Introduction to Whether a Multimeter with a Clamp or One without a Clamp Is Better?
It depends on the focus of your work. For electrical maintenance of power lines, a dedicated clamp ammeter is more useful, while for electrical appliance maintenance or those engaged in weak current work, a multimeter is more practical.
A dedicated clamp ammeter is used to detect the current in the circuit and has high precision. Although it has a single function, it is sufficient to meet the current detection requirements of the circuit. Simply put, a clamp ammeter is composed of a current transformer and an ammeter. During the measurement process, when you need to switch the range, you must remove the instrument from the wire being measured. This is because when switching the range, the secondary side of the current transformer will be instantaneously open-circuited. If the measured current is large, a momentary high voltage will be generated on the secondary side of the current transformer, and the clamp ammeter is likely to be burned out.
The clamp ammeter was initially designed to detect the alternating current and measure the current magnitude of the running circuit. It can be seen that current detection can be carried out without cutting off the power, and it is specifically designed to detect large alternating currents. Nowadays, the function of the clamp ammeter is no longer single. The clamp ammeter has the same functions as a multimeter.
Therefore, each has its own advantages. If you need to detect the current of a running circuit, the clamp ammeter is definitely more useful as you can directly measure the current without disconnecting the circuit. With a multimeter, you need to disconnect the circuit for measurement. In the continuous production process, the equipment cannot be powered off casually, and at this time, the multimeter is not practical.
Today's clamp meter is far from what it was decades ago. It uses the Hall induction principle and can measure not only the current in alternating current circuits but also direct current. By inserting the test leads, it can be transformed into a digital multimeter, which can also measure parameters such as voltage, resistance, capacitance, and frequency. As for the accuracy, it is the same as that of a digital multimeter, with no significant difference.
Their differences
If we have to say which is better, the clamp meter or the multimeter, there are still some differences in the user experience during their use.
The clamp meter can measure the current without cutting off the power, which the multimeter cannot do. If you need to measure the alternating and direct currents frequently, it is recommended to buy a clamp meter; if you don't need to measure the current frequently, it is better to buy a multimeter.
In order to measure the current without cutting off the power, the clamp meter must have a clamping jaw, so it is relatively slender. Since there is no stand on the back of the clamp meter, personally, I think the clamp meter is more suitable for being held in the hand for measurement; the multimeter has a stand on the back and is more suitable for being placed on the table for measurement. So if you are often engaged in maintenance work sitting next to the table, it is more convenient to buy a multimeter. Otherwise, it will be very uncomfortable to stretch your neck to look at the screen of the clamp meter.
In terms of price, the clamp meter not only has most of the functions of a multimeter but also has an additional current transformer, so it is relatively more expensive.
