D/C Amp Meter
GreenPowerManiac
Solar Expert Posts: 453 ✭✭✭
Could anyone recommend a decent DC amp meter 0-100a for less than $50.00 ?
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Comments
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Re: D/C Amp Meter
Clamp or shunt?
You can get a shunt and wire it into the circuit pretty cheaply.
A decent DC Clamp meter is probably on the order of $100 starting price (and UP)...
-BillNear San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset -
Re: D/C Amp Meter
Point us the way to the good one.....
Please describe either DC meter option:Nature's Design & Green Energy on FaceBook : Stop by and "Like" us anytime.. Many up-to-date articles about Renewables every day.
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Re: D/C Amp Meter
Well, in no particular order... (OK, I lied, starting from cheapest )- Shunts: Basically a calibrated power resistor with a pair of heavy connections for the power, and a pair of small connections to connect a milli-volt meter (I=V/R)
AC or DC - common item for use with many battery monitors and amp meters- Next, I really like meters that can measure Amp*Hours and Watt*Hours... To that end, the Watt's UP and Doc Wattson seem to be a good deal. Read the support manuals--they have suggestions on how you can measure current in excess of 60 amps.
Then there are Battery Monitors (external shunts and multi-function meter heads). The higher end units can have Peukert Factor correction in them too (the higher the current, the lower the apparent battery capacity):
NAWS
Victron
Above that, I have used current probes from Techtronics (decades ago)--great for connection to a oscilloscope to measure exact current wave forms. I have also used a Fluke Meter Current Clamp...
All have their limitations--And I have found (at least for me), the less expensive current probes I have used tend to wonder around zero current pretty significantly.
If I needed to measure accurate/low amp currents (less than a few amps on either side of zero) and log those over time--I would tend towards using a current shunt for its long term accuracy. Also, with a shunt, you can connect various multi-function meters (amp*hour, watt*hour, battery monitors) and get more information about my battery bank's condition over time.
If I needed to just check the current flow through various DC circuits for diagnosis and the occasional checkup--I would go with the DC current clamp (zero, then clamp, zero then clamp, etc.).
-BillNear San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset -
Re: D/C Amp Meter
I chose the MA220 Extech Clamp type. Actually found one on the Bay for $40.00.
I'm a "Tools" collector anyhow and I don't have one of those...yet. Thanks for the tips.....Nature's Design & Green Energy on FaceBook : Stop by and "Like" us anytime.. Many up-to-date articles about Renewables every day.
WWW.GreenAnything.Net Ad free website.
Lots of DIY Renewable Energy Projects on ETSY : Solar Panel builds, Wind Turbine builds, Rain Barrel build,etc. -
Re: D/C Amp Meter
GPM,
Lets us know how it works for you--I have been wanting a DC clamp meter for personal use for years... Just too cheap to buy one. :roll:
-BillNear San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset -
Re: D/C Amp Meter
Bill,
I also have the model that GPM has. It works very well. I have found a few bad stranded wire connections that needed torqueing on array strings. My old Fluke got run over by my brother-in-law...Give it a 9 on a one to ten. As you suspect, it is not perfect!"we go where power lines don't" Sierra Nevada mountain area
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E-mail offgridsolar@sti.net
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