EEVblog Electronics Community Forum
Products => Test Equipment => Topic started by: p5200 on March 27, 2021, 04:56:35 pm
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I'm looking for suggestions for a clamp on amp meter I can use to check current draw on house wiring circuit current draw. I plan to use it for appliance, and other various circuits including home audio systems. Thank You! :)
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You are aware that you cannot clamp it around the power cable to a device, it must be around a single of the 2 or 3 conductors in the cable. In US you can buy special adapters that will help you.
A fairly cheap and universal clamp meter is the UNI-T UT210E, it do also support DC (Not all clamp meter do) and can be used in a car.
(https://lygte-info.dk/pic/DMMCurrent/DSC_4768.jpg)
The picture shows usage of a clamp adapter.
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I have a very nice Chinese unit and a home built splitter. The latter is just a plug and outlet with wires between, allowing me to clamp on to just one conductor.
I also built a device to increase the meter sensitivity by winding ten turns around a piece of PVC tubing.
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If you're only looking to monitor stuff that plugs in a kill-a-watt or similar might be the better choice, power factor and whatnot is a nice thing to know.
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I mainly, want to check total circuit draw on the circuits at the main breaker panel. I've been looking at these but, I can't find where it tells the least amount of current it will detect. https://www.homedepot.com/p/Klein-Tools-400-Amp-Digital-Clamp-Meter-AC-Auto-Ranging-with-Temp-CL220/312649913#product-overview (https://www.homedepot.com/p/Klein-Tools-400-Amp-Digital-Clamp-Meter-AC-Auto-Ranging-with-Temp-CL220/312649913#product-overview)
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I really, don't need the voltage, resistance etc. features as I have a Fluke 87 V for those measurements. :)
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Manual says lowest current range is 2.000A, 1mA resolution l, accuracy ±(2.5% + 30 digits).
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Manual says lowest current range is 2.000A, 1mA resolution l, accuracy ±(2.5% + 30 digits).
I assume that would be fine for my use then. Thanks! :)
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When checking current at the breaker panel, just getting the average current draw may not be enough.
Food for thought:
Thinking ahead at the possibility of sizing a generator, you may also want to know the start in-rush current if it's a motor drawing the current. I bought a clamp-on Fluke with in-rush measurement. However, you probably don't want to spend that kind of money.
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Since you have a Fluke 87V, you could also look at a clamp adapter that plugs into your DMM as an alternative. Loads of AC only ones out there, but also some AC/DC varieties that are battery powered.
Fluke i400 is an example of an AC unit
https://www.amazon.com/Fluke-i400-400-Current-Clamp/dp/B000EA1ETC/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=current+clamp+adapter&qid=1616876843&sr=8-2 (https://www.amazon.com/Fluke-i400-400-Current-Clamp/dp/B000EA1ETC/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=current+clamp+adapter&qid=1616876843&sr=8-2)
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I'm not sure that many home audio systems will have significant current draw. :popcorn:
(unless you have a big light show and smoke machines)
Since you have a Fluke 87V, you could also look at a clamp adapter that plugs into your DMM as an alternative.[/url]
Except they cost four times more than a separate clamp meter.
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If you want to measure something with small current < 10A, I can recommend this VOLTCRAFT SMA-10:
https://www.conrad.de/de/p/voltcraft-sma-10-messadapter-schutzkontakt-stecker-buchse-4-mm-schutzkontakt-kupplung-beruehrungssicher-schwarz-123980.html (https://www.conrad.de/de/p/voltcraft-sma-10-messadapter-schutzkontakt-stecker-buchse-4-mm-schutzkontakt-kupplung-beruehrungssicher-schwarz-123980.html)
It is very flexible and easy to use and not so expensive, as you can use your Multimeter:
(https://i.postimg.cc/4djMX9kY/Bildschirmfoto-vom-2021-03-28-12-01-41.png) (https://postimages.org/)
Don't buy this: VOLTCRAFT DLA-1L 16
https://www.conrad.de/de/p/voltcraft-dla-1l-16-messadapter-schutzkontakt-16-a-schutzkontakt-16-a-1271059.html (https://www.conrad.de/de/p/voltcraft-dla-1l-16-messadapter-schutzkontakt-16-a-schutzkontakt-16-a-1271059.html)
Although you can measure current and leakage current at the same time, having both clampmeters isolated from each other quite well, it is way too expensive and way too stiff to use, OK you can also measure voltage under the rubber cap, but that's not worth the money:
(https://i.postimg.cc/qM2fMj74/Bildschirmfoto-vom-2021-03-28-12-09-02.png) (https://postimg.cc/QHNYfg5y)
I have several of these self-made cables and do love them very much, as they are cheap, you can put them between anything you like 4ever and are able to measure from now and then, if you like:
(https://i.postimg.cc/hjYjR4rg/Bildschirmfoto-vom-2021-03-28-12-17-41.png) (https://postimages.org/)
Don't buy such a thing as a ready-made one, because they cost a fortune and are not worth the money:
(https://i.postimg.cc/D0VSbyb6/Bildschirmfoto-vom-2021-03-28-12-21-06.png) (https://postimg.cc/Q9b82DmK)
The Keysight in the background is connected with the white switch / power outlet and always measures current. I sacrificed a pair of Brymen test leads, as they are good and cheap and long enough to connect them to other handheld or benchtop multimeters to use TestController to log the consumption, for example:
(https://i.postimg.cc/QdKvf8B1/Bildschirmfoto-vom-2021-03-28-12-04-09.png) (https://postimages.org/)
I like the Fluke 376, because it is able to measure inrush current, which the Benning CM 11 does not; the disadvantage of the Fluke is the poor resolution...
To put it in a nutshell - my blanket recommendation:
- the VOLTCRAFT SMA-10 from above, which you can use with your handheld DMM
- make your own cable
- and buy a clamp meter of your budget with the resolution and precision you wanna have (consider Inrush Current***!)
*** I tested two vacuum cleaners. The cheap one went up till 29A, whereas the good old Siemens never went over 8A!
This is helpful to understand, that the price differences are nowadays found in security features, which you don't see from the outside!
(https://i.postimg.cc/D0g5CDh9/Bildschirmfoto-vom-2021-03-28-12-39-37.png) (https://postimages.org/)
Cheers!