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 
), and I guess I will follow it anyway. But I just wanted to make this situation clear!
Thanks in advance 
Oh, thanks for clarifying mod
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 
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!
I feel the same way, anything over about 4 amps needs to measured with a clamp meter.
I wouldn’t have believed this unless I hadn’t seen it for my own eyes. I measured the input current from a 30Q battery running into a Loneoceans GXB172 boost driver at 19 amps using the 87V in series that’s only rated for 10 amps with homemade short heavy guage wire. I had a short in the driver, fixed that and then measured 16 amps with 87V. Purchased a UT210E and checked it again with the clamp meter and got 16 amps. I would have thought that fluke would have used a little faster blowing fuse.
I did only use it for a few seconds at those high currents but the fuse didn’t blow and the meter is still working fine.
The fuses for DMM current measurements blow slower than one might think, as they’re to prevent catastrophic shorts like probing mains in current measurement mode.
For example, here’s a 11A fast-blow fuse for DMMs:
http://www.cooperindustries.com/content/dam/public/bussmann/Electrical/Resources/product-datasheets-a/Bus_Ele_DS_1047_DMM-B.pdf
Notice how it takes 10 seconds to blow at 45A.
The EEVblog Brymen BM235 is pretty good and feature packed for the price, but its ergonomics and usability fall slightly behind Fluke models. One gripe is that the resistance measurement and the continuity tester modes share a dial position, and have to be additionally selected with a button press.
I think I’m going to get UNI-T ut195e DMM and the UNI-T ut216e clamp meter.
Still need suggestions for the lux meter though.
Thanks for all the help fellas!
Keep an eye on Fin17s specials, I see the 210E on ther occasionally. (The UT210E has a low range of 0-2A and a max of 100A, vs the UT216C that has a low range of 0-60A, and a max of 600A.
Which meter are you refering too? That’s how my 87V works. It is a little annoying but gets easier as it becomes routine.
You said it – not a great idea to go cheap with electronics, especially test equipment. The Fluke 87V is a true-RMS DMM but you can measure only up to 10A AC/DC (20A for 30 seconds max). For higher readings, I suggest that you use a clamp meter – there are some good suggestions in this thread already, but there’s the Fluke i30 AC/DC current clamp that can be used with multimeters and other devices.
DIY lux meter with a VEML7700 lux sensor, a Raspberry Pi and get some calibration flashlights?
What do folks use for reviewing? 
Most people use a Uni-t 210E. It’s a good basic meter does up to 100A DC current and is pretty compact. You can get similar ones from Chinese companies that work fine for around $30 or $40. You can always go name brand and spend $90-$300 on one too, but for basic measuring not needed.
For example:
Sorry for bringing a two year old thread back to life to add this, but I found this thread searching the forum and someone else might also look for the same information and I can help. If you want to measure high current, just use a DVM in voltage measurement mode across a shunt resistor such as this:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/310620057407
The higher the current through the shunt element, the higher the millivolt reading you will get placing the volt meter probes across it, for this shunt, 50 mv is 50 amps. Although a clamp-on meter is hugely easier to use and the price is great for the UNI-T Digital UT210E: https://www.ebay.com/itm/224364763990
A home made shunt can be made with copper wire, but you need an accurate ohm meter to know the resistance so the current can be calculated from the amount of voltage dropped through a coil of it.
And that is the beauty of the UT210E, the 0-2A mode allows for a more accurate reading in that range. I do have a good Fluke DMM and an older Fluke benchtop DMM, but I prefer to use a clamp meter most of the time. You can also set up a shunt resistor with a 10A multimeter such that your current reading is /10 to increase the capacity you want to read.
I have used the 210E since the early days of the group buy, I have found it to be more than accurate enough for daily use and combined with a decent AC outlet current tap it is a really good tool.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08R3ZQ5DC/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Sounds like the beginnings of a joke. “A multimeter, a clamp meter, and a lux meter walk into a bar….” 