Fluke 902 vs. 116/322 combo

[lihvac54]

oh what to do....

my meter purchase is going to be between these 2

i like that the 902 is true rms but the resistance reading is limited at 0-9999

while the 116 does millivolts but the 322 clamp meter isnt true rms...

oh the decisions

[Dchappa21]

IMO the fluke 902 is not an HVACR meter the ohm scale falls way to short.
10K ohms. lol stay away from that meter.

I do like the 116/322 combo but then you gotta use 2 meters.

[lihvac54]

i dont work on many variable speed motors so i dont think the amp meter not being true rms will kill me just yet either

[beachtech]

IMO the fluke 902 is not an HVACR meter the ohm scale falls way to short.
10K ohms. lol stay away from that meter.

I do like the 116/322 combo but then you gotta use 2 meters.

i completely agree!

[beachtech]

i dont work on many variable speed motors so i dont think the amp meter not being true rms will kill me just yet either

variable speed blah!! that myth was busted years ago. GE- regal beloit will tell you that you don't have to have true RMS to properly read amps on those motors.

take a look at the fieldpiece SC76 meter. i pulled mine out of retirement a week ago and fell in love with it again.

my only gripes about it are no backlight and it doesn't have that nice magnetic hanging strap that my HS36 has... guess you cannot have it all in one meter

[hvacrmedic]

variable speed blah!! that myth was busted years ago. GE- regal beloit will tell you that you don't have to have true RMS to properly read amps on those motors.

take a look at the fieldpiece SC76 meter. i pulled mine out of retirement a week ago and fell in love with it again.

my only gripes about it are no backlight and it doesn't have that nice magnetic hanging strap that my HS36 has... guess you cannot have it all in one meter

Next time you'll get the SC77. It has the backlight.

As for me, I'm going to go ahead and add a 322 to my bag. It has a resolution of .01 amp. Not only that, but it has better accuracy than the other Fluke clamp meters. It's cheaper than a battery operated remote clamp for my DMM that would read tenths of an amp. Even Fluke, in one of their articles, says that it doesn't make sense to buy a remote clamp for your DMM when you can get a separate meter for about the same cost that will do more. I agree with that.

The SC77 might be a good alternative to carrying two meters, but it's a bit cumbersome. It would be nice to have different tool bags to grab up depending upon what you're about to get into. Maybe have the SC76/77 in one bag, and maybe three or four different specialty meters in another. I'm actually considering doing this. I already have three tool bags on the van. A veto that I'm using every day, and two others that are just used as catch-alls.

[hvacrmedic]

I didn't realize that the 902 didn't do millivolts. So it's no good for checking thermocouples. It is also no good for ohming sensors out, or checking resistance to ground. Get the 902 and you'll still need at least one more meter. The 116/322 combo will measure everything. The 322 is lightweight, so not much of an extra load in the tool bag. I picked up the 322 this morning. So I basically have the 116/62/322 hvac combo now. Nice combination.

Just a minute ago I tested several meters against each other. I set my indoor blower to run. I measured 1.87 amps with the Fluke 322. An old Meterman Wavtech all-in-on amp clamp measured 1.6 amps. The Fluke 116 with the remote amp clamp measured 2.1 amps. The Fieldpiece HS36 measured 2.3 amps (with the same remote clamp, both on the meter and connected with leads).

Which one is closest to the actual amps? I don't know, but since the 322 was specifically designed for low amp accuracy, I'm going to bet on it being the closest.

Also measured secondary current. The 322 measured .47 amps. The Meterman measured .3 amps. The others read nothing, the remote clamp will not register a current that low.

I'm extremely happy with the Fluke trio. I had to rearrange my bag a little, but it wasn't that much trouble. I needed to get some of the barely used stuff out of there anyway.

I've avoided the 902 for a long time. It's a piece of eye candy for sure, but it doesn't quite fit the bill, for me. I'd get the 337 before I bought the 902.

[WhoIsThat?]

I measured 1.87 amps with the Fluke 322. An old Meterman Wavtech all-in-on amp clamp measured 1.6 amps. The Fluke 116 with the remote amp clamp measured 2.1 amps. The Fieldpiece HS36 measured 2.3 amps (with the same remote clamp, both on the meter and connected with leads).

Average = 1.97
100*2.3/1.97 = 117%, way too high
100*1.6/1.97 = 81%, way too low
100*2.1/1.97= 107% probably out of cal.

These meters are out of calibration or busted unless it was a nonsinusoidal waveform and some of the meters are true RMS.

Precise 5vdc references are less than $1, and a DC current calibration could be made for a few bucks.
Precise AC voltages and currents are not so easy to make. A few hours assembly and $10 may do it.
With the money riding on HVAC meter readings I'd make or buy some simple field-use calibrators.

Precision resistors will let you go from volts to amps, so if your volts are accurate you can also check your current.
http://www.welwyn-tt.com/pdf/datasheet/RC.PDF
The trick is getting these places to sell you onesy-twosies.

100 ea. 10% resistors (a few pennies each) wired in series gives you a 1% composite resistor.

The Dot Plot kind of says that the outlier is the 1.6 reading, so if you throw that out, the new average = 2.1.

.................................x.....x...x...x.. .....
0...................1....................2........ ............3

2.3/2.1= ~10% high. A little closer to advertised accuracy.