UNI-T UT203 clamp multimeter

[luggsy]

after purchasing the above item can some one tell me how to use it ? As the instructions are in Chinese not a major problem as I have found English instructions on the Internet , what and how do I use it on/ for thanks in advance

[matty40s]

electrical stuff

[capri sun]

thats helpfull Matty

[matty40s]

thats helpfull Matty

ah, but the chinese might use it for completely different purposes.

go on then.

luckily you have one which can read DC current along with everything else.

This will let you see where your battery juice is going, what is using the most, and if you think you have a problem, can show you what particular device is nicking your juice. It can also show you how much fresh juice is coming in from Solar/alternators etc.

 

Don't forget, if testing juice, don't clamp the jaws ON the cable, run the cable through middle and close the clamp on the other side.

Edited February 4, 2015 by matty40s

[mad dog n' Englishman]

Good evening, if no other help comes forward, you can find many tutorials on "youtube"

They will be of more benefit than I could be.

Garry.

[bottle]

To measure amps DC select either 40A or 400A

 

Select 400A first if you do not have any idea as to what quantity of amps may be flowing

 

Open clamps and place round one cable and read the gauge it will tell you how many amps are flowing in the cable.

 

Ideally cable should be in the middle of the now closed clamp.

 

It will also tell you in which direction the amps are going. (+ going 'down' the cable , when looking at the readout or - going 'up' the cable when looking at the readout)

 

This will for example tell you if your batteries are charging or discharging and by how much.

 

To measure voltage DC select V after connecting probes. (Black in the com(mon) socket, Red in the other one.

 

For example to read the voltage of you batteries place the red probe on the positive terminal and the black on the negative.

 

Take the reading.

 

It is the same for AC (mains) but the blue select button needs to be pressed to select AC and pressed again to return to DC.

 

This must be done before any reading is taken.

 

Again only one cable must be in the clamp.

 

Pressing the yellow button will freeze the display, so that if taking a reading but you cannot see the screen, it may be read when the meter is removed.

 

Press yellow button to 'release' the held reading to enable the taking of another reading.

 

Edit: to add 'ing' to make more sense

Edited February 4, 2015 by bottle

[Nickhlx]

Mine is like a multimeter, with the additional facility of being able to measure a current within the "clamp" part, without direct electrical connection to the circuit, either because you don't want to or can't for whatever reason. It does this by sensing the magnetic field around the cable carrying the current. You need to measure the current / field around ONE (only) of the conductors, because if you put the clamp around e.g. the cable e.g. going to a table light, which has both positive and negative cores within, the two fields will cancel and it should read zero..

 

So, armed with this new knowledge, you can e.g. check the currents flowing in circuits. For example, around the e.g. positive cable coming from the battery bank, you can see what current is flowing into or out of the battery (bank). If you look at the fuseboard, each fuse / breaker will have one or more wires at each end of it - clamping around all that go through one breaker will tell you what current is flowing in that circuit.

 

A good confidence boosting check is to "switch everything off" and see what currents are flowing everywhere, in particular what is flowing out of the battery bank, either to the fuseboard and if batteries are in parallel, whether any current is flowing between the batteries within the bank ( should be zero if all are good ). Another useful check is to see what the alternators are producing ( around the thick wire on the back of the alternator ( some have both positive and negative wired from the alternator ) - beware of moving parts !

 

Hope that helps

 

Nick

[nicknorman]

Well after pausing to make dinner, it seems the questions have mostly been answered. If you remember when I originally said "get a clamp meter" it was because your batteries seemed to be plummeting over night with just a fridge and freezer on. The clamp meter allows the instantaneous current drain to be measured, so you can see whether the problem is in fact excessive current drain, or knackered batteries with low capacity.

 

It's been explained how to do that - put the appropriate wire, either positive or negative, enclosed by the jaws (but not gripped by the jaws) with the jaws closed, rotary knob on 40A or, if more than 40A, on 400A setting, and read off the current. Remember that x current sustained for an hour is of course an amp hour of charge.

 

Another use is to measure charging current when charging the batteries from the engine or a generator. As the batteries approach fully charged the current gradually tails off and when it perhaps less than 1% of the amp-hour capacity of the batteries, they can be considered properly fully charged.

 

Measuring current by this means (by measuring the magnetic field) is not super-accurate so not much use for currents under a couple of amps, and there can be some zero error on the meter in current mode. You can use the Rel button just before inserting the wire to be tested, which will zero the reading, then insert the wire into the jaws.

 

It can also be used as a voltmeter to check battery voltages as has been explained - plug the leads in, select V and put the probes on what you want to measure. The blue button toggles between DC and AC voltage. Be very very careful if you intend to use it to measure mains voltage, I recommend you don't, unless you have rubber fingers like me!

 

It has a continuity setting to check connections. Move the rotary knob to the diode symbol, then press the blue button. Now when you connect the leads together, or to each end of a circuit that should be a circuit, the meter beeps. Note that the circuit should be de-powered before doing this sort of check.

 

Using the ohms setting you can check the resistance of something, but I doubt that will be of much use to you, ditto the frequency/duty cycle setting.

[smileypete]

UT203 PDF:

 

http://www.ageta.hu/pdf/UT203204.pdf

 

Found via duckduckgo:

 

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=ut203.pdf

 

I often look for PDF instructions for new kit, more handy than a paper copy sometimes.

 

cheers, Pete.

~smpt~

[bargemast]

Thanks a lot for the links Pete, very useful to be able to read and try everything step by step.

 

Peter.

[Chewbacka]

A word of caution - I have one and it is not very accurate at low currents, so if your meter shows a low discharge current when you are expecting none, check before you start opening up circuits trying to find a 'leak' that is not there = been there.

[Alan Saunders]

A word of caution - I have one and it is not very accurate at low currents, so if your meter shows a low discharge current when you are expecting none, check before you start opening up circuits trying to find a 'leak' that is not there = been there.

I think nicknorman's post #8 covered this "You can use the Rel button just before inserting the wire to be tested, which will zero the reading, then insert the wire into the jaws".

 

I had no idea of this application of the 'Rel' button.

 

Alan

[Chewbacka]

I do use it and it still drifts a bit at currents close to zero. Maybe mine is a bit duff? Anyhow thanks for the idea.

 

In case I'm giving a bad impression of the meter, I would buy another if / when mine breaks or I drop it in the cut :-))

Great for checking inverter and starter currents. For small currents I have one of those meters that plug into the fuse block.

 

I would recommend having both meters.

Edited February 7, 2015 by Chewbacka