Is this normal?

[tdf]

Hi my name is Thomas and I have built my first unit. I have a stainless coffee mug with 4 wall plates (pos, pos ,plexigass plate,pos,pos) inside the cup. The plexi is oversized to keep the plates from touching the mug. The cup is neg. I have this inside of a clear plastic jar with a flip lid. This thing flat produces!!!! I have a clamp type amp meter and when I clip it around the positive wire while everything is running I only get.1 on the screen. Am I using this meter wrong or could this be correct? The cables( jumper cables) get real hot. The metal ends get too hot to touch.

Any thought? I will try and get a pic soon.

Thanks Guys,TF

Also anyone put one on a 2006 chey express van or the v6 that is in it (I think it is a 4.3)

[mario brito]

Hi my name is Thomas and I have built my first unit. I have a stainless coffee mug with 4 wall plates (pos, pos ,plexigass plate,pos,pos) inside the cup. The plexi is oversized to keep the plates from touching the mug. The cup is neg. I have this inside of a clear plastic jar with a flip lid. This thing flat produces!!!! I have a clamp type amp meter and when I clip it around the positive wire while everything is running I only get.1 on the screen. Am I using this meter wrong or could this be correct? The cables( jumper cables) get real hot. The metal ends get too hot to touch.

Any thought? I will try and get a pic soon.

Thanks Guys,TF

Also anyone put one on a 2006 chey express van or the v6 that is in it (I think it is a 4.3)

are you sure you don't have a short somewhere ?

the picture would help alot to see where de problem could be

[shovel52]

Unless I am mistaken clamp meters only measure ac. current.

[tdf]

Maybe thats it. How do I check the amps with a multi meter?

Thanks, TF

[Q-Hack!]

Unless I am mistaken clamp meters only measure ac. current.

Nope, my clamp meter measures current in DC as well as AC.

[Smith03Jetta]

Try wrapping the pos wire around the clamp to see if it registers. I tried measuring the amps with a clamp multimeter I borrowed but it would not register either. I think it was not designed for 12 volts...

[LinChiek]

Try wrapping the pos wire around the clamp to see if it registers. I tried measuring the amps with a clamp multimeter I borrowed but it would not register either. I think it was not designed for 12 volts...

what the maximum measurement for da multimeter? maybe you can add a resistor to the multimeter...

multimeter - - - resistor (1K) - - - - clamp

then when u got the reading, multiply by 1000...... something like that....

for more info, refer this link.....

http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/

[Smith03Jetta]

Automotive AMMETERS are cheaper than Clamp on Multimeters.