Sealey TA113 Amp Hound Parasitic Drain Tester Unboxing Rough & Ready Bench Test

This is an extension of a thread kicked off by Dylan located Here Link to Original Thread .





Unboxing: Well packed arrived promptly in mine arrived good condition although Dylan had problem out of the box that luckily turned out to be a minor issue with his but read his post in the other thread.

First reaction seems like a quality item, it is however one of those tools where you have to read the instructions before trying to use it as the user controls are a bit dated by modern standards.
Link to Instruction Sheet PDF

I had originally intended to test it using a 12v Lead-Acid booster pack using decade box as variable load however I had an Bluetooth battery monitor complete with an inline mini blade fuse and as I previously found draws about o 20ma and decided to use this as a load and compare the readings with a low range DC clamp round the power + supply wire.

Having figured out how to switch it on and enter the fuse type and amperage I tested it with fuses from 1 to 20 amps in the fuse holder.

Conclusions
(1) It works.
(2) It dosen't have menu selections for all blade fuse amps ratings, although this affects accuracy it isn't a deal breaker just choose the nearest available.
(3) Accuracy is surpringly good and the results are repeatable.
(4) It is great as a way to find the crircuit causing a current drain without pulling fuses.

Remarks
Ideal way to use this is in conjuction with a low range DC amp clamp meter or amp clamp+scope.
Value for money & cost at the current UK sale price (below £40 deliverd) it is a bargain but ...........
Read the instructions first and keep them to hand

Thanks for the review Andy! Good to know the tool is pretty accurate. I still have to put mine to the test. Next parasitic draw will be mine Good point on using it in conjunction with an amp clamp.

I have the Mac branded version. I hate it. You can do everything this tool does, with multimeter. If someone would like to buy mine, make an offer!

Thanks it looks like like it should make the task very convenient.

I got myself one. The Cal brand one but they all look identical anyway.
I was checking it out and it looks like a great little tool.
Should make finding what fuse circuit the draw is in a breeze.