Question Digital Clamp Meter

[Chuggs]

They do flake out. I haven’t pursued it…but one of my meters won’t let me hard set resolution..keeps auto-ranging and displaying errant numbers. But seems to work when testing something.

I just paired it again with my phone..and it displayed the values there perfectly.

 

[Richpatty]

They do flake out. I haven’t pursued it…but one of my meters won’t let me hard set resolution..keeps auto-ranging and displaying errant numbers. But seems to work when testing something.

I just paired it again with my phone..and it displayed the values there perfectly.

Yea…I guess for $50 or less, what do you want?

So to make sure I am doing this correct, if I want to measure the DC amps via the clamp, what setting should it be set to?

 

[Chuggs]

HP-570C-APP CLAMP MULTIMETER User Manual 570C-APP.DOC ZhuHai JiDa HuaPu Instrument

CLAMP MULTIMETER User Manual details for FCC ID 2A7T4-HP-570C-APP made by ZhuHai JiDa HuaPu Instrument Co.,Ltd. Document Includes User Manual 570C-APP.DOC

fccid.io

 

[Richpatty]

LOL. Thanks Charlie, but in this case you are giving me more credit than I deserve.
I have the instructions, but it still does not work so I wanted to validate the setting.

Thanks again
Rich

 

[Chuggs]

Some meters need to be oriented the right way for DC amp, try flipping it around.

 

[Neal]

Which wire are you reading? Picture? Can any victron goodness meter this? BMV 712? Battery Sense, etc.?

 

[Chuggs]

The thing I was reading was the alternator. No shunt there. The reason?

When driving...and our little A/C...reassignment switch set for Inverter... I wanted to see how much the alternator was being taxed/helping out while driving with the Air Conditioner ON. It was enlightening.

I would like to swap in a larger alternator someday : ) Like the one they use on Air Conditioned School buses.

Your new Victron arrangement...is it measuring Alternator?

I could guess perhaps... but it wouldn't include chassis drains...since I haven't really studied those at all.

Rich, Since I don't use it all the time...When it starts looking unreasonable...I refer to the steps. That said...I don't see anything but - on both sides of the clamp... I'm pretty sure my old FLUKE (that died) had +'s on one side of the clamp... I"ll have to play. Might be a good day to see what the JeeP's alternator is doing. : )

 

[Richpatty]

I was measuring the amps coming into the battery compartment via the wire from the alternator/LiBIM. I figured that would give me an idea of the power the lithiums were pulling and it was easy to get at.

Since I could not get the clamp meter to see anything (i think it is shot), I figured the Victron smartshunt might be able to give me an idea…as long as the solar is removed from the calculation…and any major draws. When I started it up while in its RV cover (solar not receiving sun), it appeared that the shunt was showing about 60 amps incoming. And of course, that was less any chassis drains, but that really wasn’t my goal anyway.

Thanks
Rich

 

[Richpatty]

And if the clamp meter is backwards, shouldn’t it just show negative numbers vs positive?

 

[Chuggs]

If you were measuring on the house side of your Li-BIM...you might not get anything. It has to meet it's program parameters to close the connection.