Author Topic: What was your first multimeter or voltmeter?  (Read 44951 times)

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Offline LawsenTopic starter

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What was your first multimeter or voltmeter?
« on: October 03, 2011, 09:35:16 pm »
We all have our humble beginnings.  I remembered, when I was at San Jose State University, a Spanish woman civil engineering student, showed me her Fluke 77 Series One digital multimeter, that she won in her high school contest and her stellar grades, too.  She was pretty.  She started with a Fluke 77 Series one.  My start was humble, a Radio Shack Micronta analog multimeter.  I did not upgrade to a Fluke 8060A (broke and traded in), until community college electronics trade school.  What was your first multimeter?  I have relative who is an electrical engineer and licensed, but he used his Simpson 260 analog multimeter.  He never upgraded, that is all he use, even with the brittle plastic phenolic case. 
« Last Edit: October 06, 2011, 04:26:11 am by Lawsen »
 

Offline david77

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Re: What was your first multimeter or voltmeter?
« Reply #1 on: October 03, 2011, 09:52:46 pm »
I got my first multimeter sometime arounf 1990 but I couldn't tell you what brand or modell it was.
It was a simple yellow 3,5 digits chinese (or more likely Hong Kong back then) thing with just the
most basic ranges. The manufacturers name started with "H" I'm pretty shure.
It served me for the first 10 years of my electronic hobby then I upgraded to the Metex 3630CR
that I still have - and sometimes use - today.
 

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Re: What was your first multimeter or voltmeter?
« Reply #2 on: October 03, 2011, 10:07:21 pm »
First:


Second:


Third:


Fourth:


Fifth:



I regret not being around when the bakelite Avometers were popular!
 

Offline Kiriakos-GR

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Re: What was your first multimeter or voltmeter?
« Reply #3 on: October 03, 2011, 10:13:43 pm »
My first one was an high quality Japanese analogue, I was just 15 years old (1985), accidentally I did damaged it,
I was clueless about repairing it, and ended up on the garbage can.

I was not so much in love with it, the damn scale on it was so narrow and hard to read.  :)

The replacement was a more tiny analogue, I kept it for two years and gave it as gift to another person,
as soon I got my true worthy digital one at 1988, the  Pros kit 03-9303C .  https://www.eevblog.com/forum/index.php?topic=4825.0

About 12 years  later (2000), I got my small UNI-T 30D, as small and compact.
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/index.php?topic=4001.0

EEV blog time
At 2010 I got my first Fluke  https://www.eevblog.com/forum/index.php?topic=258.msg42039#msg42039at the same year got and another three Fluke  https://www.eevblog.com/forum/index.php?topic=718.0

At 2010 got also my analogue industrial Metrawatt. 
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/index.php?topic=342.0

And at 2011 Agilent honored me by offering to me their latest U1272A for review.
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/index.php?topic=3232.0

Some one should pull the plug from EEV , it cost me money !!  ;D ;D ;D ;D




 
« Last Edit: October 03, 2011, 10:40:02 pm by Kiriakos-GR »
 

Offline PetrosA

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Re: What was your first multimeter or voltmeter?
« Reply #4 on: October 03, 2011, 10:46:11 pm »
I had the old black Amprobe clamp meters to use at work back in the 1980s, but the first meter i ever bought (c. 1989) was an RCC-350 made in Korea. It was not TRMS, but it was digital, and was pretty state of the art back then. I think I paid about $65 for it by mistake (about a day's wages), as I seem to remember that a day after I bought mine they had fixed the price in the supply house to about $140. At that time my supply house carried RCC and Hioki test gear, with the Hioki costing about $100 more for a similar unit.

I took it with me to Poland in 1992 and brought it back with me in 2006. I finally sold it at a yard sale about two years ago for $10. It still worked fine, had no issues with the LCD, and was a great little DMM.

Next I had an Extech EX830 1000A clamp meter, then an Agilent U1211A, then two Greenlees - the DM300 (to make up for the inadequate resistance range on the U11211A) later replaced by a DM810 that also did datalogging, then I got my U1272A. Lately I bought a Greenlee CM-450 clamp meter for getting into tight places and as a primary tool pouch meter (it's very small!).
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Offline Lanman

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Re: What was your first multimeter or voltmeter?
« Reply #5 on: October 04, 2011, 12:47:38 am »
I started with a used Simpson 260 when I started college in 1981.  I don't remember what series it was but it was fairly new at the time.  Shortly thereafter I picked up a Radio Shack digital meter of some kind just for the novelty of it.  I used the Simpson most of the time.  I can't even remember what happened to that Simpson meter. 

HP recruited me before I finished my last year in college and that's where I met my first Fluke.  Had a rack mounted HP high precision umpteen digit nixie tube multimeter and a Fluke 75 (I think) on my bench.  Also had a Fluke 77 at one time.  Today I'm using the Amprobe AM-140-a. 

Wish I still had that old Simpson. That thing was built like a tank and it took a lot of abuse from me as a student.  I can still remember pegging that needle so hard I thought it would wrap around the stop. 
 

Offline AlphZeta

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Re: What was your first multimeter or voltmeter?
« Reply #6 on: October 04, 2011, 01:33:02 am »
MF10A
 

Online EEVblog

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Re: What was your first multimeter or voltmeter?
« Reply #7 on: October 04, 2011, 01:44:28 am »
Radio Shack / Tandy Micronta 22-201U 20Kohms/volt analog

Dave.
 

Offline Lightages

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Re: What was your first multimeter or voltmeter?
« Reply #8 on: October 04, 2011, 04:43:23 am »
Ok this thread has inspired me to finally post something with pictures.

I received this meter as a gift from my uncle when I was 11 years old in 1971. This was my start in electronics. I must have tested anything I could get my hands on back then. I left it one day with the test leads plugged in and they got bent beyond repair when I bumped it. My uncle replaced them without complaint. I have treasured this beginning instrument all my life.

I just tested it for accuracy while taking these pictures and it is within spec for everything except AC voltage. It reads far too low, 6.2V when fed a 6.5VAC signal. I was surprised that everything works as well as it does after all this time.
« Last Edit: October 04, 2011, 04:47:59 am by Lightages »
 

Offline FrankMc

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Re: What was your first multimeter or voltmeter?
« Reply #9 on: October 04, 2011, 09:55:54 am »
Hi Guys

My first multimeter was a  a japanese one...an Eagle K1400  20,000 OPV.....Was a poor mans AVO (back in 1977) cost me approx 50 quid....Still have it but dont use it much these days....

Frank
 

Offline saturation

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Re: What was your first multimeter or voltmeter?
« Reply #10 on: October 04, 2011, 10:15:33 am »
My first, and still have it.  I think many true nerds who have a 'first meter' often still have it and don't have the nerve to throw it away  :'(

Best Wishes,

 Saturation
 

Offline BravoV

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Re: What was your first multimeter or voltmeter?
« Reply #11 on: October 04, 2011, 10:55:51 am »
My first, and still have it.  I think many true nerds who have a 'first meter' often still have it and don't have the nerve to throw it away  :'(

As far as I know personally, most electronic nerds (me included) never throw away stuffs, thats why my wife called us a bunch of hoarders.  ;D

C'mon, ever watched (in memoriam) Jim William's personal workshop at his house, forgot  which video, I think he was fixing some old Tek scope and when he needed a cap to replace the broken one at the tek scope, he was sort of searching it among those mountain gazillion of components laying on top of his table.  I'm pretty sure we all have this kind of space for those left over abadoned components either at the corner at our table or drawer.  ;)


Offline ciccio

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Re: What was your first multimeter or voltmeter?
« Reply #12 on: October 04, 2011, 11:42:37 am »
My first multimeter, back at school in the late 60', was an ICE 680R, still in production  in Italy after more than 60 years.. http://www.icestrumentazione.it/ProdMultAnalog.html.
I was in use everywhere, from factories to small repairman's shops,   and in effect it was more complicated than the standard multimeter, because it did not have a knob...
In the army I used an AVO model 7, than at work again ICE 680R and AVO models 7 and 8.
We had a digital multimeter from France (don't remember the maker or the model, because nobody wanted to use it because it was so slooooow).
The first usable digital we got (about 1979) was a wonderful BECKMAN 3020: it used a custom converter, and was faster than the Flukes that we compared, that used Intersil chips.
The first one I bought for myself was a Chinese analog  "El Cheapo" that lasted 2 days before exploding, and was replaced by a digital 3 1/2 from Japan. The latter was sold after many years of faithful service, for being replaced with a 4 1/2 digits TRM  BECKMAN and maybe 10 other, mostly resold.
I'm still in love with the 3020 I used at work. The 4 1/2 digits had lower speed and higher battery drain.
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Offline armandas

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Re: What was your first multimeter or voltmeter?
« Reply #13 on: October 04, 2011, 12:40:03 pm »
Got it in the first year at uni. Hardly new anything about multimeters and could not understand how people can sell them so cheaply :))
 

Offline Achilles

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Re: What was your first multimeter or voltmeter?
« Reply #14 on: October 04, 2011, 05:27:24 pm »
Hmm, my first DMM contact has been in school by some old Metrix Analogue and DMM...... kinda liked the analogue ones with bakelite cases and so. A bit of old-school ;)
My first multimeter then I bought was an Voltcraft. They just label, but they are very common around here and I think not thaaaaat bad for some general work when you don't work on high energy.... It's a True RMS with a little square wave generator (Very basic with just a few Hertz-Presets), Logic levels (TTL3V and 5V). Frequency counter and some buttons. The internal Temperature reading has always been shitty (about 5-6Deg Celsius above) but the rest still does work fine. So I still use and abuse it ;). It's been in use for about 12 years and was about 140Euro's.... so that has been OK all over the years....
 

Offline Kozmyk

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Re: What was your first multimeter or voltmeter?
« Reply #15 on: October 04, 2011, 05:53:21 pm »
Too far back to remember ...
I have a vague memory of a cheapo from Marks electrical shop. Cardiff circa 1965.

It was a long time before I got an Avo 8.

I had a baby Micronta that I took in my backpack when I went to India.
That basic toolkit (all had to fit in one rucksack pocket) got me introductions to all kinds of interesting people along my journey.
A millionaire, an embassy guard, a gangster and more.


 

Offline Neilm

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Re: What was your first multimeter or voltmeter?
« Reply #16 on: October 04, 2011, 06:29:38 pm »
My fist was a very cheap multimeter bought in the market when I started a serious interest in Electronics.

It had a glass fuse, a transistor tester connected to the terminal inputs and many other things not allowed by IEC61010. For a laugh, just after I started my current job I took it to work and tested it as it claimed it was CATII. The explosion was fairly impressive.

Neil

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Offline Anders

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Re: What was your first multimeter or voltmeter?
« Reply #17 on: October 04, 2011, 06:46:23 pm »
An old AVO 8 that someone had dropped, I got it for free and glued it back together.  ;)
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Offline deephaven

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Re: What was your first multimeter or voltmeter?
« Reply #18 on: October 04, 2011, 07:53:50 pm »
In 1960 when I was 10 I had one of these.

 
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Offline PStevenson

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Re: What was your first multimeter or voltmeter?
« Reply #19 on: October 04, 2011, 09:24:49 pm »

when I was a boy of 8 my dad bought a Maplin Precision Gold meter, it has a beautiful leather case and I wanted it for my own so I hatched a plan. I would wait for a year so that the guarantee would run out and then disable it in a manner that he wouldn't be able to figure out - his electronics knowledge extends to "if it's broke and the fuse is okay, it's buggered forever"

so the day after the guarantee ran out (it was in my diary!) I located a resistor that was part of a DC to DC converter from the battery to the meter and snipped it with my side cutters halfway up the resistor leg (yes I was a very nerdy 9 year old) so the meter would not function. then the flaw in my plan emerged, I would have to wait for an occasion for him to use it to discover it didn't work. so I took the plug on the TV apart and removed the fuse, shorted it across my trainset power supply to blow it, then I put it back into the TV's plug (in the UK the fuse is in the plug)

so of course he found out it was broken and I ended up with it "to take apart" so once he had gotten a new one I soldered the resistor back together (yes, I did have a soldering iron at the age of 9!)  which meant I had my first multimeter and I still have it to this day!
it's funny, I actually owned an oscilloscope before a multimeter - didn't have a clue how to use it of course, some weird guy who lived on my road gave it me to take apart but it worked - well it turned on but thats a story for another day I think.
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Offline IanB

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Re: What was your first multimeter or voltmeter?
« Reply #20 on: October 05, 2011, 03:22:32 am »
I have not seen mine yet, so here it is:



I think I bought it in 1977, back in those glorious days before anyone had heard of "safety". I never blew any fuses and I never electrocuted myself. In those long distant school days "Tandy" was an Aladdin's cave of things I could only dream about, but after admiring it for months that meter eventually fell within my budget and I took it home. I've kept it ever since.
 

Offline codeboy2k

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Re: What was your first multimeter or voltmeter?
« Reply #21 on: October 05, 2011, 05:31:54 am »
My first multimeter was back in the early 70's and I can't even remember the name anymore. 
It was of course analog, similar to the Micronta's but I don't think it was actually a Micronta. Maybe it was.

I was about 12 years old then, my dad bought it for me :)

Later we started getting a lot of HP and Tektronix stuff at home, power-supplies, scopes, bench meters, curve-tracers, spectrum analyzers,  I think he was stealing them from his work LOL.. just kidding, he was the VP of Engineering so he had the authority.  But it was pretty cool being so young and having all the coolest gear at home at your personal bench.  ;D
 

Offline Gall

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Re: What was your first multimeter or voltmeter?
« Reply #22 on: October 05, 2011, 12:20:00 pm »
I had this one:



It still works but I don't use them anymore.
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Offline PetrosA

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Re: What was your first multimeter or voltmeter?
« Reply #23 on: October 05, 2011, 12:33:18 pm »
I think that in both the "Way Cool" and the "You Gotta Have Balls To Use It" categories, the Pifco wins hands down :) Is it rated for line volt testing?
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Offline tekfan

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Re: What was your first multimeter or voltmeter?
« Reply #24 on: October 05, 2011, 02:08:44 pm »
I had this one:



It still works but I don't use them anymore.

My first one was actually nearly identical to that one. I still have it and occasionally use it. The only difference is that mine has lower voltage and current ranges. Nice quality russian design.
One can never have enough oscilloscopes.
 


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