Real96SS

The whole clamping is bad only pertains to when you use more than one meter like you do when 'clamping' an amp. You have your clamp jaw for the power wire on the amp, DMM for the voltage on the speaker outputs, DMM for the voltage of your amps power and maybe a clamp for your speaker wires. With all those different meters there will be variations in the results they achieve. Think of it like turn signals on a car. If you and your friend turn them both on at the same time, for awhile t...

So going off what you said whatever I get with my Extech meter should be accurate? It does all the math for the above and gives you your power output right on the screen.

Alternator output is DC and therefore OK to clamp.

Amplifier output is AC and speakers are reactive (inductive) so the voltage and current from the amp are out of phase by some amount.

Therefore you can't use two separate meters and multiply the peak readings.

Power is an instantaneous measurement, so the voltage and current must be multiplied at the exact same time...or you need to know the phase angle and do the math.

The AD-1 is nice in that it stops measuring at 1%...