Mounting Turnigy Watt Meter

[neptronix]

Here's another way to do it.





Not as cool as the handlebar mount, but no flexing wires to worry about etc.
I opened up a watt meter to see what needed to be changed out and said to my self... F this!

[iovaykind]

Ideally I'd like mine to have a quick plug so I could remove it when parking it at school, don't want any theft problems. Had I known this "quick" shunt project would turn into a headache I would've just purchased large plugs. However, if I can figure this out, the added benefit of using remote shunt is that I wouldn't HAVE to have the turnigy mounted and plugged in to ride the bike, and I could use it when I feel like it which isn't all the time.

[iovaykind]

Anyone have ideas? I'd like to get my turnigy mounted back again.. the easy connect cables are coming in real soon

[AussieJester]

I actually had another go at mine yesterday unfortunately all i can report is the same story
the meter reads something like 157amps soon as i turn it on, only thing remaining correct
is the voltage, least i have some form of monitoring i guess haha...

If you guys figure it out someone pm me please

KiM

[iovaykind]

That seems to be the universal problem. These shunts are so fine tuned that I think any solder getting in between the wires and shunts is going to mess up the readings. Unfortunately being as my bike is my DD to school, I can't keep messing with it to fix it. That's why I'm hoping someone knows a definitive fix to this problem.

[Mark F]

I replaced the supplied/installed shunt with this; http://www.altestore.com/store/Meters-C ... unt/p4637/
It works fine.

[AussieJester]

Out of interest i hooked up my old Drain Brain (Early Model CA) To the Turnigy shunt
and be blowed if it was all zeroed (cept volt reading that was correct) and when i applied throttle it proceeded to work! now
im aware the shunt isn't calibrated for the CA so the readings are out by how much i have no idea...
WOT is pulling around 150watts which was about correct for the ol cruisers reduction drive/sprocket
setup... anywayz, i have some form of monitoring with the volt reading so know when the packs getting
Low, till i can afford something better shall suffice Have hit YPedal MaN
for a CA hopefully the 'MaN' has an oldie laying about i can pickup for a reduced price on new CA ...

I was also thinking about the wire i have used and whether this will make a big difference to the readings?
Jeremy suggested using some 3 core wire, i had none so used 3 strands of thicker wire than what
is present in 3 core wire, i have some 3 core now i might if i get time run a lead to the Turnigy from the shunt
and see how much or if the readings differ much due to smaller gauged wire being used....what did
y'all use for connection wire from shunt to meter?

Mark F how did you calibrate the shunt to your Turnigy to ensure correct readings? Just hooking it up
isn't enough.

KiM

[iovaykind]

Mark F, did you have to solder the connections or is that shunt a screw on type?

I can get my shunt to work correctly.. resoldering it (or even just shifting the shunt wires) changes the amp readings from the dreaded 157amps, to something like 2 or 3amps. I haven't had the chance to mess with it much, but plan to do a clean resoldering of the shunt with shunt wires when I replace my current AC type plug coming out of the battery with a MIC cable plug so it doesn't keep falling out and sparking when I hit a hard bump on the road.

Does anyone know how much the pots can be adjusted in terms of # of amps? If I can solder it and keep it at like 2amps, will I be able to adjust the pot back down to zero amps?

[Wattever]

If your amp reading is flying there - you probablly just need to solder your shunt wires again, take a good look at the shunt's pad.


When the shunt is soldered on the board the shunt connects the big wire pads with the small pad - you need to connect the two with soldering iron.

left side soldered good, right side - not!


* this is true only with the older Turnigy WattMeters boards.

[d8veh]

For those that want to do the cheaper meter, I posted a how to do it here based on Jeremy's instructions:
http://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/electri ... -less.html
You can make a nice mount for it by making an aluminium bracket that replaces the original side-plates and mounts to the stem head. A similar bracket could be made for the Turnigy meter

[iovaykind]

What makes the left solder good and the right bad? I can't figure it out from the pictures

[Metallover]

You can see space on the right solder board that was dry and free from solder. See on the left solder covers the whole pad.

D8veh, thanks for posting that! I have that meter because the good one was out of stock forever when I tried to order it.. I will try to modify this new meter! Thanks!

[iovaykind]

Is it that part that needs to be connected to the big pad?

Cause I got rid of my 157amps reading not be resoldering that pad but by simply unsoldering it from the shunt and moving it around in different places.

http://i55.tinypic.com/y007t.jpg

[Metallover]

Yes, that is why my meter wasn't working.

I wanted to do a remote shunt mod with this meter, the HK010, but I decided not to. I have a different version of the meter than shown in your post, which I purchased from hobbyking 4/15/2011. The shunt is in a really bad spot to try to get out and it is a different type of shunt than in your meter.









And if anyone wants to maybe get this meter, I wouldn't recommend it because it doesn't store peak readings, just real time.

[iovaykind]

I'll open up my watt meter and see if that's the problem with mine.

Your other watt meter looks terrible to do remote shunt mod, especially how you can do it without taking off the screen on the turnigy, looks like its all crammed in there on that one.

Will post back, hopefully that's really the problem and I will be able to use my turnigy again!

[iovaykind]

Well, my watt meter has the tabs soldered up great.. so I went ahead today and tried to redo the shunt end of things. Resoldered, tested, same thing. Either 157amps continuous or hovers around a few amps (weird that the amp readings slowly go up even if I hold everything still)

About time to give up, spent hours and hours trying to make this thing work but it seems futile. I'm wondering if I just moved everything back to stock if it would start working again.

[AussieJester]

Well, my watt meter has the tabs soldered up great.. so I went ahead today and tried to redo the shunt end of things. Resoldered, tested, same thing. Either 157amps continuous or hovers around a few amps (weird that the amp readings slowly go up even if I hold everything still)

About time to give up, spent hours and hours trying to make this thing work but it seems futile. I'm wondering if I just moved everything back to stock if it would start working again.

Sorry to hear that Think i mentioned i treied redoing the shunt end on mine ended with 135amp showing continuously...Dunno if mentioned i tried my old Drain Brain on the shunt and that read correctly Shull
pop open the meter today and check the pads i dont think i soldered them up like shown previous page pretty sure i just soldered the wire on the edge of the pads will report back ...

KiM

[iovaykind]

I moved everything back to stock today.. don't have a way to test it yet (really don't feel like hardwiring it into my setup, in case it doesn't work would be a waste of time. I think I'm gonna try to see if it works for charging, that'll be a good way to test, well be right back!

edit:
operation back to stock is a no go. anyone want a turnigy watt meter that is now a volt meter?

[AussieJester]

Bugger that sucks ballz, i wonder what went wrong iovaykind? I tried covering the pads in the meter
with solder like shown previous page, didn't make a scrap of difference meter still reads 135amp
looks like i gt me a Turnigy volt meter too hahaha...Going to hook the old Drain Brain up to the
shunt least that reads pretty correctly, well least not 135amp all the time hahaha...

KiM

[iovaykind]

Lol not sure what went wrong quite honestly.. I thought that putting it back to stock would make it work. My soldering skills are there too, so that can't be it. Something must've happened while moving the shunt out. Who knows, could be a number of things. Can't even use it as a volt meter as my second bike build will be over 60v

[xmasta]

Hya, did the mod also but i managed to end up on 137.43 amps too :S



this is how mine is soldered, at first i tried it on 12v battery and it worked, then i soldered it to big manly heavy wires on battery pack and got my 137,

I did put a lot of heat in it when messing with the big wires, is it possible i ruined the shunt? It doesnt have any solder running from sides or under it, only the pad parts are with solder

Also there was a spark on the remote end once cos i was trying to use 2.5mm jack with its three channels to use as a plug on batterypack but those run too close when connecting. Dont think this spark could mess anything up in the meter, voltage is still correct.

[izeman]

has anyone managed to make that "waterproof". riding with my gt-power wattmeter in rainy conditions makes it almost unreadable as the glass is foggy on the inside.
as there should be no heat inside the case anymore could i just close all holes with epoxy and make it waterproof?

[SamTexas]

I don't have an answer to your question, but I have a question for you.

Thanks. Beautifully executed. I guess your next task is to make it rain proof.

hey. i'm an pussy. i don't ride when it's wet no really.

So you are no longer a pussy? Just kidding. I like your new in-frame battery bag.

[izeman]

I don't have an answer to your question, but I have a question for you.

Thanks. Beautifully executed. I guess your next task is to make it rain proof.

hey. i'm an pussy. i don't ride when it's wet no really.

So you are no longer a pussy? Just kidding. I like your new in-frame battery bag.

DAMN! the internet never forgets anything *ggg* call me IZEman, the guy formerly known as pussy

i had a wonderful ride some days ago. it was snowing a bit and roads where icy, but i was great fun. but for now i call the season closed and start upgrading/improving my build. the bag is REALLY great - it's almost perfect, and the remote wattmeter would add great to that. i don't know of those bags are sold in USA ...

[SamTexas]

You Europeans are brave! I'm totally spoiled. When the temperature drops below 20C, I quit biking. When I was living in Boston, the only thing I enjoyed during the winter was downhill skiing. I hated everything else.