anyone recommend an earth leakage clamp meter ?

[petehall347]

its not tripped for a few days . i first need to look at the rcd to see if its faulty and staying latched . the meter is telling me it should trip . will obtain a tester or find a 6.8k resistor .

[redwire]

same vid is on youtube, FB total garbage Diverted Neutral Current - SparkyNinja
Installation leakage they say 4.3A is normal on incoming ground?! Yeesh.

60mA is quite high, it should be making heat somewhere? I would suspect the water heater or boiler assuming it's electric, heating element corroded getting wet. I think Line gets switched by the thermostat though, so it should not be a constant reading. Something will be bubbling. 6:30AM/PM I thought it's an appliance for breakfast/dinner.
The clamp-meter jaws can do some math, if you put all the power conductors in the jaws, any net flow will display. Just like the RCD principle I think, Line and Neutral in the CT and any difference must be ground current.

[petehall347]

had a quick look today and getting leakage big style . i need to start isolating everything really and check again .. the main ground has about 60ma through it . the rcd tails are showing 28ma so should really be tripping . am thinking there is a bad neutral connection to find . might even be dc on the line blinding the rcd .. this is one of them jobs that can take 5 mins or 5 hours to sort out , ok the clamp meter i am not very impressed with it as the reading changes quite a bit depending on wire position . the instructions say wire in centre of clamp .well that is impractical really .
on a similar note i just watched this video .sorry that its on facebook .. https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=496148411919080

[petehall347]

ok just collected the clamp meter so will do some checking soon . first off os check leakage at the tails of the rcd .this will give me combined leakage as it stands now .

[CapLeaker]

2v neutral to ground? And it is not consistent? I say too something with a heating element maybe? Toaster oven, water heater, tea kettle etc. Weird. I guess all you can do is to isolate the circuit. When this condition happen, turn the fuse off and see what turned off and check what's plugged in

[stj]

the time thing is interesting.
maybe a cracked element in a water tank or even a kettle/coffee maker?

[petehall347]

i am a tenant and the electrics have always been a big mess here .
the big problem is there are 4 supplies maybe 5 from the rcd . we all have localised ground rods so no prob there . or that's part of it . 30ma rcd.s can trip around 21ma so it doesn't give us much leakage each . some modern equipment can soon add up to too much leakage if all on at same time . have been looking at loop testers and variable rcd testers . was looking at diy but better and easier to buy ready made .
my neutral ground is around 2v last time i checked .
pulling power from ground is something i have seen here .the ground rod was steaming . first noticed my stereo humming along with tv doing same . was shorted mains cable . i am not on that supply these days .

i know what it all needs but it makes it into an expensive time consuming job . we all need our own rcbo but doing that is impractical due to access issues and locations . the only other way is supply us all with a 100ma rcd and then our own 30ma rcd.s should trip instead . new clamp meter will be in tomorrow so that's a start to see the standing leakage .

[redwire]

Because the B-field is so low at the mA level, you need small jaws (good for only one conductor) and a very sensitive sensor- a specialized meter. Current-transformers have 1000's of turns on their core for GFCI level sensing. Then you run into drama with the core getting magnetized, the Earth's B-field (orientation) as well.
Looking at 4-20mA process loop calibrators, just a tiny jaw with dual Hall sensor there, differential mode to cancel any magnetic remanence/Earth's B-field in the core and temperature drift etc. I would say you need something like this with AC ability.

Vanilla clamp meters have huge jaws, designed for measuring 100's of amperes. If you can put a 100+ turns in there, then the mA level will come up but I find readings are noisy and unreliable.

You might be able to rent the big bucks Fluke 368 or something similar. It still leaves you 40mm jaws and needing a way to separate the conductors though.

What is the building PE ground like? Here it's usually a local ground rod and I have seen if the utility network has a bad ground or neutral issue then current is pulled out of your local ground rod. Sometimes to appliances with metal water piping like boiler or dishwashers. You can be the ground for the neighborhood. It makes the building's ground noisy. Check the N-PE voltage, and to another ground as well.

Also, natural gas piping has cathodic protection DCV on it. In the (gas supply) piping, a galvanic union is required (at the appliance) to prevent that from getting shorted out to local PE ground. You can measure say 10VDC on that gas pipe, it's normal.

If you are a landlord, it might be a tenant playing games? Or they have a problem with some appliance of theirs. They won't like you being around a lot.

[petehall347]

I use a TIS 560. I find it works quite well. I wanted a Fluke but it was too expensive for what I needed.

i looked at that one but didn't like the way it jumps from 20ma to 60a , domestic supplies use 30ma rcd .

[xmetal]

I use a TIS 560. I find it works quite well. I wanted a Fluke but it was too expensive for what I needed.

[petehall347]

how often is the tripping?

its not tripping now .. its strange it was when it rained then thought we had found and cured that issue as it didn't trip for a few days .. then it was tripping at 6.30 am then it switched to 6.30 pm and now its not tripped for a few days . apparently nobody on this circuit has a timer set for that time so unless someone has been lying its most odd .. am just about to buy the ethos clamp meter from cef .

[stj]

how often is the tripping?

[CapLeaker]

that's the price of a good car . it would cost far less to call someone out and i could take a break .

How about a Megger DCM300E… good shit cost mulah.

[petehall347]

The fluke 368 and 369 just do that.

that's the price of a good car . it would cost far less to call someone out and i could take a break .

[CapLeaker]

troubleshooting rcd tripping .

The fluke 368 and 369 just do that.

[petehall347]

You didn't specify. I thought you want to troubleshoot GTI or something like that.
look at the fluke 369FC.

troubleshooting rcd tripping .

[CapLeaker]

You didn't specify. I thought you want to troubleshoot GTI or something like that.
look at the fluke 369FC.

[petehall347]

Fluke 393FC works every time.

looks great for dc but not great to find mains ac earth leakage .

[CapLeaker]

Fluke 393FC works every time.

[petehall347]

i looked at that one but it doesn't look like what i am looking for . no 200ma setting and no mention its for leakage current .
have just watched this video and now feel i need to have this one . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VH1S8Up5Zd8 . have also been trying to find reviews for the Ethos 3650 but cant find any . city electrics sells them