View Full Version : Blue Sea DC digital Ammeter


Mr. Sandman
05-09-2012, 12:34 PM
I bought this and began to install it but then changed the way I was going to monitor my battery system and no longer have a use for it. I mounted the shunt to the wall and then removed it. I have not connected any wires to it nor wired up the display. Essentially it is brand new. Never powered up, never connected to anything. It generally goes for about $170 online.

Specs are found here: DC Digital Ammeter - PN 8236 - Blue Sea Systems (http://bluesea.com/products/8236)

I don't have the clear plastic packaging but have everything else. The display, the shunt and the instructions. The plastic screen film has never been removed.

It is a digital amp meter that can read +/- 500 amps DC.

It is model 8236


I probably will not have a need for this and it will just become part of my ever growing, unused boating pile of crap. I would rather see someone put it to use. It is a useful item for the boater.

The photo is the the actual item.


$85 via paypal and it is yours. I will ship it to you USPS .

thefishingfreak
05-11-2012, 09:23 PM
So dumb it down for me.
You hook that up to one of the posts like a fuse, and it measures and displays amp draw?
Is that for single battery only?
Does it tell voltage as well?
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

Mr. Sandman
05-12-2012, 05:03 AM
They make a model that does both amps and volts but this model just measures amps. You wire the shunt on the negative terminal of whatever circuit you want want to keep an eye on. There are 4 wires that go the shunt; the 2 negative cables , and 2 small wires (need to be a twisted pair) that go to the display. The display also needs small positive and neg wire to power it.

I bought this originally to mount on my house battery bank so at a glance I could see how bad the discharge was and how much the net gain was really going into the bank while running, and at what RPM I needed to run to have a decent charge go to that bank. The diagram below shows how I was going to set it up:

Strategies for Monitoring DC Current (http://bluesea.com/viewresource/550)


This would be set up as "1" in the above figure.

This lists for about $170, the one that does amps and volts is about $250.

In the end, I decided to go with an even fancier one that keeps track of amp hours as well as a gauge on the positive alternator circuity (so now I can see how much is being produced, where it is going as well as how much I have left....but in the end that ended up costing me 500 when all said and done (gauges, wiring, new cables etc) not to mention about 8 hours of my time. So when I was all finished, I had this one left over, I know if I put it in the box with all my other boat stuff it will never see the light of day, so I am putting it up here for about 1/2 of the list price. For the money it is useful for watching your house bank situation both underway, at idle and at anchor or drift.