The difference between a clamp meter and a regular multimeter

The principle of the clamp ammeter is to use the principle of electromagnetic induction. The wire to be measured is clamped into the iron core edge of the clamp ammeter made of stacked silicon steel sheets. At this time, the clamped wire is equivalent to a turn of the current transformer, which belongs to the primary coil. When current passes through, it will induce a secondary current in the secondary coil inside the clamp ammeter. The measured wire current can be read on the dial of the clamp ammeter.

It has a different principle from a multimeter and is used in different ways. A clamp meter can measure the current by simply clamping a wire, making it suitable for measuring large currents.

The multimeter has to be connected in series to the circuit to measure current.