Non intrusive current sensor with unreliable (strange) readings I have a project where I will mount 6 non intrusive current sensor model SCT013 (100A/50mA) manufactured by yhdc.com on an Arduino Mega.

Virtual ground and Burden resistors are 1% tolerance. 

To start testing I mounted 2 sensors using the principles of connection found at (http://www.homautomation.org/2013/09/17/current-monitoring-with-non-invasive-sensor-and-arduino/). Code below.

#include "EmonLib.h"                   // Include Emon Library
EnergyMonitor emon0;                   // Create an instance
EnergyMonitor emon1;                   // Create an instance

int Calib = 60;

void setup() {
  Serial.begin(9600);

  emon0.current(A0, Calib);             // Current: input pin, calibration.
  emon1.current(A1, Calib);             // Current: input pin, calibration.  

   }

   void loop(){

double Irms0 = emon0.calcIrms(1480);
double Irms1 = emon1.calcIrms(1480);

Serial.print("Sensor0: ");
Serial.print(Irms0);            
Serial.print(" Amps ");

Serial.print("Sensor1: ");
Serial.print(Irms1);            
Serial.println(" Amps ");  

}
//------------end------------


The code I found is for UNO and a single sensor and I just added a second, it works fine and sensors do independent readings well.

Both sensors are mounted on the same test live wire so I have to get more or less the same readings most of the times and it is precisely the case with readings floating between sensors on the order of 100s of miliamps.

My problems are:


Even with no load I get, on both sensors, a reading that varies from 270 to 320mA
When I connect a hair dryer that consumes in one mode 10A and in
another mode 5A the readings are a lot closer to the expected (I am
also checking with a clamp meter)


The problem seems to be the no load condition and the imprecise readings at low currents.
I could exclude readings under a certain value on my code to solve the no load problem but them I would be ignoring real electrical measurement situations.
Every time you use a real clamp meter, you should zero it out before measuring.

The hall effect sensors you describe are the same way. There's magnetic pull from the earth and other sources that need to be corrected for. When you draw 5 or 10 amps, that noise is masked out. They are likely still apart roughly the same # of ma as the baseline reading. 

Once you subtract the no-load load from each, maybe on startup, you should get a lot better readings in terms of accuracy and precision.