Digital Volt and Amp meters

I was looking for the same thing a while back, and came on the conclusion that pre-packaged hook-it-up-and-go digital meters for AC volts and amps didn't exist.  It looked to me like I was going to have to play with shunts (for the ammeter) and conversions to DC, plus the digital meters would need their own DC power supply to drive the internal electronics.  And they are comparatively more expensive.

I gave up on doing digital and just went with the $12 analog AC voltmeter and ammeter from allelectronics.com.

I bought some on the bay that read vac but they require a separate voltage source for power. There are some that can use the same source for power and the reading. There are some there now for around $10 to $15 or so with free shipping. Do a search on the bay for "ac voltage digital meters". They are 200 or so listings down when set for "newly listed".

Thanks guys I was looking around and Lionel had offered a set of meters for the ZW in both amps and Volts.  Does anyone know about these?

I use them. They are somewhat inaccurate on voltage (probably not true rms) and the current meters are confused due to that they are looking at circuits that are commoned where the sensing is done. But they do offer some info that has its value in how consistent the readings are from day to day.

If you want them for proper information and not just for show, I found a couple at an Aldi supermarket that plug into the power point. They are designed for power efficiency in the home and will read volts, amps, and display various power saving figures. They are handy on my test bench for measuring current draw of locos on the rollers, and of course for monitoring current draw on the layout.

They were less than $20

wow Guys thanks a bunch.  Dave I think I will try to find one of those to put with the layout and try to find some analog ones to go into the control panel for the looks and to monitor the Track voltage coming out of the Zw's

I appreciate all the help

Bobbie 21921