National Aeronca Association Bulletin Board

What's the job of a SHUNT, my Ammeter said "no Shunt required"?

Also, (in a different thread, I didn't want to High-jack it), someone commented
that a Volt gauge would be better than an Amp gauge, ...if you happen to have a
Garmin GPS Hard Wired (so to speak) to the Bus and an Amp gauge,
then you have both Amps and Volts.
Jim

Jim,
In the simplest terms (my memory is a little fuzzy here but this is the way I remember it) a shunt ammeter is tapped off the main circuit wire so all the current doesn't flow through the ammeter (it senses current flow). If I remember correctly the problem with the 60 amp alternator Cherokee is that it could 'potentially' start a fire in the dash as the full flow ammeter couldn't handle the full 60 amps and would overheat. My Cherokee had a 32 amp alternator so it didn't come under the AD but I elected to put in a voltmeter anyway. Actually I could have just stuck one of those voltmeters that plugged into a cigar lighter and I guess it would have done the same thing.

Of course with the Champ, no electrical----so no problem .

Mike