Electronics > Beginners
Why do I need more than 1 multimeter?
Brumby:
--- Quote from: Berni on July 23, 2019, 12:13:18 pm ---... And this is how volt nuttery starts.
--- End quote ---
Starts - and continues .... (and, no, it never ends.)
Rick Law:
--- Quote from: Berni on July 23, 2019, 12:13:18 pm ---Well there is still a benefit to having only 1 multimeter. When you measure something being 10V you accept it as being 10V
If you have 2 multimeters and one shows 10V and other shows 9.998V... so which meter is accurate. Now you need a 3rd one to check, but then that meter shows 9.999V. And this is how volt nuttery starts.
--- End quote ---
With that logic, why not have none? You just estimate and you can't be proven wrong.
Three. That is my magic number. Normally, I measure with my lone "good one" (UT61E). The other two are cheap DT820's. They are generally for when I work with power related. In those cases, I like to know Vin-Vout, or V & I at the same time. I also have a few ADS1115 boards (16 bit DAC) along with a few INA219 boards (12 bit DAC) that can be hooked up quickly to take on the V&I measurements.
As to volt-nuts... I think I recovered from it. I came to accept - well, until I get a 64 kilo-bit DAC with +-1% accuracy, I would not be truly happy with the results. But some old German guy call Heisenberg or something like that - this fellow poured cold water on the idea of really really really accurate measurements...
mariush:
It's good to have at least two multimeters, for example to measure input and output voltages , or to measure current while also measuring voltage.
You could also have two multimeters for various functionality you might need.
For example, my main multimeter is a Uni-T UT61E. However, I also bought a Uni-T clampmeter, to measure AC and DC currents without breaking the wires that power devices. As a side functionality, it's also a 2000 count multimeter capable of measuring voltage, resistance, continuity... and it's good enough for some basic measurements.
Then, I also bought a LCR meter, because I wanted to have something capable of measuring inductors... and this one can also measure voltages and resistors and so on...
mindcrime:
The correct number of multi-meters to own is always n+1, where n is the number you currently own...
For more quality advice, visit the TEA thread... :-+
Additionally, in the first sentence above, you can replace "multi-meters" with any of ( oscilloscopes | power supplies | LCR meters | spectrum analyzers | logic analyzers | signal generators | rubidium standards | network protocol analyzers | data acquisition mainframes | pulse generators | insulation testers | modulation domain analyzers | etc) and it remains equally true. >:D
Brumby:
--- Quote from: mindcrime on July 24, 2019, 02:04:47 am ---The correct number of multi-meters to own is always n+1, where n is the number you currently own...
--- End quote ---
I would like to challenge that. My current status is at n+2.
In addition to my current holding, I would like to add a bench meter with 4 wire measurement and something like the Uni-T 210E for a DC current clamp meter. Why? ... Because I don't have them. ;D
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