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| Good clamp meter for low DC currents |
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| wasedadoc:
There are two quite different situations: 1. The clamp meter is in a fixed position and the current can be turned off when zeroing. 2. The current cannot be turned off, so the clamp meter must be in different places when zeroing and measuring. Even worse is when the meter is being handheld. |
| Kean:
--- Quote from: csuhi17 on December 29, 2023, 12:20:36 pm ---I may have misinterpreted the description of the Benning that I linked to, which is why I deleted my previous question. If I managed to understand correctly, then a The uA measurement does not apply to the clamp meter... The clamp meter measures with a minimum scale of 10mA. --- End quote --- Yes, it isn't at all clear from the CM 10-PV data sheet. After looking at the user manual it shows the only range that uses the clamp meter is the Amp range. All other measurements including the microamp range require using the probes. As mentioned above the Fluke 771/772/773 clamp meters have a 10uA resolution but have a limited range to 110mA. They are specialist meters for process control and priced accordingly. The Kyoritsu 2500 is similar with 10uA resolution and max 120mA. I bought my Fluke 771 many (~10) years ago, and apart from my Tek scope it was one of the most expensive pieces of test equipment I owned at the time. I still have it and it still works fine. The only handheld microamp resolution clamp meters I have come across are for AC leakage measurement, but there may be some specialist ones I haven't seen. I have the UT251A which measures up to 60A AC, but has a resolution of 1uA. I believe it is 6000 count, so max 6mA at that resolution. The best way to do low current measurements with a clamp meter is to pass the wire being measured through the clamp multiple times, but that isn't always practical and still doesn't come close to the resolution you can get by inserting a current shunt into the loop. I own a few of the UT210E clamp meters, but I find their readings are inconsistent. One in particular needs calibration as it has a large offset that I can zero out but otherwise cannot remove even with careful degaussing. I also have a couple of TENMA IN05268 clamp meters with a 1mA resolution, and while they are more expensive than the UT210E, they are my preferred DC clamp meters. Yes, I own a few meters... :-DMM |
| Martin72:
A few... ;D I have now compared the two with DMMCheck Plus. The Owon not only has 20000 instead of 2000 counts, but also frequency measurement and duty cycle. Neither of them can measure voltage with 10kHz AC. But that's not what they are designed for. Should I continue here or should I open a new thread? |
| Kean:
--- Quote from: Martin72 on December 29, 2023, 09:50:26 pm ---Should I continue here or should I open a new thread? --- End quote --- I suggest continuing here. A search will find the posts either way. I will try do some similar comparisons later today of a few of my clamp meters against my Advantest R6142 and Keysight 34465A. |
| HKJ:
--- Quote from: Kean on December 29, 2023, 09:41:30 pm ---Yes, it isn't at all clear from the CM 10-PV data sheet. After looking at the user manual it shows the only range that uses the clamp meter is the Amp range. All other measurements including the microamp range require using the probes. --- End quote --- I do not know about the CM10-PV meter, I only talk/write about the Benning CM11 meter. --- Quote from: Kean on December 29, 2023, 09:41:30 pm ---As mentioned above the Fluke 771/772/773 clamp meters have a 10uA resolution but have a limited range to 110mA. They are specialist meters for process control and priced accordingly. The Kyoritsu 2500 is similar with 10uA resolution and max 120mA. I bought my Fluke 771 many (~10) years ago, and apart from my Tek scope it was one of the most expensive pieces of test equipment I owned at the time. I still have it and it still works fine. --- End quote --- Working low current DC clamp meters are expensive. --- Quote from: Kean on December 29, 2023, 09:41:30 pm ---The only handheld microamp resolution clamp meters I have come across are for AC leakage measurement, but there may be some specialist ones I haven't seen. I have the UT251A which measures up to 60A AC, but has a resolution of 1uA. I believe it is 6000 count, so max 6mA at that resolution. --- End quote --- Measuring low AC current is not that hard, the earth magnetic field do not change fast, i.e. it do not affect AC measurements. --- Quote from: Kean on December 29, 2023, 09:41:30 pm ---The best way to do low current measurements with a clamp meter is to pass the wire being measured through the clamp multiple times, but that isn't always practical and still doesn't come close to the resolution you can get by inserting a current shunt into the loop. --- End quote --- Using multiple turns in the clamp can make any clamp meter good at mA or even uA range with enough turns. Measuring low mA or uA DC current with a clamp meter is not common. --- Quote from: Kean on December 29, 2023, 09:41:30 pm ---I own a few of the UT210E clamp meters, but I find their readings are inconsistent. One in particular needs calibration as it has a large offset that I can zero out but otherwise cannot remove even with careful degaussing. I also have a couple of TENMA IN05268 clamp meters with a 1mA resolution, and while they are more expensive than the UT210E, they are my preferred DC clamp meters. --- End quote --- The UT210E is a fairly good low cost meter at low currents and one I will recommend for hobby usage, but if you really need to measure a few mA with a clamp meter, the Benning CM11 (or similar, like Fluke) is the answer. --- Quote from: Kean on December 29, 2023, 09:41:30 pm ---Yes, I own a few meters... :-DMM --- End quote --- Who doesn't. |
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