ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area Fluke 322 Clamp on vs. T 5-600 Pros/cons

Gentlemen,

For a basic troubleshooting meter in our buildings and greenhouses, can you elaborate on the differences of these two meters? Why you might choose one over the other. The T 5 is mentioned much more here than the clamp on.

Can the T 5 be used with one of those plug in adapters to measure current on ac cords?

My cheapo meter crashed and I would like something more durable.

Thank you all.

I dont have a 322 but I do have a T5-600 and a 337. The T5 is g very good general meter for troubleshooting and general electrical work.It is an avering meter which unless you have drives or other hitech equipment the T5 will do a good job for you. As far as setvice goes the 2 T5's that I use have never given me a minutes trouble with the exception of the batteries running down at the most inoppertune moment. But that's my falt HYPRESS

I have both.... 322, and a T-5 600. And feel that the 322 has better accuacy at lower amperages, and ohms. I got the 322, in a kit with a 112 meter, and added another clamp meter for freq. measurements.

Anyway, I feel that I use the 322 more often, and like the jaws better on it. The T-5 I sometimes have to find a spot to stick it over wire, and once or twice had wire too big for it, and found myself on the way back to the truck. (Where both are kept, as I have a tendancy to mis-place them, I need "spares". Which is how I ended up getting the 112/322 kit. I lost the T-5 under the seat for a week. And also needed a replacement for an older bench-top fluke that had good freq. on it. I used to do alot of generator, and 400Hz work, and for some reason still like to check, and be able to.)

The T-5 leads are what you get. You can't add larger clamps to it. You could add clips to the leads, but thats about it. The 322 you could add 3000A flex clamps to it if you like or need to. (But measurements like that are not often nessesary. If you have problems with that type of amperage you have REAL problems.)

Either way both are work horse meters, for average short/open/high/low voltage troubleshooting both are fine. For more complex troubleshooting I would go for the 322, or over to a bench style meter.

Yes,
I use a T5-1000 that goes everywhere with me at work.
They are pretty ruggedly built, I've even dropped mine from 5m (15ft) up a power pole and it still works fine to this day.
Not sure if you guys have such a plug over in the US, but I use what is known as an "Interrupted Phase (Hot wire) plug" that has a loop of wire bought out of the plug body from the hot pin and then it forms a loop, that you place through the clamp jaws and then the loop returns back into the plug to feed the connected appliance.
Only the hot wire is needed.
{Sorry about the lame explanation, it's hard to put into words!}
Only aspect of the T5 that I don't like is the 1000 ohm limit on the ohm-meter, 5K would be better.

My T5-1000 gets used all the time I think it is a good meter.

I do not have the 322 so I can not speak about that one.

I do have the 336 and like it but it is to big for carrying in my service bag all the time, I grab it when I I need it.

Trumpy,

I think this is something similar to what you're describing. This is called a 'Line Separator' or 'Line Splitter'. Note that it's got a 1x and 10x Loop. This one also has a handy place to measure Voltage under load.






Bill

Yes,
Spot on Bill!.
Although our ones are a bit more basic than the one pictured above.
BTW, that looks like a cool sort of a thing actually, I like the idea of the x10 loop.