How do you clamp an amp?

[The_Grimy_One 10+ year member]

As the title ^^^ states... How is this achieved? I would really love to know real world #s on some of my amps.

Click to read more...

 

[Imtjnotu 5,000+ posts]

You have to buy a clamp meter for starters...then just clamp it to the wire and play a sine or music and the readout on the display will tell u

 

[mast240 10+ year member]

to do it properly, you need a dmm, and a clamping ammeter... plug your dmm leads into your speaker terms, set it to ac, and clamp your speaker wire as close to the amp as possible, then play your test tone (closest to your box tuning) ... then take the two readings and multiply them... and bam... rms wattage

 

[kmanian 5,000+ posts]

You have to buy a clamp meter for starters...then just clamp it to the wire and play a sine or music and the readout on the display will tell u

oh really!

 

[mast240 10+ year member]

You have to buy a clamp meter for starters...then just clamp it to the wire and play a sine or music and the readout on the display will tell u

a lil more to it than that bro.... see post above

 

[kmanian 5,000+ posts]

copied this from a '02 thread

How to test an amplifiers output

saw this on another forum and thought it could come in use....

Now there are a few things to remember during these tests. One is your resistance will not be your nominal ohm load. In other words if you have a 4-ohm sub, the amplifier will not be seeing 4-ohm when being tested. Another is input voltage will have an effect on the amplifiers output. So be sure to check the input voltage to make sure it is consistent during multiple tests.

There are a few items you will need: True RMS clamp meter, DMM, pencil, and paper. These items are needed for a simple test.

Having a friend available will make this much easier.

Test 1:

Hook the DMM to the + and - speaker wires coming out of the amplifier. Set the DMM to AC Volts. Do not use the peak hold function as this will give you an inaccurate reading.

Place the clamp meter around the + speaker wire coming out of the amplifier. Set the clamp meter on AC Amps. Once again do not use the peak hold function.

Now simply play your frequency. You will need to play it for roughly 2 seconds to give the meters time to "settle". Simply write down the numbers you get for AC Amps and AC Voltage. Then you can use Ohm's Law to figure out your ohm load when playing and your amplifiers output at that given time. Or you can simply plug your numbers in http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homep...en/ohmslaw.htm to figure everything out for you.

There are other tools needed if you want to maximize your amplifiers output. One would be an oscilloscope. Just an example is different amplifiers like different waves. MTX amplifiers tend to like a clipped wave to put out max power where RF amps tend to like clean waves. This is something you would have to test with your paticular amplifier to see what it likes and to get the most out of it.

 

[Bassin Buick]

yeah , these guys are right , there is 2 different types of meters involved and a math equation. Not as simple as dumbdumb made it sound. LOL

 

[The_Grimy_One 10+ year member]

Ok, thanks guys.

 

[kmanian 5,000+ posts]

yeah , these guys are right , there is 2 different types of meters involved and a math equation. Not as simple as dumbdumb made it sound. LOL

that's a nice way to put it, lol

 

[Bassin Buick]

that's a nice way to put it, lol

i'm very very tired and couldnt remember how to spell his nonsensical name. LOL

 

[kmanian 5,000+ posts]

i'm very very tired and couldnt remember how to spell his nonsensical name. LOL

works for me