Good multimeter? (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter CharlieS
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Fluke is worth it. Anything less just feels cheap and it's hard to trust it.
In addition to the amp clamp, a tone generator/wire tracer is a super useful tool. If you deal with motors at all buy a megger. Moreso, if you stumble across a megger at a yardsale or on craigslist for $5 just grab it. Meggers are super useful and do things only a megger can do. I have an old hand crank one and a $50 battery one from Amazon. Use them both all the time, but I have a dozen big machines to keep running.
The next thing I'd recommend is a basic 2 channel oscilloscope. Even a USB one that hooks to a laptop or your phone. O-scopes are the most complex thing in the universe to most people until someone with experience shows them how to use it and then it's a dirt simple tool that is invaluable for any kind of signal and DC power supply troubleshooting.
If anyone has a use for it, I have a Fluke 0-10,000 volt lab grade power supply from the early 1950's. It's all tubes and it works like the day it was made. Super cool. It just sits in my office as I have no use for it.
In addition to the amp clamp, a tone generator/wire tracer is a super useful tool. If you deal with motors at all buy a megger. Moreso, if you stumble across a megger at a yardsale or on craigslist for $5 just grab it. Meggers are super useful and do things only a megger can do. I have an old hand crank one and a $50 battery one from Amazon. Use them both all the time, but I have a dozen big machines to keep running.
The next thing I'd recommend is a basic 2 channel oscilloscope. Even a USB one that hooks to a laptop or your phone. O-scopes are the most complex thing in the universe to most people until someone with experience shows them how to use it and then it's a dirt simple tool that is invaluable for any kind of signal and DC power supply troubleshooting.
If anyone has a use for it, I have a Fluke 0-10,000 volt lab grade power supply from the early 1950's. It's all tubes and it works like the day it was made. Super cool. It just sits in my office as I have no use for it.
A while back I picked up an old Tektronix 455 oscilloscope on Craigslist for cheap, but with a bad power supply. I've been meaning to tear it down and re-cap the power supply board, but haven't gotten around to it. I have several projects waiting on it to work. That power supply sounds really cool, do you have any photos of it?
I had never heard of megger testers so I had to look it up; another tool on the wishlist now!
Lots of Fluke supporters in here. Nothing wrong with that. But for anyone else considering buying a multimeter, there are other good options out there. Interesting video on what actually drives fluke price and popularity:
Some of the reasons to buy a Fluke don’t benefit the DIYer. Just some food for thought!
Some of the reasons to buy a Fluke don’t benefit the DIYer. Just some food for thought!
ah, interesting. Seems like I was right about the lifetime warranty (in general), but there is also a limit on LCDs, from what I read in the clip, so likely not useful for the poster above with the issue, unfortunately. They know what they're doing, evidently.
As to buying another brand than Fluke, sure, if you can find one that works as well or at least commensurately with the cost, but that will take some doing and is a risk. I will just say that I have quite a few DMMs (and AMMs) including some broken ones. But none of the broken ones is a Fluke and I have never been bowled over by the accuracy of the other ones as I've been with the Flukes when it comes to that last little bit. But I also recognize this is a pro tool with the matching price tag and likely overkill for the vast majority of DIY tasks. You definitely don't need a Fluke for most routine car work, for instance. So as always, it boils down to budget...
As to buying another brand than Fluke, sure, if you can find one that works as well or at least commensurately with the cost, but that will take some doing and is a risk. I will just say that I have quite a few DMMs (and AMMs) including some broken ones. But none of the broken ones is a Fluke and I have never been bowled over by the accuracy of the other ones as I've been with the Flukes when it comes to that last little bit. But I also recognize this is a pro tool with the matching price tag and likely overkill for the vast majority of DIY tasks. You definitely don't need a Fluke for most routine car work, for instance. So as always, it boils down to budget...
Blue77FJ40
SILVER Star
Use of vinegar judiciously applied and q-tips will clean that mess.
CharlieS
GOLD Star
- Thread starter
- #27
Thanks all. The corrosion mostly came off when I removed the batteries. I cleaned up the contacts with fine steel wool and Deoxit.
The baby Fluke, magnetic strap and test light also arrived, and are ready for Santa to wrap and put under the tree.
I'm looking forward to someday learning how to use an oscilloscope. I've had troubleshooting (Fuel Pump ECU on a 200 series that took a particular waveform) where that knowledge would have been very handy. I need to find someone to show me the ropes.
The baby Fluke, magnetic strap and test light also arrived, and are ready for Santa to wrap and put under the tree.
I'm looking forward to someday learning how to use an oscilloscope. I've had troubleshooting (Fuel Pump ECU on a 200 series that took a particular waveform) where that knowledge would have been very handy. I need to find someone to show me the ropes.
O-scope is just a voltage readout plotted over time. Imagine you read your multimeter at 12:00 and put a dot on a graph for that value, then at 12:01 you read out the voltage on your multimeter and put another dot next to the first on a graph and so on. O-scope is just doing that, but potentially thousands or millions of times a second.
Aside from that, it might be good to understand Pulse Width Modulation, PWM. It's really just duty cycling. But it's used to control servos and other control applications in a vehicle. Imagine you have an LED light, and you have it on for 10 seconds every 100 seconds. 10% duty cycle, right? Now imagine you could flip that LED on for 10 milliseconds every 100 milliseconds. Still 10% duty cycle. And the LED "appears" 10% of its full brightness because it's only on 10% of the time. The o-scope would show an "on" voltage for 10% of a waveform and 0 volts, or off, for the other 90% of the waveform. This would repeat over and over again on the screen.
Aside from that, it might be good to understand Pulse Width Modulation, PWM. It's really just duty cycling. But it's used to control servos and other control applications in a vehicle. Imagine you have an LED light, and you have it on for 10 seconds every 100 seconds. 10% duty cycle, right? Now imagine you could flip that LED on for 10 milliseconds every 100 milliseconds. Still 10% duty cycle. And the LED "appears" 10% of its full brightness because it's only on 10% of the time. The o-scope would show an "on" voltage for 10% of a waveform and 0 volts, or off, for the other 90% of the waveform. This would repeat over and over again on the screen.
if you want to use a scope to work on your truck, you will want a current clamp probe. (I'd get one with a BNC already installed to minimize noise. You can always use it with an adapter later if you want to read (slow) data on your multimeter.) The cost varies a lot. Pay attention to the max current spec, that makes a big difference. If I wanted to buy an inexpensive one for lowish currents, I'd start by looking at the Hantek 65A. Seems OK overall (although no pro quality, obviously) but I would not expect much accuracy below around 100mA (WA guess). It will still show trends, waveforms, and relative numbers pretty well, though.
You can buy a decent inexpensive benchtop chinese scope that will do just about anything you need on a truck for about $300. But there are portable units that rely on a laptop for under $100 that may be more practical for shop work. Lots of vids on YT about all this.
(Keep Santa away from your Fluke, though, he may want one for his sled also...
)
You can buy a decent inexpensive benchtop chinese scope that will do just about anything you need on a truck for about $300. But there are portable units that rely on a laptop for under $100 that may be more practical for shop work. Lots of vids on YT about all this.
(Keep Santa away from your Fluke, though, he may want one for his sled also...
)
Has anyone thought about the old Simpson 260 series VOMs? A friend of mine who was an electrician has one he used when he first started working in the late 50's and retired with the same meter in the late 90s. They are not the latest digital display models but just keep on doing the job of measuring. I picked up one up about 15 years ago for $30 complete with leather case and leads. A guy was selling it as it belonged to his grandfather and thought it was not worth much because it was not digital. Manufactured in the 60's, it reads voltage as accurate as it could display when compared to my Fluke. Yes, you don't get a 1/100 of a volt display but I got a really good and dependable meter that will work testing voltage without batteries.
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rkymtnflyfisher
Trout Bum
I have a few old analog Simpson meters, willing to bet they still work perfectly even after not touching them for over 10 years. They probably haven’t seen voltage in over 30.
There’s one on my desk at work I’ll take a pic of when I make it there today.
fjwagon
SILVER Star
With the technology of today I would say just about any meter will work. And will basically do all you need to do with them. However, we mainly use Fluke meters and oscopes at work. But they are not the only meters we use. I prefer to use and own a fluke meter. They are designed to take a 10 foot drop. We calibrate ours every couple of years. I have seen people with $600 fluke meter and have no clue how to troubleshoot with them. And that is ok...eventually they will figure it out. The analog 260 Simpson meter are nice too but are delicate. I prefer to use it when checking analog signals like potentiometers and transistors. Like it was mention earlier, certian jobs require a certian types of meters. The question here should be how and when to use a certain meter. My opinion is: A digital multimeter will handle most tasks and for what we use for most will work even one from Harbor Freight. So could start out with a cheap one and not worry about loosing it or someone breaking it....and eventually get a fluke.
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Just realized the little $45 Fluke 101 will to duty cycle (PWM) measurements! One less reason to need an oscilloscope!
alia176
SILVER Star
I'm late to the party but I highly recommend getting a multimeter that also has the ability to read DC current. It doesn't have to be anything fancy, just need to read DC, resistance and DC current using the onboard clamp. Knowing if there's current flowing through a wire w/o disconnecting it and putting the DVM in series is a HUGE step toward troubleshooting electrical issues.
This is what I have amazon link but anything similar will work.
This is what I have amazon link but anything similar will work.
alia176
SILVER Star
true, very easy to forget that you put the leads on the current setting. That is also where a *good* multimeter will make a difference, though, in that it will have good fuses. Although, last time I bought some Fluke fuses, they were not cheap. In fact, more expensive than the real cheap chinese whole multimeters, mind-bogglingly enough.
