T i m wrote:


I think if I had been riding it I would have 'felt' it wasn't rolling
/ running freely.

Is there any way to monitor "load amps" ?

That might give some indication of trouble.

https://www.amazon.com/bayite-Digita.../dp/B01DDQM6Z4

"Mine will not calibrate perfectly either, it reads 0.2 amps with no current.
I use it to measure my alternator output on my boat. As long as you need to
see the difference between 30 and 50 amps and not 31 and 31.1, this can work
for you. Also note it will show a decimal place at the far right for
"reverse" flow, so make sure you have it turned the way you want it.
EDIT: I have just come back from a 4 day trip and found this very useful
to monitor alternator output. I also noted it drifts a lot - it seems to
wander up to 0.5-0.8 amps at 0 actual current and wander back down to 0.2."

That meter runs off as little as 5V, and monitors
DC loads up to 100 amperes, using a non-contact
sensor. That means not placing anything in
a high current path you're not comfortable with.
Just monitoring the battery lead, would show the
state of the whole thing.

That one does not use "jaws", so a single
conductor must be shoved through the hole.
Make sure the cabling+connector will fit through the
aperture (19mm in the example) before buying.
The sensor couples magnetic flux into the
Hall chip next to the connector on the sensor.
The larger the diameter of the sensor, the more
magnetic material needed inside.

Regular Hall-based meters for this purpose, have sensors
with a break in the material, giving a "jaws" design.
The two halves of the magnetic material must
meet properly for best results. A design without
jaws, it's performance is that much more certain,
as the magnetic circuit is fixed from a mechanical
perspective. You won't need to jiggle it.

Circuits like that, the zero on them isn't all that
good. The circuit can drift a bit. But we're not measuring
fundamental physics constants here, so such errors
are not an issue.

And you want the meter range, to cover the thing to be
measured. If the range of currents always stayed below
10A, then a 100A version might be "set too high". Using
your knowledge of battery amp-hours, and how far you can
go on one charge, might give you an idea on the ballpark
currents involved. And if the load happens to draw
100A when first moving, you can't damage that
meter on overrange. Unlike an analog meter, there's
no meter needle to "bend" if whacked overscale.

It needs a source of DC power to operate the meter, and
measures DC amperes using the sensor.

Paul