How do “inductive loads” like motors cause circuit damage?
Loose connections and long wires on circuits switching high currents can damage electrical components. The problems can be largely eliminated by ensuring that connections are secure/not intermittent (e.g. not just twisted together) and to a lesser degree by keeping wire lengths short and by twisting wire pairs together to reduce their inductance. Always disconnect first/connect last the meter from/to the load (or highest inductance connections) first. Another way to think about this is to keep a battery or power source connected to the meter when ever potentially inductive loads are connected or disconnected. The battery or power source helps to clamp any voltage spikes created. Here’s a little more about why this all happens. Wires exhibit a property called inductance. Inductance is an indication of the amount of energy stored in a wire’s magnetic field due to the flow of current. If you interrupt the current flow, say with a switch or pulling apart a connector, the magnetic field col
