Old Lister ammeters

[Le Velocette Man]

Hi Everyone,

Twenty five years ago I was given a pair of nice old Lister ammeters (see attached photo's) as I was having a boat fitted out at the time, but they were never used. They have been in a box on the shelf in my garage ever since.They have 4" diameter cast steel faces with a diamond knurled finish and the word "Lister" cast across the front. The instrument faces are cardboard  behind sealed glass windows and the rear 4 3/4"diameter flanges have a centre fixing stud, with brass knurled nuts to secure the wiring. Both are in excellent condition. I have trawled the internet but have never seen any with the word "Lister" cast into them. Can anyone tell me if they are unusual/rare and what sort of age they could be?

Regards,

Mick

[RLWP]

Nice!

They will be off one of the Lister generator sets, I've seen a very nice one in Cornwall based around a large single cylinder engine. The controls and instruments were all on a separate panel

Looks like they are direct reading rather than using a shunt, which is a shame. A 15A meter isn't a lot of use on a boat. If it used a shunt it would be easy to print a new dial for a bigger current

Richard

[smileypete]

If you could find a shunt to divert say 90% of the current then it could read up to 150A, it would be nice to retain the period scale.

Edited November 18, 2017 by smileypete

[Tony Brooks]

44 minutes ago, smileypete said:

If you could find a shunt to divert say 90% of the current then it could read up to 150A, it would be nice to retain the period scale.

I am not sure that would work if they are typical moving iron meters. The things have pretty much zero resistance.

[smileypete]

39 minutes ago, Tony Brooks said:

I am not sure that would work if they are typical moving iron meters. The things have pretty much zero resistance.

Could put say a 15A or 20A shunt in series with the meter to bump the resistance up enough.

Or use the cabling between meter and 150A shunt to bump up the resistance similarly, though cable resistance is somewhat temperature dependent.

Maybe don't even have to use shunts, just work it out from cable resistance and lengths.

ETA: If using cable only, then the resistance changes over temperature should largely balance out between the cables, greatly improving accuracy.

Edited November 18, 2017 by smileypete

[alan_fincher]

3 hours ago, RLWP said:

They will be off one of the Lister generator sets, I've seen a very nice one in Cornwall based around a large single cylinder engine. The controls and instruments were all on a separate panel

This may be of interest.......

 

[D. W. Walker]

I believe that these would be off a Lister "Start-o-matic generator set, often found in isolated houses, farms etc. They are definitely moving iron meters, as noted above, note the non-linear scale, and incidentally not very accurate!

Moving iron meters read directly on AC without any problem, hence my thought that it is a generating set as 15A would be night for a 3kVA generator. You could use one to monitor load current on the 240v side of an inverter, the 15A scale would be just right for that!

Never seen one with the name cast in before, but my chimney sweep's Mum is moving and has a disused Start-o-matic in her shed.........

[X Alan W]

16 hours ago, D. W. Walker said:

I believe that these would be off a Lister "Start-o-matic generator set, often found in isolated houses, farms etc. They are definitely moving iron meters, as noted above, note the non-linear scale, and incidentally not very accurate!

Moving iron meters read directly on AC without any problem, hence my thought that it is a generating set as 15A would be night for a 3kVA generator. You could use one to monitor load current on the 240v side of an inverter, the 15A scale would be just right for that!

Never seen one with the name cast in before, but my chimney sweep's Mum is moving and has a disused Start-o-matic in her shed.........

Before the Needles lighthouse  IOW went all automatic it had a 3cyl air cooled Lister turning a compressor/generator for the fog horn & to keep  battery bank charged for accommodation lighting the instrument panel had similar ammeters not sure of the rating as I was required to remove & repair the exhaust system

[RLWP]

17 hours ago, D. W. Walker said:

Never seen one with the name cast in before, but my chimney sweep's Mum is moving and has a disused Start-o-matic in her shed.........

Lister ST2?

The last two I dealt with were ST2 powered

Richard

[jake_crew]

La Velo - you have private mail.