Figured I should test the LINK 10 battery meter
before everything goes back together. Something I should have done before even deciding my gauge layout, if I had any sense.
It works. As in both volt reading and amps show up on the display.
Here's the thing. It's displaying more amps than are actually passing through the shunt. At least when there's a significant load on it. I checked it against my clamp meter. And, in case that wasn't accurate, I hooked up a different volt meter and checked the milli-volts across the shunt. My clamp meter, I'm glad to say, is pretty dang accurate. The Link-10 is
not.
I have the shunt on the negative side, as required. I have checked the shunt voltage at the meter itself. It's still the same as it is at the shunt. I get 7.7mv at the shunt, and my clamp meter shows 77 amps, which corresponds nicely. It's a 500a, 50mv shunt. 1mv = 10a. 7.7mv = 77a. Meter reads 94.
Switch the polarity of the shunt wires, and now it reads seemingly correspondingly low. 63 amps. But it shows 0 amps when nothing is flowing, so it's not like it's stuck with X amps always over.
I changed the settings on the meter. I reset it. I changed them again. I wondered if it was the Puekert's Exponent setting, but changing it to 1.0 made no difference. I dug through the manual. I changed the charging efficiency. Each time, the same thing. Same readings.
So, I tried a different load. I put a measly 0.75-amp load on it, figuring it would show way off. Nope. It was perfect. I verified matching current with my DOM, and then with my clamp meter. It was accurate. The link-10 was accurate.
I put a second, matching load in parallel, and all meters & the link-10 showed 1.5a. Like it should.
I put a bigger load on it. 1.0 ohm, on my 12-volt battery. Link 10 showed 11.8a. As did my clamp meter. Still showing accurate.
Put the big load on it again, and the link 10 is back at showing 94 or 63 amps.
A larger load will be difficult, with the exception of once it's installed in the EV. Still. I'm
You'd think it would either be inaccurate
all the time, equally, linearly, or it would be particularly inaccurate with small loads and get roughly more accurate as it goes up.
So. It's either buggered, or the programming in it - which the settings don't seem to affect - is calculating something I'm unaware of.
It's pretty useless to me like this. At least for high current use.
Any gurus out there used one and know what it's doing?
New ideas to try: change the battery capacity setting, as Puekert's effect is relative to the battery capacity vs load...if it's calculating for that. Or if it's calculating for internal resistance?
Try a larger battery (in reality) that will have less voltage drop and see if it makes any difference.
Test it with my other - completely different - amp-hour meter and see what it reports.
Today
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Didn't believe the EV calculators that said I could expect 50km range. It should do that no problem. Heck, the half pack that's in there should get me to work and back. Just.
