Continuity Measurement with a Multimeter

[dimkasta]

Yeah I got what you meant.  I can see how a non-latching one can be useful. I have used my dmms like that a couple of times to test scratchy interconnects.

My "objection" was about the word "lying". I find it a bit unfair. DMMs and especially latching ones never claimed that they reveal the presence or absence of intermittent connections with a scratchy tone. It is a symptom, not a feature.
They can only be trusted to identify existing connections or non-connections on that specific time.
Anything else is subject to personal judgement and proper use or misuse of specific characteristics of the DMM

If someone decides to use a latching DMM to identify an intermittent connection, it is not the DMM that is lying. It is him the one using an unsuitable instrument.
The same way it would be his fault if he used a non-latching one and got unlucky enough to get a solid tone

[Rick Law]

Yeah I got what you meant.  I can...
...
My "objection" was about the word "lying". I find it a bit unfair. DMMs and especially latching ones never claimed
...

We are on the same page.  I agree it really isn't "lying".  I just can't think of a better way to express it so I soften it by say "in a way it was lying".

Note of course it was not my short coming.  It was the fault of my thesaurus - it failed to give me better suggestions when I needed them.

[Wytnucls]

If someone decides to use a latching DMM to identify an intermittent connection, it is not the DMM that is lying. It is him the one using an unsuitable instrument.
The same way it would be his fault if he used a non-latching one and got unlucky enough to get a solid tone

A latching continuity detects an intermittent connection just like the non-latching meter, but instead of a barely audible signal, you get a loud 200ms beep to confirm a short or open connection. The main difference is that a latching continuity will pick up a one-event very short transient, which could easily be missed by the user's ear on a non-latching meter.

Master Handbook of Acoustics:

[Rick Law]

If someone decides to use a latching DMM to identify an intermittent connection, it is not the DMM that is lying. It is him the one using an unsuitable instrument.
The same way it would be his fault if he used a non-latching one and got unlucky enough to get a solid tone

A latching continuity test detects an intermittent connection just like the non-latching meter, but instead of a barely audible signal, you get a loud 200mS beep to confirm a short or open connection. The main difference is that a latching continuity will pick up a one-event very short transient, which could easily be missed by the user on a non-latching meter.

Wytnucls, thanks for the explanation!  I didn't know that a latched meter would warn of the open connection.  A good day is one that I learned something new.  So today started well!

Thanks

[Wytnucls]

The meter with the best fast latched continuity mode I know of, is the Fluke 867B which can detect transients as short as 1us. One doesn't even have to be close to the meter, as they also register on the trend plot.

[Simon]

@xrunner Never looked at em under a microscope, but I'd assume there was some kind of oxide layer on em.
Anyhow, what happened was that I got a new multimeter a while back, and noticed the continuity wasn't working proper, I had some sandpaper around, and decided to give that a go, and it worked wonders!

I believe the claims - I simply want to know why?

What is being sanded off so as to make the continuity work better? I don't have any Probemasters (but I guess I'll order a set) to compare against, but I do have a lot of marginal quality probes. I guess I'll break out my USB microscope and find a set that seems to cause the continuity fail a little and see what happens. 

I sell some of the probemaster leads if you in Europe 😁

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[xrunner]

I sell some of the probemaster leads if you in Europe 😁

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

I don't live there but I got a set last week - very nice. Should have done it long ago.