PICS OF YOUR LATEST PURCHASE

anr102990 · March 1, 2018

audiofanaticz · March 1, 2018

On 2/26/2018 at 1:45 AM, moh.vze.com said:

I bought this one back in 2012 for $99 but haven't used it much. The ratings says it's not too accurate.

http://www.sears.com/craftsman-professional-true-rms-ac-dc-clamp-ammeter/p-03473756000P

I mean, I even said its not to accurate, mostly at lower dc amperage.
Its a Crapsman meter, the word professional means nothing more than a higher tier brand of tools, over their normal crap. By no means does professional mean its something a season electrician will buy and use.

So the real question is what do you need to do with it that it has to be so accurate, because its accurate enough for anything a hobbyist car audio person would need.
If accuracy is a must, than IMO fluke is a must, and to get a comparable Fluke with similar options your looking at $520 for a current generation clamp.

To be blunt, a clamp meter that can only measure AC/DC voltage, and only AC amperage is pointless for car audio and a traditional style multimeter will serve you just fine.

The only good thing you can do with an ac amperage meter is clamp and amp, which is proven time and time again to not provide real output "wattage" from an amp, and those "wattage" numbers can be easily inflated by clipping the amp and if thats your goal then just buy an AMM-1.

audiofanaticz · March 1, 2018

So since said Klien mentioned before cant do DC current and that is the only thing that the Craftsman Professional clamp is inaccurate at with low amperage loads so where else is this meter inaccurate?

Here is a pic of mine that I just took side by side with 2 Flukes reading voltages, and the AMM-1 reading voltages.

Seems accurate enough to me for anything car audio related...

But yea lets buy a cheaper meter that will do less and cost less because it must be more accurate.....

WalledSonic · March 1, 2018

Klein CL800 on amazon for $120ish. Just saying... better than a +$500 Fluke (for car audio) and reads DC current. Best bang for the buck clamp meter out there IMO.

audiofanaticz · March 1, 2018

Better than fluke maybe pushing it, thats like comparing the audio control mic to a termlab sensor, but it is a great meter if you can get buy with only needing 600 amps or less (which will be fine for most people).

My whole point is buying something that will do less than you already have is kind of pointless.