Analog multimeters, are they still useful?

[Calambres]

I use mine when aligning radio receivers. DMMs are useless for this.

[Doctorandus_P]

I find my analog multimeter handy for doing adjustments with potentiometers.
The distance from where the needle is, and where it should be has a direct relation with how far the pot needs to be turned. This could also be done with a DMM with Bar Graph, but I do not have that, and a analog meter has higher resolution then the bar graph. (Unless you go back to interpreting numbers).

I also use my analog multimeter for long time monitoring of voltages and currents. It does not need batteries, never turns itself off and it never beeps at you.

My analog meter was not very expensive, just 1 or 2 steps above the cheapest (those have almost no ranges). I also modified it a bit, so I can directly put "Dupont Wires" into it, which is convenient for breadboard work.

[Electro Fan]

Are analog multimeters still useful?

Not in my home lab, but there might be some specialized uses.

One that comes to mind is checking inrush current on a power circuit, where the "kick" of the meter movement gives you information about the load.

Telephone exchanges used this to good effect, back in the day. By briefly reversing the -48 V exchange battery polarity to a telephone line, and watching an analog meter respond to the line current transient, you could tell whether a line had a phone connected or not, and roughly how many phones were connected. In effect you were testing the line + phone capacitance.

You could also tell whether a line was short (less than a few km) or long (tens of km) - some long lines were in use for special purposes. So if you in the exchange and testing a line, but didn't see the expected meter kick, chances were you were testing the wrong line.

good examples of legit use cases

[Electro Fan]

I use mine when aligning radio receivers. DMMs are useless for this.

good example of legit use case

[Electro Fan]

I find my analog multimeter handy for doing adjustments with potentiometers.
The distance from where the needle is, and where it should be has a direct relation with how far the pot needs to be turned. This could also be done with a DMM with Bar Graph, but I do not have that, and a analog meter has higher resolution then the bar graph. (Unless you go back to interpreting numbers).

I also use my analog multimeter for long time monitoring of voltages and currents. It does not need batteries, never turns itself off and it never beeps at you.

My analog meter was not very expensive, just 1 or 2 steps above the cheapest (those have almost no ranges). I also modified it a bit, so I can directly put "Dupont Wires" into it, which is convenient for breadboard work.

good example of legit use cases

use case trend seems to be that they work well for helping to identify ~slow moving trends - over ranges that can be smaller to larger depending on the scale used

[TimFox]

A proper analog meter is essential when adjusting a bridge for null--although normal VOMs do not have a zero-center movement.  The latency in a DVM prevents finding a good null.  I also use an analog CRO when adjusting AC bridges for null.

[emece67]

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[rstofer]

Where you need to rapidly scan many displays to find which are abnormal, they are preferred. That's why such displays are still found in many aircraft.

In the electrical substation business, it is not unheard of to fashion an arrow of red electrical tape and attach it to the front of a meter to indicate where the needle should be for normal operation.  Possibly even two arrows to indicate a range.  We don't care about 3 decimal places, we just need to know the voltage is 'about' right and the current is in a 'range' of expected readings.

One of the laughing points of high digit count DMMs is the circuit being probed uses 5% resistors and -20%..+80% capacitors with staggering temperature coefficients.  Who cares about digits?  Is the reading 'about' right is the best you can get.

The first DMM I used (circa '72) was line powered.  I had to find a working outlet to use my DMM.  Or I could just use my Triplett 630 V-O-M.

[akimpowerscr]

In the past I used a Hioki AF105 and an AVO 9 Mark IV but in 1992 I was able to buy a used Fluke 73 .... which I still use although since then I have bought more other Fluke multimeters like the 87 V.

As I was working in a dangerous field (high power electronics), the digital multimeter gave me a security that I did not have with analog multimeters. (with the 10A current input blocked with a piece of insulation!)

I always have a few analog multimeters (Avometer 9 Mark IV, Hansen M100 and Triplett 630-NA) useful for measuring 2Kv voltages that are found in analog osciloscopes or for currents up to 10 A

Many digital multimeters cannot withstand 10A constantly and there is a risk of blowing an expensive and hard to find fuse.

[Calambres]

...And at work I still have another 680R in the drawer...

The ICE 680R is an excellent analog multimeter. Mine has served me well for more than 40 years and it's still alive and kickin'...

Of my 680R multimeters, the first one I own was bought by myself on the 80's, it uses an normal 1.5V alkaline cell, the others were salvaged from scrapping at work and are older units using a 3 V cell not easily available, so I built an adapter to use CR123A cells.

Those 3V cells are readily available in ebay. I bought one recently.

[Electro Fan]

...And at work I still have another 680R in the drawer...

The ICE 680R is an excellent analog multimeter. Mine has served me well for more than 40 years and it's still alive and kickin'...

Of my 680R multimeters, the first one I own was bought by myself on the 80's, it uses an normal 1.5V alkaline cell, the others were salvaged from scrapping at work and are older units using a 3 V cell not easily available, so I built an adapter to use CR123A cells.

Those 3V cells are readily available in ebay. I bought one recently.

Swell, just after trying to talk myself and others out of needing any more analog multimeters now I need one of these:
https://www.amazon.it/MULTIMETRO-ANALOGICO-MOD-680R/dp/B00B22CP26
 
1-800-CALL-TEA

[Wallace Gasiewicz]

These still work, do you think your DMM will be alive in 100 yrs?

[Calambres]

Swell, just after trying to talk myself and others out of needing any more analog multimeters now I need one of these:
https://www.amazon.it/MULTIMETRO-ANALOGICO-MOD-680R/dp/B00B22CP26
 
1-800-CALL-TEA

Way too expensive! It had a steep price back in its heyday but now you can find it easily for half that price.
Still a very good instrument for sure!

[rsjsouza]

One of the nice uses for Analog multimeters is to find out transformer winding polarity. Something I mentioned here

I also started my career on my dad's ICE 680R - nice meter, but mine is due for cleanup and tuning. My dad adapted a CR123 battery and it works quite alright.

I personally like their charm and being self-powered.

These still work, do you think your DMM will be alive in 100 yrs?

Well, TBH I have a 41 years old bench meter (Keithley 191) that I don't really see it going anywhere. It will require some maintenance, especially due to aging electrolytics, but apart from that everything else is still in quite good shape. Of course, if a nuclear EMP event takes place, than we go back to analog.

[james_s]

They are neat looking, and have a few niche advantages such as monitoring rapidly changing voltages and the fact that they will work without batteries to measure everything but resistance. I no longer have one though, digital does everything I need it to do. I do however like analog panel meters and prefer those over digital in most cases.

[emece67]

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[Calambres]

Yes, that one from Amazon a 680-R series VII. My 680-R is an older series 3 model.

[Electro Fan]

this is the kind of thing that helps grow your analog multimeter family

[pwlps]

For me there are two different questions here: analog meters and analog displays. I sometimes replaced the whole electronics in old lab instruments but always keeping the original analog milliampmeters as primary displays even if there are ADCs and everything is connected to a computer.  The thing is when I have to survey half a dozen or more displays during an experiment I don't like digital displays because it takes me much longer to integrate all the readings, it seems my brain remains analog in nature . I think I couldn't fly a plane with an all-digital instrument panel (if such existed, I don't know any).

[tggzzz]

For me there are two different questions here: analog meters and analog displays. I sometimes replaced the whole electronics in old lab instruments but always keeping the original analog milliampmeters as primary displays even if there are ADCs and everything is connected to a computer.  The thing is when I have to survey half a dozen or more displays during an experiment I don't like digital displays because it takes me much longer to integrate all the readings, it seems my brain remains analog in nature . I think I couldn't fly a plane with an all-digital instrument panel (if such existed, I don't know any).

Basically... Yes.

But I was taught to fly a glider with zero instruments, on the principle that they fail and you still have to land. And yes, I had had failures.

Obviously the altimeter is pretty useless except if you are landing where you launched.

The vario isn't essential, but the battery can fail and the orifices can be blocked.

The ASI is important since eyou are often flying near stall or Vne speeds. Traditionally they are put out of action by a bumble bee or rain, but in my case it was a rubber flap.

Never had an artificial horizon since I never did cloud flying; I used the real one.

As for the radio... What radio?

[pwlps]

The ASI is important since eyou are often flying near stall or Vne speeds. Traditionally they are put out of action by a bumble bee or rain, but in my case it was a rubber flap.

This is why I don't understand why in most schools only the power-assisted approach is taught, here the ASI indication is important. For power-off approach you don't really need it.
But maybe I'm going slightly off-topic here.

[tggzzz]

The ASI is important since eyou are often flying near stall or Vne speeds. Traditionally they are put out of action by a bumble bee or rain, but in my case it was a rubber flap.

This is why I don't understand why in most schools only the power-assisted approach is taught, here the ASI indication is important. For power-off approach you don't really need it.

Why on earth don't you need it?

ASI is just as important in a engine-off approach. Too slow => stall/spin, whether powered by hydrocarbons or gravity.

[pwlps]

Why on earth don't you need it?

ASI is just as important in a engine-off approach. Too slow => stall/spin, whether powered by hydrocarbons or gravity.

This is really off topic but I will answer the question.   I mean I can safely land with engine off without even looking at ASI because I only slow down right before touching the runway,  before that I fly well above Vs so I can easily feel the speed on the yoke response.

[tggzzz]

The ASI is important since eyou are often flying near stall or Vne speeds. Traditionally they are put out of action by a bumble bee or rain, but in my case it was a rubber flap.

This is why I don't understand why in most schools only the power-assisted approach is taught, here the ASI indication is important. For power-off approach you don't really need it.

Why on earth don't you need it?

ASI is just as important in a engine-off approach. Too slow => stall/spin, whether powered by hydrocarbons or gravity.

This is really off topic but I will answer the question.   I mean I can safely land with engine off without even looking at ASI because I only slow down right before touching the runway,  before that I fly well above Vs so I can easily feel the speed on the yoke response.

Precisely. There is no difference between a powered and unpowered landing w.r.t. needing an ASI.

However in a glider it is normal to fly close to stall speed, except during the approach since that's when you are more likely to suffer bad consequences from windshear or gusts.