Hidden battery “covers”
Posted: Tue Nov 14, 2023 5:10 pm
Inherited a clip-on ammeter when my dad passed away some years ago. I’ve never had a real need to use it, so although I’ve looked at it - confused - several times, I’ve never got round to solving my “where the fuck do the batteries go?” Question. 
So at the weekend I removed the one visible screw, and tried to prize it apart. Nope.
Eventually found an old manual on the web for a similar model. Remove the screw, allowing you to then remove the clamp handle, which provides access to the (9V) battery.
OBVIOUSLY!
I then assumed it wasn’t working as I tried clamping it around the cable to my kettle - which will be drawing around 13A (when on - duh) but it showed zero. Schoolboy error - if you have both live and neutral clamped the fields cancel each other out - need to measure only on or the other. Tried it on the mains feed to the meter - it works.
So now when I put it away / I don’t want to leave the battery in as I’ll undoubtedly not use it again for years…. really handy having to remove the handle to take the battery back out
So at the weekend I removed the one visible screw, and tried to prize it apart. Nope.
Eventually found an old manual on the web for a similar model. Remove the screw, allowing you to then remove the clamp handle, which provides access to the (9V) battery.
OBVIOUSLY!
I then assumed it wasn’t working as I tried clamping it around the cable to my kettle - which will be drawing around 13A (when on - duh) but it showed zero. Schoolboy error - if you have both live and neutral clamped the fields cancel each other out - need to measure only on or the other. Tried it on the mains feed to the meter - it works.
So now when I put it away / I don’t want to leave the battery in as I’ll undoubtedly not use it again for years…. really handy having to remove the handle to take the battery back out
