In this episode, Bryan welcomes back Louise Kellar of UEi Test Instruments for a deep dive into getting more out of a digital clamp meter than the basic volts, amps, and ohms most techs rely on every day. The tool in the spotlight is UEi’s High Accuracy Clamp Meter (HAC), which is accurate when dealing with the low current draws common on modern condenser fan and blower motors and is critical for reliable wattage and capacitor-under-load testing.

The podcast also walks through a series of lesser-used but valuable meter functions, including microamp measurement for flame rectification testing, diode testing for diagnosing boards on mini-splits, the Low Z setting for eliminating ghost voltage readings and safely bleeding capacitors, and the safety-locking temperature toggle that prevents technicians from accidentally crossing voltage and thermocouple leads.

Bryan and Louise also cover common mistakes, such as not knowing when to use continuity or resistance and auto-ranging mistakes, as well as some crucial takeaways about true RMS measurements, temperature settings, and CAT safety ratings.

This episode contains embedded sponsor messages from Refrigeration Technologies, Carrier, NAVAC, and Filtrete.

Resources

• UEi products, manuals, and resources
• HVAC Multimeter Skills: Continuity vs. Resistance & Diode Testing (video)
• CAT Ratings on Electrical Multimeters (tech tip)
• HVAC School calculators
• Submit a podcast question
• Learn about the GRIT Foundation

Purchase your tickets or learn more about the 8th Annual HVACR Training Symposium at https://hvacrschool.com/symposium.