10 Amp Multimeters Only At Auto Stores?

[bill190]

I've done electrical work most of my life, but not on autos.

 

I recently needed to add some electrical gizmos to my truck...

 

-I wanted to know how much amperage the existing electrical circuits were using.

-The capacity of each circuit.

-The capacity of the wiring.

-How much amperage the devices I was adding were going to use.

 

I wanted to know this so I would not overload the circuits, I added anything to, and would not have a problem with fuses blowing. And that the circuits and wiring could handle the additional load(s). (This is the way wiring is done elsewhere.)

 

Well I got all the factory service manuals including the wiring diagrams. Nowhere did anything say how much amperage or wattage anything was using. The wiring does not have the wire size printed on it.

 

So I went to the auto parts stores and asked for a wire size gauge. They did not have any such thing.

 

Then I wanted an amp meter (multi-meter) to measure the amperage being used by the existing circuits in my truck...

 

I went to every auto parts store and they only had 10 amp max multi-meters!

 

So my question is... How can anyone add anything electrical to a car or truck and know that the circuit they are adding the device to will be able to handle the additional load?

 

Or how could anyone possibly troubleshoot an electrical fuse blowing problem in a vehicle when many circuits are higher than 10 amps and the only test equipment available at most auto stores is only 10 amps?

[sceptre]

I've done electrical work most of my life, but not on autos.

 

I recently needed to add some electrical gizmos to my truck...

 

-I wanted to know how much amperage the existing electrical circuits were using.

-The capacity of each circuit.

-The capacity of the wiring.

-How much amperage the devices I was adding were going to use.

 

I wanted to know this so I would not overload the circuits, I added anything to, and would not have a problem with fuses blowing. And that the circuits and wiring could handle the additional load(s). (This is the way wiring is done elsewhere.)

 

Well I got all the factory service manuals including the wiring diagrams. Nowhere did anything say how much amperage or wattage anything was using. The wiring does not have the wire size printed on it.

 

So I went to the auto parts stores and asked for a wire size gauge. They did not have any such thing.

 

Then I wanted an amp meter (multi-meter) to measure the amperage being used by the existing circuits in my truck...

 

I went to every auto parts store and they only had 10 amp max multi-meters!

 

So my question is... How can anyone add anything electrical to a car or truck and know that the circuit they are adding the device to will be able to handle the additional load?

 

Or how could anyone possibly troubleshoot an electrical fuse blowing problem in a vehicle when many circuits are higher than 10 amps and the only test equipment available at most auto stores is only 10 amps?

 

its really hard to tell the guage of wires without stripping them due to various thicknesses of casings. If you've been doing electrical for a while, you should be able to make a pretty good guess...unless you've been doing home/industrial, etc. I've been doing instrumentation for 10 years so I can usually make a good guess as to size. A good guess is usually close enough when you want to know how much current to put through in auto applications.

 

as for a meter...its tough to get anything to measure inline over 10A without paying big bucks. Other option is a clamp on type meter...much easier than breaking the circuit and putting the meter inline and they usually have very high ratings.

 

sorry I couldn't be of much help.

 

However, if you're looking for something specific, i'm sure someone here could help