Helpful Wires, by KE3FL

The two helpful wire sets I have put together are (1) for a VOM with Anderson Power poles on one end, and (2) a wire with three or four sets of Anderson Power poles and a shorted pair of Anderson Power poles, so that current measurements can be made and then bypass the meter so the meter can be turned off. In the first photo we see the two basic helpful wire sets. The third I used was a homebrewed Anderson Power pole Y-splitter which was plugged into the center Anderson pair so that a meter and the shorting bard could be plugged in at the same time while adjusting the meter or turning it on or off.


Photo 1: The basic helpful wires and the shorting bar


Schematic 1: Anderson Power Poles - Current Measurement set up



Photo 2: The Homebrewed Anderson Y-Splitter and Four-Way Splitter

The set of VOM Anderson Power poles was made because every battery and power supply connection in my shop and radio room was changed to use Anderson Power poles and it was so much easier to simply plug the meter into a battery or power supply with another set of Anderson Power poles to take a voltage reading.

The second set of wires, to measure current, was made because I thought it would be helpful to have a more accurate current reading between power and device connected with Anderson Power poles. Again, this made it easy to take the current measurement and then calculate the power consumption of any radio or other device under test. Photo 3 shows a DC-to-AC power inverter powering a small light under test using the current measuring helpful wire set.


Photo 3: DC-to-AC Power Inverter Current Measurement



I also modified a battery tester so that the voltage readings could be read by a meter instead of trusting the three (red, amber, green) LED indicators. Two sets of Anderson Power poles had to be used so that the testing voltage of both 1.5 Volt and 9V batteries could be measured. See photos 4, 5, and 6 below for the battery tester modification and set-up.


Photo 4: Modified Battery Tester


Photo 5: Meter Reading Battery


Photo 6: Battery Tester and Meter Setup

Phil Karras, KE3FL