clamp meter?

[Staffie]

Need a new clamp meter, got about £180 max to spend. Been looking at the fluke 335, but I gather some were recalled? Also di log and a well featured unit by a company called Extech?

Cheers girls...

 

[telectrix]

if you are going to buy a clamp meter make sure you get one that will measure earth leakage current. i.e. reads down to milliamps. di-log do one about £70. forum sponsor, test meter do them and you get a discount. see their link on the right of the page.

 

[High Tower]

I like the Fluke with the seperate flexi loop!!

 

[telectrix]

there's a metrel on ebay £60 with just over 1 hour to go.

 

[Staffie]

So, can anyone recommend a meter that is made in Europe or the U.S? Fluke are now made in China, and have had a few recalls lately?

 

[T&Earth]

if you are going to buy a clamp meter make sure you get one that will measure earth leakage current. i.e. reads down to milliamps. di-log do one about £70. forum sponsor, test meter do them and you get a discount. see their link on the right of the page.

Hi Telectrix
I know this sound a daft question, but could you please explain how you use earth leak clamp meters and under what circumstancies you use them. I understand that earth leakage can cause RCD's to trip and you can do an IR test to find leaks. I would welcome your advice on this
Many Thanks
Steve

 

[telectrix]

because leakage current flows through the cpc, as you know, 30mA will trip the RCD. one way to find out where leakage occurs is by IR testing, but a quicker method is to actually clamp meter the cpc. most clamp meters will not read such a small current, but earth leakage clamp meters read down to 1mA, so you can clamp each cpc to see if there is leakage on that particular circuit. very useful if you have small leakage on 2 or more circuits, each below the threshold of the RCD, but added up, can exceed that threshold and cause tripping.

 

[T&Earth]

Hi telectrix
Thanks for taking the time to answer my question

Many Thanks
Steve