Multimeter, Clamp Meter, and Lux Meter.

I hope this is the right spot for this question, so here we go. I’m looking for recommendations on a multimeter, clamp meter, and a lux meter. I know there was a group by here a long time ago where everybody bought multimeters and clamp meters so everyone could be on the same page. I’d like to know what those were and I also want to make sure the multimeter can handle the amperage that I need to measure. Up to 30+ amps! I am a fan of the Fluke brand but I will listen to all recommendations.

Thank you in advance!!

Clamp meter —> UNI-T UT210E if you have that, you don’t need an additional multimeter since it can measure almost everything a DMM does. (it only does 20A though, but it’s cheap and offers value for money)
Luxmeter depends on your wishes, do you just want a cheap one to have an indication? or do you want to go professional, and spend big $$ ?

EDIT, typo, i mentioned 310 but it is a 210E

Quite a lot of people got this last time. Mine is still working.

I picked up a nice greenlee dmm recently, very nice and compares well to fluke. Looking at clamp meters now myself. Will come in hand on the house I just bought.

For DMM I use a Fluke 15B+, which is a Fluke product designed at lower price point for the developing world. Build quality, accuracy and importantly safety are not compromised. It is however not true-rms….so accurate for DC and sinusoidal AC but not for non-sinusoidal AC. Current is up to 10A which might be an issue for you.
I picked mine up on a business trip to China, but they seem to come back into Europe as grey imports and the price is attractive, at least for a Fluke.

I don’t buy cheap when it comes to electronics. Depending on features, I’d say 1 to 200 for a multimeter and the same for the clamp. My multimeter is crap so I need a new one anyways. For the light meter I just want it to be accurate. It doesn’t have to be .01 accurate though.

Thanks for the suggestions,

For a clamp meter I use the UNI-T UT210E that was recommended to me here on BLF.
I have a Fluke 87V for a multimeter.
And for a light meter I have the Extech LT45.
It took me a few years to get all three and upgraded older meters a few times until I felt like I had good stuff.
I’d recommend any of the three and if possible buy good stuff the first time saving money in the long run.
But that does depend on just how accurate or features you need.

I’m looking at the fluke 117 and 323 combo kit for $285.

I use a UT210E clamp meter and UT61E multimeter.
For luxmeters I have like 4 different ones, but djozz has a bunch of tests comparing some so you can pick based on your budget.

If I buy an UNI-T clamp meter, I’d get the UT216C 600A True RMS digital Clamp Meter.

For the Lux meter, I really don’t want to spend $200 bucks. I just needed to give me a very close estimate on what my flashlights are putting out. Something around the $50 to $100 range would be best.

Anyone know of a DMM that can do more than 10amps? What about purchasing thicker leads?

I use an old Fluke 11 (still very good), a Uni-T UT210E, and a Uni-T UT191T.

What about heavy guage test leads?

That definitely helps, but a clampmeter is always better for higher currents

Sorry folks, but when you mention the UNI-T UT310E , do you mean UT210E?

Today I had my hands in a UT210E box, then the 301 reference made me confuse, so…it was not this time I bought one :zipper_mouth_face:

moderator007 gave me UT210E suggestion a while back (which I thank again :wink: ), and I guess I will follow it anyway. But I just wanted to make this situation clear!

Thanks in advance :+1:

That is the one. Thanks for catching that.
This is the meter we are all talking about UNI-T UT210E.

Oh, thanks for clarifying mod :wink:
I searched a bit for the 301 and couldn’t find, so it was the 201E afterall.

Well, in the store I went, it was 45€, online it is more than 10€ cheaper, so…I guess I will get it online instead :stuck_out_tongue:

Almost every good dmm has a 10 amp fuse so a clamp meter needs to be used for amperages over that. So heavier test leads will do you no good.
My UEI DL250 is 400 amp and 600 volt. 20+ years and still working!

Well, the thing is, i have a professional DMM, but it will not read accurately single cell lights which run over 3-4 A due to the involved resistance.
For higher currents a clamp meter is a must.

But it’s difficult to advise here, since the topic starter mentioned

So in this case i would say: get a fluke or something

For high-end meters ($150, $200 and up) Brymen makes great meters for a good price. Greenlee professional meters are rebranded Brymen meters for even cheaper. The BM869S is basically the Greenlee DM820 I think. Flukes are nice, but high end ones are pretty expensive for what you get. Amprobes meters are very good as well, and you can’t go wrong with Agilent or Keysight, but those are $300+. For $50 to $100 or less, you compromise massively at times in safety (exceptions are Fluke and Amprobes budget meters) but in a $40 meter still get decent featutes and good enough accuracy up to 6000 counts. For current measuring over 3-4 amps, a clamp meter is mandatory for accurate measurements. My decent Radio Shack multimeter measures 3.7 amps on a draw I know is well over 8 amps!