I’m quite excited as I’ve never had a clamp meter before. The 606B turned up this morning, well packaged.
First, the stock photo…The Victor 606B Clamp Multimeter with overload protection, Digital NCV, Auto off and data hold. I’ve considered buying a battery company given the number of batteries I go through in a typical year… anyway the 606B uses two AAA batteries – not supplied. Fortunately I just happened to have a couple handy. Alkaline, of course.
I was expecting a very basic clamp meter with voltage and current measurement but in fact, this one has AC/DC volts, 4A/40A AC ranges and a 60/600A AC range which seems a high value but what do I know. I don’t have anything using even remotely near 600amps to try out. The instructions of course came entirely in Chinese. The Banggood price is MUCH, MUCH cheaper than RS Components but then isn’t nearly everyone cheaper than RS? See the BG link after the break.
The meter also measures resistance from a 400ohm range up to a 40Mohm range.
Also, frequency measurement up to 10Mhz, capacitance from 4nf to 1000uF ranges and temperature –20c to 400c (or –4F to 752F)
The meter comes with a nice cloth material case, thermocouple and a pair or normal meter leads.
Here’s the link: VICTOR 606B Clamp Multimeter — https://goo.gl/v3okSP
In the Banggood ad, they show the instructions in English, not sure why I got them in Chinese however they’re not really needed.
All in all for a low cost meter, especially if you have a a need for a clamp meter, this looks like a good investment,
There is more info on the Banggood site.
The boxed ESP with power that Aidan and I are working on (he’s on holiday) with ESP-GO which already handles some I2C A/D might be a way to look at this one. Remember this ? https://tech.scargill.net/ads1115-i2c-ad-convertor/
Strangely, the very chip I just mentioned. So, already done, just a matter of adding the coil.
Be wary – Sonoff BASIC is changing, pins may not be the same on R2 version.
i know, but the pzem module uses serial connection, the same you use to program the sonoff itself
Ok, let’s develop this – cheapest i2c A/D on a board…
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ADS1115-ADC-I2C-16-Bit-4-Channels-Module-Pro-Gain-Amplifier-2-5-5V-For-Arduino/153209243468?hash=item23abfb874c:g:A8AAAOSwWCFbucIC:rk:5:pf:0
need that and a clamp and modified Sonoff.
Of course you’re not talking here of using the Power section so presumably Sonoff BASIC is as good a choice as any – you need custom software handling the ADC. All a far cry from merely testing with a meter, of course. But for continouous monitoring a meter is no good.
sure, i was talking of an iot solution for long term monitoring 🙂
i think the easier version would be a sonoff POW r2 with in/out mains socket/plug (like in last image here above, the one with the boxed basic), no hack involved, no cable cut (aside for an extension cable to cut in half to connect to sonoff’s power strip), it just works with stock firmware, too
And after sitting doing nothing for ages, my Victor clamp-meter has finally found a job… the new air source heating system is in and working hard to heat the house first thing in the morning. Victor says 2.3A at 250v which is of course around 550w of electricity. Quite reasonable considering the heat that is being pumped into the house.
The 606B goes from being a novelty to an essential. It looks like the 4 amp range might just do it.
let’s publish some (iot) alternatives 🙂
PZEM-004T controllable via serial communication, supported by tasmota, espurna and espeasy
https://www.banggood.com/it/PZEM-004T-Maximum-100A-AC-Multifunction-Power-Monitoring-Communications-Module-Monitor-Module-p-1021915.html
PZEM-004, serial controllable, adds display to previous model, exists with toroid or clamp:
https://peacefair.it.aliexpress.com/store/group/0-100A-with-display/1773456_513494690.html?spm=a2g0y.12010608.0.0.62375d38MccsqH
sonoff POW R2, with live reports via ewelink app, and of course usual firmwares already mentioned:
https://it.aliexpress.com/item/Sonoff-Pow-R2-16A-Wifi-Intelligente-Interruttore-di-Alimentazione-del-Monitor-di-Misura-A-Casa-Senza/32921390215.html
and of course a hacked power meter 😀
http://tinkerman.cat/connected-power-meter/
https://it.aliexpress.com/item/German-Type-EU-Digital-Power-Meter-Volt-Voltage-Wattmeter-Power-Analyzer-Electronic-Power-Energy-Meter-Measuring/32806564122.html
Most of those solutions are a bit OTT for measuring mains – you need to add a box and power… Sonoff POWR2 would be good BUT for the need to cut the very heavy cable – so no good here. Needs to be a clamp-type solution in my case. The hacked power meter might do it as it already has a case?
why not adding a standard plug+socket to a sonoff pow? so it can act as a “man in the middle” 🙂
the power meter has enough space inside to host a little transformer, an esp8266 and an optocoupler to get the serial data out of the meter itself… here’s mine, the yellow heatshrinked tube contains the optocoupler, i just followed tinkerman blog post to do mine
otherwise you can just hookup a clamp to a sonoff TH16 (16 amp), following this other tinkerman blog post: http://tinkerman.cat/power-monitoring-sonoff-th-adc121/
Tasmota author put a sonoff basic back to back with a pzem-004t in a sonoff ip66 box, details in this post: https://github.com/arendst/Sonoff-Tasmota/issues/3626