What are some good inductive ammeters and where can I buy them?

__________________
1986 300SDL, 211K,Dealership serviced its whole life
1991 190E 2.6(120k)
1983 300D(300k)
1977 300D(211k)

Those only work far AC AFAIK. Is this for a car? There are hall type that work for DC but I don't know if any are any for automotive use and I don't know what they cost. What are you trying to measure?

__________________
1998 C230 330,000 miles (currently dead of second failed EIS, yours will fail too, turning you into the dealer's personal human cash machine)
1988 F150 144,000 miles (leaks all the colors of the rainbow)
Previous stars: 1981 Brava 210,000 miles, 1978 128 150,000 miles, 1977 B200 Van 175,000 miles, 1972 Vega (great, if rusty, car), 1972 Celica, 1986.5 Supra

I am trying to measure amp draw of devices to isolate what is draining the battery down on my 1991 190E 2.6. There are specs for how many miliamps each device should draw. Is there a way to test this with a DVOM or do I need a inductive ammeter?

__________________
1986 300SDL, 211K,Dealership serviced its whole life
1991 190E 2.6(120k)
1983 300D(300k)
1977 300D(211k)

There are numerous threads on this subject. Search on "battery drain". The only problem is there are about 20 different ideas on how to do it. Inductive definitely will not work for DC. The usual approach is to put a 10 ohm resistor in series with the battery during the test and measure the voltage across it. Using Ohm's law, you will get 1 volt for every 100 mA, .1V for every 10 mA etc. You could also use a 1 ohm and then you get 1V per Amp , 1mV per mA etc. Technically you can use a multi-meter to measure current directly, but many people find that hard to set up so the resistor method is more straightforward. If you are looking for really small currents then the 10 ohm will probably work better since it will yield 10x the voltage for a given current.

__________________
1998 C230 330,000 miles (currently dead of second failed EIS, yours will fail too, turning you into the dealer's personal human cash machine)
1988 F150 144,000 miles (leaks all the colors of the rainbow)
Previous stars: 1981 Brava 210,000 miles, 1978 128 150,000 miles, 1977 B200 Van 175,000 miles, 1972 Vega (great, if rusty, car), 1972 Celica, 1986.5 Supra

You can't measure a milliamp draw with an affordable inductive ammeter. A simple DVOM is what you need.

Take each fuse out, one at a time, and measure the current with a meter. Write each value down for each fuse location. Check to see what is on each circuit and isolate the excessive drain from there.

__________________
Regards

Warren

Currently 1965 220Sb, 2002 FORD Crown Vic Police Interceptor

Had 1965 220SEb, 1967 230S, 280SE 4.5, 300SE (W126), 420SEL

ENTER > = (HP RPN)

Not part of the in-crowd since 1952.

Uh, not exactly.

http://us.fluke.com/usen/products/AccessoryDetail.htm?cs_id=2106%28FlukeProducts%29&catalog_name=FlukeUnitedStates&Category=PRCU(FlukeProducts)

__________________
98 Dodge-Cummins pickup (123k)
13 GLK250 (135k)
06 E320CDI (323K)
16 C300 (62K)
82 300GD Gelaendewagen (54K)

That is hall, not inductive. Inductive uses a current transformer. Hall uses a semiconductor (hall type) sensor. Induction by definition involves a change in current and/or magnetic flux. With DC there is no change. That is why inductive sensors will not sense anything when exposed to DC current. Hall type senses absolute magnetic flux so can sense AC or DC.

__________________
1998 C230 330,000 miles (currently dead of second failed EIS, yours will fail too, turning you into the dealer's personal human cash machine)
1988 F150 144,000 miles (leaks all the colors of the rainbow)
Previous stars: 1981 Brava 210,000 miles, 1978 128 150,000 miles, 1977 B200 Van 175,000 miles, 1972 Vega (great, if rusty, car), 1972 Celica, 1986.5 Supra