EV, and during on-road in-traffic driving I use the analog metering exclusively. A split-second glance at my volt and amp meters can convey all the information I need without having to even think about what the value is.

Also, digital metering values "jump around" a lot during the varying loads of an EV's operation, making them even harder to get a fast reading from.

For stationary troubleshooting and data logging, digital meters will always be more accurate, and therefore more useful when you don't have to time share with road hazards.

[Coley]

I just bought the same 200 volt and 500 amp panel gauges from :
zeva.com.au

I have them mounted and ready to put in the car.
He also sent me a wiring diagram for them.

check with him @ ian@zeva.com.au
about prices. etc.

Seems to me, that with the colored backlite, it would be no more dificult to glance at them than a digital clock with the unlit gray background.

[KiwiEV]

Really? Are they "jumpy" or fairly fluid regarding their readings? I mean, do they update every microsecond or every second for example? I remember some of the old digital dashboards in the 80's updated every second or so. It was no fun to watch when accelerating.
Do you have a picture of how they look installed into your dash?

[Mr. Sharkey]

Refresh rate has a lot to do with the amount of "jumpyness", but even fast refresh rates result in a display of numbers that are constantly in flux, making it hard to pin down the reading. Remember that a lot of this has to do with physco-recognition of values, which are more difficult to quatnitfy in a rapidly changing display.

Here's a piccy of my instruments. I usually leave the digital meter set for ampere-hours, which is a fairly slow progression, and is not a reading that can easily be displayed by an analog meter:


The digital display is set to DOD or % remaining remaining in this image.

As you say, digital speedometers are/were a come-down. When driving, you usually don't actually examine the numeric reading on your speedo, but have a built-in sense of about where the pointer should be for a given speed, allowing frequent glances to keep you in the right speed "zone". Doing voltage and current calculations in your head from ever-changing digital readings would away take a lot of the intuitive craft of of driving an EV in my opinion.

[moldiebrownie]

I went with analog guages for the reasons Mr Sharkey stated..besides..they came in my kit anyway. This also allowed me to use this cool pillar mounted guage pod....heh heh...keeping it clean for the ladies!