This is a nice addition to your tool set, it allows you to measure current draw from an individual item or from an entire circuit.

Bellow is a couple of videos explaining how to use a clamp on meter….

To read the current draw on an entire circuit, you will have to take off the cover over the breakers / fuses at the main service electrical panel, and place the clamp on meter over the ungrounded conductor (hot) attached to the breaker to the circuit you wish to read. Current reading must be done with the circuit live (otherwise there is no current to read). As with any work inside the electrical panel the appropriate cautions should be adhered to, be sure to read the articles on…

Use an AC Line Separator as illustrated in one of the above videos, for measuring the current draw on a particular item plugged into an outlet. Now of course anything you wish to get the current draw reading from must be on at the time of the reading.

WHILE EXTREME CARE HAS BEEN IMPLEMENTED IN THE PREPARATION OF THIS SELF-HELP DOCUMENT, THE AUTHOR AND/OR PROVIDERS OF THIS DOCUMENT ASSUMES NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR ERRORS OR OMISSIONS, NOR IS ANY LIABILITY ASSUMED FROM THE USE OF THE INFORMATION, CONTAINED IN THIS DOCUMENT, BY THE AUTHOR and / OR PROVIDER.

By: Donald Kerr