Confusing directions

[capta]

Have any of you hooked up the Blue Seas Systems M2 OLED 1834 DC Multimeter?
The included instructions AND the ones on the web site give two different wiring instructions for the same meter.
Written connector pin assignment table gives;
1 dc -
2 dc +
3 n/a
4 dc supply #2 battery
5 shunt - blk
6 shunt 1+ red
7 battery 1 - blk
8 battery 1 + red
Some of the diagrams for the 1834 show this config but some show it as;

1 dc -
2 dc +
3 n/a
4 dc supply #2 battery
5 shunt + red
6 shunt 1- blk
7 battery 1 - blk
8 battery 1 + red
I just don't know which way to go. We'd very much like to get this meter installed tomorrow and if not, on Monday WITHOUT a long distance international phone call, so if anybody can help we would appreciate it very much.
Thanks,
Andrew & Nikki

 

[Maine Sail]

There is really no such thing as as shunt neg or positive because the shunt is in the negative cable. It is either battery side or load side. If you connect the shut wires backwards it will show a drain when charging. Simply reverse the leads. Don't reverse the other wires but the shut wires won't damage anything if reversed..

 

[capta]

There is really no such thing as as shunt neg or positive because the shunt is in the negative cable. It is either battery side or load side. If you connect the shut wires backwards it will show a drain when charging. Simply reverse the leads. Don't reverse the other wires but the shut wires won't damage anything if reversed..

It's not the shunt wires that concern me. It's the #7 is shown as a positive AND a negative on two drawings and different again on the pin assignment table. That I assume would make a great deal of difference?

 

[Henry Scurlock]

It appears that the difference in the diagrams is based on the number of batteries being used.
http://assets.bluesea.com/files/resources/instructions/980022180.pdf

 

[Brian D]

Looking at the wiring diagram seems to be self explanatory. If you don't have a shunt, ignore 5 and 6.

 

[capta]

I have the shunt. I am wiring for two batteries, not three. Look at the very next diagram. I see no difference but the 6,7,8 wires, yet this diagram is as the pin connection chart indicates, which the one you posted isn't. So, without the third battery I don't use pin 4? I'm not using the remote function so nothing goes to pin 3.

 

[Maine Sail]

I have the shunt. I am wiring for two batteries, not three. Look at the very next diagram. I see no difference but the 6,7,8 wires, yet this diagram is as the pin connection chart indicates, which the one you posted isn't. So, without the third battery I don't use pin 4? I'm not using the remote function so nothing goes to pin 3.

Make sure you are looking at the diagrams & pin outs for the 1834. Blue Sea included all of those meters in one instruction sheet. For the 1834 I only see #7 as Batt - & #8 as Batt +....

Do you see one where the 1834 shows 7 & 8 reversed?

 

[Bill Roosa]

Well it is a shunt right. There are 4 connections on any sunt. Two power connecting wires and two (MUCH SMALLER) signal wires. If you switch around the power wires the shunt will just read backword (charge and discharge or down scale against the needle peg if your meter only reads charge). If you switch around the signal wires (the ones that go to the meter) the meter will also read backword. All you have to do is not mix up the large power and small signal wires, that will result in fireworks.
SOOO hook up the wires and turn something on, if the meter reads correctly you are done, if it reads backword just flip the signal wires.
The signal wires are specifically placed so that there is a very small voltage drop when current passes from the "input" power wire to the "output" power wire. The meter is a very sensative volt meter which reads that voltage drop. using v=ir and knowing r (the shunt r) all the engineers did is lable the meter face "amps" using I=V/R as a conversion factor.
Really guys there is not much you can screw up except putting a power wire on a signal terminal which would be another case of natural slection in action IMHO.

 

[capta]

Make sure you are looking at the diagrams & pin outs for the 1834. Blue Sea included all of those meters in one instruction sheet. For the 1834 I only see #7 as Batt - & #8 as Batt +....

Do you see one where the 1834 shows 7 & 8 reversed?

It is the 6 & 7 wires that are reversed and at odds with the 1834 pin assignment table in the diagram on page 5 labeled 1834 multimeter. The next diagram on page 6 labeled 1830 & 1834 multiple batteries has the wires 6 & 7 reversed and in agreement with the 1834 pin assignment table. I see no difference in the diagrams at all except the wiring discrepancy.
Color me confused and blowing fuses at which point I stopped working.

 

[Brian D]

Capta, when I look at the diagram, I see 1-2 are battery #2, 3-4 are battery #3, 5-6 are shunt, and 7-8 are battery #1. It looks like the odd number terminals are negative and even terminal are positive. Terminal 6 does not belong to terminal 7 group. The two diagrams that show 6-7 as pos-neg and 6-7 as neg-pos are just showing you that they can be be reversed.

If you only have two batteries (say house and starter) then use 7-8 for the house and 1-2 for the starter. I would think if both batteries are connected to a 1-Both-2 switch then you can tap off the terminals there. Else, you will have to run a cable from the batteries to the meter.

Battery #3 has the neg terminal connected to the ground strap. That is connected to terminal #1. I would say it was safe to assume that all the neg terminals in the meter are tied together. Therefore, all one needs is to have a positive wire from the battery to the meter. If the negative side of all the batteries are tied to a ground strap, then just connect that strap to terminal #1. You cannot damage the meter by doing that. If the internal ground does not exist in the meter, then you will not get a voltage reading on the meter. Just like a handheld meter. Same concept.

I used this doc for the diagram. It shows only the 1834 and nothing else. Might clear up the confusion with multiple diagrams.

 

[Maine Sail]

It is the 6 & 7 wires that are reversed and at odds with the 1834 pin assignment table in the diagram on page 5 labeled 1834 multimeter. The next diagram on page 6 labeled 1830 & 1834 multiple batteries has the wires 6 & 7 reversed and in agreement with the 1834 pin assignment table. I see no difference in the diagrams at all except the wiring discrepancy.
Color me confused and blowing fuses at which point I stopped working.

#6 is a shunt wire along with #5. There is NO polarity on the shunt just batt side or load side.

#7 is Batt 1 negative and #8 is Batt 1 positive.

 

[capta]

Thank you all. I think I've got it now. We'll see tomorrow.
I'll let you know how it goes.