Ammeter Wiring

[ME TOO 2]

I was thinking something along the lines of using a small bus bar and then insulating it so it doesn't accidentally ground to anything.

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My thoughts almost exactly RawbDidIt
Except that have bee considerng a hefty 250A (or greater )bus with at least 4, 1/4" studs.
Wiring would be battery negative via shunt to the buss then all other grounds come off the buss.
However
Have you read RichLo's comment about all the other grounds floating round in the vehicle.
It makes sense that monitoring the negative side may not be practical.
Once I have the meter, shunt & bus in hand I may try it for the learning experience.

 

[RawbDidIt]

I think you misunderstood me. You'll want to insulate it to prevent it contacting a ground. A large, positively charged metal bar is asking for trouble in a DC current where everything else metal is a ground...

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[ME TOO 2]

I think you misunderstood me. You'll want to insulate it to prevent it contacting a ground. A large, positively charged metal bar is asking for trouble in a DC current where everything else metal is a ground...

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Perhaps I was unclear RabdDidIt
I meant making a ground bus, fed by the battery negative, from which engine, body,chassis and other grounds emanate.
Agreed about how dangerous a big chunk of positively charged copper bus could be.

 

[RawbDidIt]

Perhaps I was unclear RabdDidIt
I meant making a ground bus, fed by the battery negative, from which engine, body,chassis and other grounds emanate.
Agreed about how dangerous a big chunk of positively charged copper bus could be.

Alas, it was I that misunderstood you. As RichLo said earlier, isolating the starter ground from the circuit is not possible. The body of the starter is the ground, and it is shared by anything grounded to your engine block including your alternator, so isolating that ground will not give you an accurate reading of everything going on. What I thought I was agreeing to was using a bus bar (or something functionally similar) to connect the two batteries and all loads except the starter, placing the shunt there to read the draw at that point, and then insulating that entire unit to keep it from grounding on anything.

 

[RichLo]

I agree with RawbDidIt, that is pretty much what I was getting at with the junction box idea before with all of the positive wires. A Bus Bar with isolating mounts is a good way to run all of the positives through a common ammeter wire before spider webbing out. But like he said, go overboard with the mounts so 5 years down the road it doesn't ground out on something.

 

[RawbDidIt]

My cheapest solution that I can come up with right now would be to take a piece of PVC, cut a slot lengthwise and mount using plastic push rivets, and insert bus bar into the PVC. Just make sure it's a nice, snug fit and it should stay put.

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