Re: Battery dies in car
- From: kludge@xxxxxxxxx (Scott Dorsey)
- Date: 30 Jan 2006 20:48:31 -0500
<HLS@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>Clamp on DC ammeters are normally used at high loads. They are not
>so accurate at low current draws.
>
>AC current is much easier to measure with a clamp on meter.
>
>It isn't impossible to measure DC this way, but the equipment tends
>to be inaccurate, or very expensive.
It's getting better. You can get a meter in the $250 range which are
accurate down to 1/10 amp or so. That's not anywhere good enough to
find trickle leaks, but it's good enough to find something that discharges
the battery in a day.
The things are a lot better than they were five years ago. They are
still no replacement for a real shunt ammeter, though.
The neat thing about the new meters is the auto-nulling. You hold the
thing in position, press the zero button, then put the wire in and
read the display. If you're careful about keeping it in the same position,
you're compensating for any magnetic leakage into the thing.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."
.
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