Todays Tip of the day?

JDEM

Well-known Member
I just noticed the "Tip of the Day" posted on this Website. I have to express a bit of disagreement. I don't usually care what name someone uses for a device as long as I understand the reference. But claiming there are strict rules to the names of instruments we use? Come on!

I have studied the history of man's understanding of electricity over time. I have read a lot of Patents. Maybe I missed something, but I have yet too see a trademark put on to the word "ammeter" or the phrase "amperage gauge." From my own experience, they often mean exactly the same thing. Mr. Ampere (where the word "amp" comes from) called one of the earliest current-measuring devices a "Galvanometer." He named it after Mr. Galvani. After that? Many meters made to measure electrical current called all sorts of things. Early ones were just compasses laid on a wire.

The "Tip of the Day" here today, states . . "An ammeter shows amps being charged (+) or dis-charged (-) and reads from center to a range like -30 to +30, whereas an amperage gauge shows just the amps flowing in the electrical line. "

I say that is nonsense - and here is one example (I have many) showing a meter actually named "AMMETER" and not having a centered scale. Kind of a silly discussion but - somebody might read today's "Tip" and take it as gospel truth.

Besides the actual history of what various companies chose to call the meters they made - there is also the issue of common day American English. If a neighbor asks you if you have an "amp gauge" - are you going to say "NO" because all you have is a current reading meter with a centered scale? Or vice versa?
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I do not agree with you, scaling is independent of the type of device, they are all ammeters, amp gauge, ammeter or galvanometer regardless of range.
 
So what does the ammeter you show do when you're in a discharge condition? I'm thinking the only kind of ammeter you would put on a vehicle is the +30/-30 as described, so you could show discharge as well as charge. The kind of gauge shown would only be useful in a power generation situation, where the question is do you have current flowing or not, not which way it is flowing.
 
Having been an electrical engineer, electrical hobbyist of 60 years, a farmer and used tractor dealer, I have seen so many different types of, for the lack of a better word, "gauges" or "meters" referred to differently I couldn't count them. Much of this is a matter of semantics or local preferences or different terminology used in different trades or even geographical locations.

The tip "An ammeter shows amps being charged (+) or dis-charged (-) and reads from center to a range like -30 to +30, whereas an amperage gauge shows just the amps flowing in the electrical line. "

While that's NOT how I, an electrical engineer, might necessarily have phrased the tip, I understand the tipsters comment and based on experience and years of observation in the field find some merit in it. AS this is a tractor forum and as car truck and tractor ammeters indeed indicate + Charging amps INTO the battery, or - Discharging amps OUT OF the battery that term makes sense. Similar, having seen and designed "gauges" or "meters" for use in n circuits where the ONLY consideration was current flow period and there never was any doubt as to its direction, I understand the use of the term amperage "gauge". When I was an electrical designer and farmer and tractor dealer I more typically saw the term "ammeter" used in automotive applications, while in industry where it was ONLY the amount of current flow that was being measured and it was always one way, I often (not always) saw the terms "amp gauge" and yes also "ammeter" used. I'VE SEEN THEM CALLED/LABELED BOTH

Hey guys this forum is full of OPINIONS AND PREFERENCES AND WAYS OF DOING THINGS AND there is room for differing OPINIONS be they absolutely perfect or not and just because one person thinks one way or calls something one name is not the end all and ONLY way its done everywhere in all trades and locations. This is NOT "My way or the Highway" land lol. In nearly 30 years on here I've not found anyone to be perfect !!!!!!!!!!!! Has anyone else ???

TO EACH THEIR OWN OPINIONS AND PREFERENCES AND NAMING OF DEVICES and just because two cant agree does NOT make either a bad person.

Again, in all my years of design, engineering, and the specs I've written or reviewed, I've seen current measuring devices referred to as "ammeters" and I've seen devices referred to as "amp gauges" OR BOTH OR MIXED N MATCHED but OFTEN (not always) the zero centered + and - were called/labeled ammeters, while the single direction were often (not always) called/labeled gauges OR yes also ammeters.

Call then what you please is fine by me and I will do the same and we can both think were absolutely perfect lol I don't see this discussion as THERES ONLY ONE ANSWER AND NO ROOM FOR DISAGREEMENT !!!!!!!!!!! Each are free to call the instrument a meter or a gauge as they so wish, live and let live is my motto.

All here are free to agree or disagree with the tip and I've seen it done EITHER way so only you (no one else) can judge who is right and who is wrong, I say NEITHER...??...

John T
 
I see the terms as fully interchangeable, no confusion caused by using either term.

Kinda like motor of engine, which ever rolls off the tongue easiest.

That's why you never hear of a tachogauge, thermogauge, oil pressure meter, or gas meter.
 
In reading the entire TIP I can see why there is some disagreement. To say, one measures only quantity and not direction, is false in my thinking, as ALL current goes in A direction. If it's not moving in A direction, it's not current!
 
An aside: It's been fifty-some years since one of my schoolteachers told me that the founders of Pittsburg, Califonria deliberately spelled its name without a final H, to to avoid possible confusion with Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I guess the folks at Westinghouse didn't get that particular lesson.
 
John T, RE your comment . . "TO EACH THEIR OWN OPINIONS AND PREFERENCES AND NAMING OF DEVICES and just because two cant agree does NOT make either a bad person."

Just want to make something clear. I never stated anything about anyone being "bad" because I disagree. I said, and still say the person is wrong, plain and simple. I don't care he calls his "current measuring device" an amp gauge, amp meter, ammeter, current indicator, galvan-magic-meter, etc. as long as the title coveys the meaning needed in the context used.

I am not the one that chose to write an essay claiming an ammeter was just one specific type of device. It is not.
 
Yo John, I agree, you NEVER stated anything about anyone being bad >>>>>>>>> I stated just because two cant agree does NOT make either a bad person...???. I would consider you a good person and a gentleman and likewise if another has a different opinion then you concerning the tip of the day, they (and the author of the tip) are entitled to their opinion and can certainly be a nice gentleman also.

You are certainly entitled to your opinion the tip is wrong plain and simple. Others may have a different opinion and it would be a boring world if all of us here had the same one now wouldn't it lol. In my career as an electrical engineer, tractor dealer and farmer, I've seen ammeters and amp gauges and all sorts of different names and terminologies used (maybe right maybe wrong) so it comes as no surprise to me what the author of the tip stated (I'm NOT saying its right or wrong) and no surprise some may agree or disagree as to its accuracy.

Again if you and another do not agree about the tip, hey that's to be expected, some here may agree with you while others may not, no one here is perfect so different opinions are fairly typical and again that's NOT to say anyone shouldn't be allowed to THEIR opinions. Its not any my way or the highway approach as far as I'm concerned

Now as always its a pleasure sparky chatting with you, keep up the good work.

PS I'm not here to affirm or deny the tip (I've seen all sorts of names and labels on such meters) take it up with the tip author not me, I don't have a dog in this fight lol

Best wishes John, take care and God Bless. When I get up to the UP in my RV I would love to visit you and talk shop sometime.

John T
 

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