What to do with a ten-dollar multimeter

[MosherIV]

Mine had light occaisional use for 10 years. Still works but the rotary switch is loose so it sometime does not measure correct values. Too much trouble, just moved on to my other dmms now.

[6PTsocket]

I accidently did that. It is easy to do if you use the wrong end of the knob. Apparantly quite a few others have done it. I am spoiled by my self ranging meter with on screen indicators. It did not blow up unless you count one microscopic SMD resistor. I replaced R13, 1500 ohms on the pc board and it is fixed. I just used a 1/4 watt  leaded resistor. The ohms function is not fused but what do you want for free? It is not going to blow up, even on line voltage.  However the test leads really do suck. I picked up some pretty decent ones on flea bay for $.99 delivered; far better than the leads on the freebee.

Until “dude, you know that meter you gave me? Yeah... well it blew up when I was sticking it across the mains in ohms mode and now I only have three fingers”.

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[6PTsocket]

Or spend $.99 delivered and get a far better set of of leads on fleabay The cables are heavier, the plug  and probe have  flexible  strain relief. I figure a free meter is worth a 1 buck investment to fix the biggest problem.

The main point of failure seems to be the probes. The wires are not properly supported, and can break and come out. The best moment to know about this is before the meter is used.

If the probes on the meter you get with the free coupon look exactly the same, then adding some hot glue before the first use can be a quick (although perhaps not permanent) fix:

Yep, fill the end of the tubes with hot glue. Makes 'em last 100x longer, FWIW.

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[6PTsocket]

The object if an ammeter is to have the lowest possible resistance, so as not to reduce the current in the circuit you are measuring. The HF freebee has an input impedence of 1megohm on DC volts. You stick that inline and you will reduce the current to almost nothing and your circuit will not function. On the orher hand a high input impedence is desirable in a voltmeter so as to not load the circuit bring measured, to be almost invisible to the circuit. Better meters are almost always 10 megohms

Another use for some cheap DMM's like this is as an inexpensive ultra-low range DC current meter. This has been discussed here several times. With the meter set to DC volts (NOT current), the current flowing through the input resistance of the meter causes a voltage drop, which is then displayed. If the input resistance is (say) 1M, then each microamp will yield 1VDC across the input resistance. It won't be ultra accurate and may not even be super repeatable, but in a pinch you can determine its sensitivity against a known current and then do the conversion manually. If all you're doing is comparing currents, you can even get by without knowing the absolute value and just compare readings. (Can you tell I've had to get by once in a while without lab grade equipment?)

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[Wolfgang]

... give it to somebody you hate. Dont use it form measurements.
Or maybe only for high risk stuff where it wont survive anyway.

Play safe and buy something with proper protection !

[cdev]

That meter is better than the first two meters I had (still have one) so I would not turn up my nose at one.

Can't beat the price!