Is my RMS AC Clamp Meter faulty?
I have a RMS AC Clamp Meter and have set it to AC mode and Current mode as shown at http://www.altronics.com.au/index.asp?area=item&id=Q0966
When I open the clamp and place it around an AC (240 volt) power cable attached to a working 1000 watt heater, I get a reading of around 0.5A. Indeed when it's not clamped to anything I get a reading of around 0.5A. I was expecting a reading of around 4 amps. Apparently the unit has an accurate of +-(3.0% + 0.6A) at a range of 0 to 70A. The unit itself is rated to 600A and has a display that can show 0.000-400.0 A when in the 400A position.
Given the above detail, is my RMS AC clamp meter faulty?
I clamped the whole bundle rather than an individual wire... It looks as if I need to isolate the hot wire rather than around the whole 3 wire bundle.
Did you clamp all the wires or only the Hot (live) wire?
You cannot get a proper reading if you clamp the entire Live-Neutral-Ground bundle...
The reading is based on flux. The reading if flux of the live wire will be canceled out by the flux reading in the neutral wire as the current is flowing in a different direction.
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