Clamp-On Current Meter Readings
Got curious with my new clamp-on meter this afternoon. Made the following current readings (one fully charged 24 series battery; converter turned off): .13 amps - parasitic/residual current with e...
Forum Discussion
MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
Inductive DC ammeters as Matt Collie pointed out are near useless at low scale. Worse than useless, they are misleading. Horribly so.
For low current measurement, use your DMM, on the 200ma scale if you want to stay out of the land of OZ.
For PRECISION measurement of low value amperage I use a MANGANIN 20 amp shunt and a 4.5 digit DMM (6.5 digit when I get real serious). This would be worthlessly precise for most RV applications.
Measuring very low values of amperage with an inductive meter would be similar to timing a 100-meter dash with a sundial.
I am not sure which inductively meters you have tried but my experience with my Extech has been that it is quite accurate if you zero it before you take a reading. I have also used Tektronix inductive probes in defense electronics engineering work. The Hall effect probes do become erratic if dropped or subjected to excessive overload.
Dick
