Who would have thought a 'Cheap multimeter' thread would generate so many responses.
Someone has already said this and I will say it again SPEND THE MONEY AND BUY A GOOD METER! Even if you only spend $50 you will save yourself a lot of pain and misery down the road, especially if you go and measure mains or something and your cheap meter blows up in your hands!
Someone has already said this and I will say it again SPEND THE MONEY AND BUY A GOOD METER! Even if you only spend $50 you will save yourself a lot of pain and misery down the road, especially if you go and measure mains or something and your cheap meter blows up in your hands!
I am buying a better meter. One that has been described as unimpressive by someone on this forum.
It is actually sold as an automotive repair tool. I intend to use it for that and for general electronic work.
To be honest... I wouldn't use it the same way I am using the cheap meter. Because of the electrical problems I am having with my car I am checking and rechecking the voltage on the battery and on a jump starter I have purchased.
I am getting more than my money's worth out of the cheap meters I have purchased. I can use them without fear of damaging a more valuable tool. I have been carrying it around in my coat pocket. I would never do that to the meter I am buying for $50 from the pawn shop.
Are they very precise and reliable? NO. I don't have to have that for the majority of what I am doing now. They are in effect disposable meters that I am using the heck out of. (well, not as much as a good one on the bench of a circut designer.)
They were definitely worth the few bucks I spent on them. They also make you appreciate the quality of a well designed meter and make you go ohhh! when you handle one.
Basicaly I am using it as a glorified battery checker. When I want a more precise reading I would not rely on the cheap meters. But I would not want to drag a good meter around like I do the cheap one.
I don't wear my good shoes to walk through mud either.
Again and again the same propaganda ...
Mains voltage at homes are harmless even for the cheapys ...
Again and again the same propaganda ...
Mains voltage at homes are harmless even for the cheapys ...
Rubbish.
The mains is a high energy transmission system that is connected to a complex distribution system outside of your control.
Lighting can hit many km away, wind or cars can bring down power poles and short wires, your neighbor can use some dodgy bit of industrial gear etc etc etc
There are countless scenarios that can cause high energy surges on the mains system.
Granted, ones of a sufficient magnitude to fry a meter are not that common, but they can happen.
That's why there is a whole flourishing (often audiophool-like) industry to protect appliances from mains surges.
An then of course there is probe quality (which you (rightly) harp on about), or lack there-of on the cheap meters.
So it is far from propaganda, there are genuine reasons to use properly designed and rated gear on the mains.
Dave.
Dave you have a point , only if you referring about locations far from the city , that you probably have your summer house .
The electrical network in the city's are so much controlled, like to was an experiment in a glass tube.
Did somebody mention being shocked
I did ... 4 times last week .
At the same job ...
Warning, Graphic: Fatal electric shock. On the extreme but a lesson, you can only make such a mistake once.
but there is some times , that you have to override safety for the common good !
Warning, Graphic: Fatal electric shock. On the extreme but a lesson, you can only make such a mistake once.
the test pen! the first electrician's best friend, before the famous DMM!