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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.
Use of vinegar judiciously applied and q-tips will clean that mess.Thanks! And also for the tip on batteries- I never thought about that, but it makes so much sense. I'm going to go out and remove the battery from my multimeter right now.
Update, it is a Radio Shack, not a Craftsman. At least 25 years old, maybe 30.
For now I ordered an inexpensive Fluke off Amazon, and will keep my eye out for a deal on a nicer used Fluke. I'm sure the new Fluke is probably inexpensive crap but it is also probably still better than my ancient Radio Shack.
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Good call!! Corrosion!
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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.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.
agreed 100%I rarely use the current setting on a standard dvm. Way too easy to hurt the meter.