Categories: all aviation Building a Biplane bicycle gadgets misc motorcycle theater
I just ordered an Extech clamp meter, for the measurement of currents. DC current, to be exact. I've actually wanted one of these things for a long time (not this specific one, just a clamp current meter), since they allow you to measure current without opening up the electrical system being measured at all.
This particular one is actually more featureful than I wanted, but it was a great deal. I guess it's an older design, but Extech is still making them due to demand. For $80, there's not a better deal to be found, from my research anyway.
My real goal for it is to figure out the "running" current required by a motorcycle, and then to compare that with the claimed output of the same motorcycle to figure out how much power is left over for running things like lights and heated clothing and GPSes. It should be excellent for that.
I had originally hoped you could just clamp any old AC power cord and see how much current was being used, but of course it's not that simple. Apparently, with the electricity running in both directions (into the device, and back out), the fields sensed by the meter are cancelled out. So, I could cut into the insulation, and separate out just one wire.... No. Anyway, it does mean I'd have to rig up a "separated" length of cable so I could measure just one wire, which really defeats the purpose of walking up to a random cable (like a computer's power cord) and checking to see how much current it was using.
Ah well. Still interesting, and I'm sure I'll have fun playing with it. By which I mean, of course, that it'll be a very useful tool to have at my disposal. Yes.
Posted at 14:42 permanent link category: /gadgets
Categories: all aviation Building a Biplane bicycle gadgets misc motorcycle theater