Electronics > Beginners

First DMM?

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Mr. Scram:

--- Quote from: james_s on July 18, 2018, 02:42:26 am ---Well, mostly the cost. I do like my Fluke 87, but I would only recommend it to someone with money to burn as a first DMM, unless they planned to be an electrician or something.

--- End quote ---
Same here. I do like my Fluke for its rugged simplicity, but if I had to pick a first multimeter on a budget I'd look at a BM257S, or BM869S on a slightly bigger budget.

Gizzygone:
I ended up bidding on, and winning, an 87iii for just Under $100.  The yellow over-mold looks a bit tattered, but the device itself looks to be in decent shape. I guess we’ll see how good it is when it shows up.

I guess the biggest question is if it’s caibrated well enough still!

james_s:
I don't think I've ever seen a Fluke that had drifted out of calibration. A couple years ago I cleaned up a tattered old Fluke 29 a friend got and when I checked the calibration against my voltage standard it was bang on. Unless it has been damaged or molested I don't think that will be an issue.

Gizzygone:
Any way to tell for sure without bringing it for calibration?

 Maybe just try a fresh 9volt battery to test it against?

bitseeker:
Well, it depends on your definition of "for sure." If that means to the accuracy stated in the multimeter's specifications, then you'd need appropriate references for voltage and current (AC and DC), resistance, etc. Check out the manual for all the types of measurements supported and their ranges.

A little less demanding might mean having some power supplies and components, the values of which are known (or can be measured with a known-good DMM), and seeing if the 87III displays roughly those known values. How rough depends on how many decimal places of accuracy meet your definition of "for sure."

Using a fresh 9-volt battery would tell you if the meter at least measures something around nine volts. The actual voltage is not known to a high degree of accuracy without measuring it. It may have been on a store shelf for a while or not long at all. Manually change to all the ranges that are high enough to accommodate the battery voltage and see if you still measure around nine volts. That will let you know that at least the DC volts functionality is OK for around nine volts. You'll still need some way to verify everything else that the DMM can do including the millivolts DC range.

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