Spent $120 on a Fluke multimeter clamp attachment, thought it was overkill until I needed to measure in-flight current draw

I used to just use my regular meter with alligator clips for troubleshooting. Then last month I had a weird intermittent on a King radio in a 172. Wiggling wires while trying to hold probes was a nightmare. Broke down and got the Fluke i410 AC/DC clamp. Took maybe 10 minutes to find a failing power wire that was drawing 3 amps more than spec. Would have taken forever without it. Anyone else find a tool they thought was pricey but ended up being worth every penny?

2 comments

2 Comments

chen.casey4d ago

Oh MAN, I feel this so hard. I had the exact same thing with a Garmin GPS that kept resetting in turbulence, trying to backprobe pins while hanging upside down in a Cessna wasn't gonna work. Bought a Fluke DMM with the low impedance mode and it paid for itself in one afternoon tracking down a bad ground that read 12 volts but couldn't carry any current.

sage_ramirez424d ago

Oh man, I get that completely. Having the right tool turns a frustrating afternoon of guesswork into a solid hour of actual diagnosis. It's those intermittent gremlins that really make you appreciate spending the cash on gear that just works.