Talk:Clamp meter

Basically it is a current transformer device to measure the high values of currents without disturbing (interrupting)the circuit. It is portable and used in HV or LV line current measurement. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ppuri506 (talk • contribs) 05:53, 3 September 2019 (UTC)

Minimum current
Is it true that clamp meters are limited to a minimum of about an amp? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Mickpc (talk • contribs).


 * No. The current probes (a form of clamp meter) supplied by Tektronix are rated down to 1 milliamp.


 * It is true, however, that conventional clamp meters aren't very sensitive. One way around that is to wrap multiple turns of wire through the clamp, increasing the sensitivity n times (where n is the number of turns). Adapter gadgets using this principle are available that provide a 10x multiplication. With my particular clamp meter (which has a most-sensitive range of 6A), this provides a full-scale sensitivity of 600mA.


 * Atlant 01:01, 27 September 2006 (UTC)


 * Most clamp meters these days claim 0.1 amp minimum range and about 0.2 amp accuracy. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Dacium (talk • contribs).


 * Please signe your talk-page posts. Just add four tildes ( ~ ) after your post and when you press (Save page), they will be replaced byyour username in a handy Wikilinked format. A timestamp will also be appended to your posting.


 * Atlant 12:31, 1 May 2007 (UTC)

Bare wires
Does the clamp have to clamp to bare wires or is insulated OK? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Cjm@drmconsulting.com (talk • contribs).


 * Clamp meters are designed for use with insulated wires. They respond to the magnetic field around the wire. They may not be sufficiently insulated for use with bare wires and may be dangerous to use with bare wires or too near bare terminals where insulated wires are connected. --C J Cowie 13:34, 26 September 2006 (UTC)


 * Most clamp meters have some insulation over the jaws, but you should check the documentation for your particular meter to see if it's rated to thereby allow use on bare conductors. And when the jaws are open, bare iron laminations are usually exposed.
 * Atlant 01:01, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

Grammar & sentence structure
A comma is not for separating two individual sentences. "Only one conductor is normally passed through the probe, if more than one conductor were..." is incorrect. "Only one conductor is normally passed through the probe." is a complete statement and should be ended with a period. "If more than one conductor were..." begins a completely new, separate statement and should begin a new sentence, complete with capital letter.

"...the meter brought out to a more-convenient place for reading." - No hyphen. "Convenient" is an adjective modifying "place", but "more" is not; also there is no potential for ambiguity in its omission. Compare to "Less-expensive clamp meters use an average-detecting rectifier circuit..." in which both hyphens are correct.


 * Above added by User:99.231.124.188 on 7 June 2008. -- Cheers, Steelpillow (Talk) 09:25, 13 September 2008 (UTC)

regarding amps
for example i use three phase motor. R phase-10A ,Y phase10A, B phase 10A.together(RYB)= ? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 117.20.175.152 (talk) 16:37, 25 August 2008 (UTC)


 * See the three-phase article. Together = zero. -- Cheers, Steelpillow (Talk) 08:18, 4 September 2008 (UTC)

Clamps and probes
I may be out of date, but this article does not agree with the terminology, familiar to me from 20 years ago, for the simple sensor devices which one would connect to additional equipment.


 * Current clamp. An electrical transformer in the form of a split ring, which may be opened and clamped around an electrical conductor. The clamp contains one winding of the transformer, and the conductor provides the other. Small clamps are used for measurements, while large clamps are used for signal injection, e.g. for EMC susceptibility testing.


 * Current probe. A small sensor which, like the current clamp, may be opened and clipped around a thin wire. It may simply be a small current clamp, or instead of a wound coil it may use a Hall effect device to provide an output more suited to the typical oscilloscope.

Since the basic current clamp is also common to both the current probe and clamp meter, my instinct is to rename/repurpose this article as Current clamp (electrical) and make the others redirects. Any opinions? For example, am I still living in the dark ages? -- Cheers, Steelpillow (Talk) 08:14, 4 September 2008 (UTC)


 * On reflection, I think it better that the current clamp article be re-purposed to describe electrical current clamps. Should the clamp meter content here be included in the move, or does it truly deserve an article of its own? -- Cheers, Steelpillow (Talk) 18:21, 7 September 2008 (UTC)


 * I may be wrong about the relationship to current probes: I can find no evidence of a "probe" being constructed using wound coils. -- Cheers, Steelpillow (Talk) 09:21, 13 September 2008 (UTC)


 * Ah, lots of examples on t'interweb thingy, just no books to hand. -- Cheers, Steelpillow (Talk) 20:49, 13 September 2008 (UTC)

Scientific Basis of Clamp-on Ammeter
The current text is wrong. A clamp meter is not a Rogowski coil. The latter is air-cored, while a current clamp (with or without integral meter) typically has a (split) toroidal ferrite core with the secondary (sensor) winding wound around it.

User:MancFrank1 ::There are AC clamp meters that use Rowgowski coils inside the conventional looking jaw. These are safer that iron cored jaws as they don't saturate if the current is too high which can damage iron cored devices. — Preceding undated comment added 11:15, 15 August 2023 (UTC)

Proposed merge with Current clamp
There are other structural and factual problems with this article, besides those discussed above. I propose merging it into a revitalised Current clamp article. Any opinions for or against? -- Cheers, Steelpillow (Talk) 09:34, 13 September 2008 (UTC)