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Good multimeter for Industrial use at work (Fluke alternatives)

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Tomorokoshi:

--- Quote from: bdunham7 on December 24, 2022, 03:51:52 am ---
--- Quote from: BillyO on December 24, 2022, 02:38:51 am ---Can you provide a link or a citation to any kind of a record or an article of or about someone being killed by their modern multimeter in the last decade?

--- End quote ---

Links in this post.  Not quite killed (in this case) and not Brymen, but CEM rebadged as a USA brand.  This is what a long-time Fluke user that isn't a multimeter enthusiast is going to worry about.  THey aren't going to know the difference between CEM, UNI-T and Brymen.

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/hear-kitty-kitty-kitty-nope-not-that-kind-of-cat/msg3714598/#msg3714598

--- End quote ---

Wow! That case is an overflowing helping of screw-up. Not even sure where to begin. Non-Ex equipment in a mine? Basically defining Southwire as a hardware store? Forget it, Jake, it's Kentucky.

Hence, from my original response:

--- Quote ---4. Do you trust the certifications of the meters and any assorted test leads and accessories?
--- End quote ---

mendip_discovery:
One of the things you might want to look at and add to your shopping list is your accuracy requirements. They measure stuff on the UPS and that has a specification, so you need a meter that meets/beats that spec. Use it to help remove meters that are cheap but no way would be suitable for the job.

Sadly I have found through the amount of meters I calibrate that the fluke meters just work. They tend to keep within spec year after year. Yes they do break but not at the rate the others do.

Though many of my customers have swapped over the years to cheaper brands as they just needed to save money and the ease of next day delivery of a RS Pro meter does make a difference. Plus many of then realised that the meters arent used for precision measurments or they spend most of thier time as a continuity tester.

iet:
At work I use different FLUKE multimeters. And for my home lab I use the PC Work PCW02 multimeter I bought last week. It is not expensive and I am satisfied with all the functions.
https://pcworktools.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/pcw02a-user-manual-digital-multimeter-pcwork.pdf

AVGresponding:

--- Quote from: rsjsouza on December 24, 2022, 01:17:05 am ---Just one aspect in favour of Brymens is that a very reputable tools supplier in the USA (Greenlee) has been using their rebranded meters in OEM and features lifetime warranty. This partnership comes from more than one generation of Brymen's product line and the first I saw was at least ten years ago. That debunks the myth that Brymens do not have a track record as well - a higher failure rate would probably not make Greenlee move to a second generation of products from the same OEM.

As for my own experience, I have a 2003-built Brymen BM857 that sees heavy use for ten years and is still accurate and solid as a rock. I recently got a smaller Greenlee DM-200A (Brymen BM251) that is extremely well built.

For the industrial segment, the only Uni-T that I would consider (with heaps of caution) is the UT195 family, with a small window for the UT139C. But track record of their models is quite poor.

Klein meters are rugged and survive quite the abuse - despite I have never used one, I have seen many in quite rough shape but still very accurate and still felt mechanically sound. They are also a reputable brand of tools in the US. They seem an original design and not an OEM.

Good luck with your procurement!

--- End quote ---

25 years of use in the hobbyist market isn't quite the same as 50+ years in the industrial sector. I don't know if Brymen have a contract with the Taiwanese military, but that would be an excellent way to establish a credible presence. It's arguably military contracts that have been one of the main pillars of Fluke's success, on the basis that if the knuckleheads in the armed forces can use them out in the field without destroying them or killing themselves, they are probably a decent bet for a factory floor.

I have a UT139C, and it's a nice little meter for hobby use, but I wouldn't let it anywhere near a serious energy source.

tooki:

--- Quote from: nightfire on December 23, 2022, 08:24:52 am ---Alternatives to Fluke regarding safety and reliability? Aaaand a calibration structure behind them? Gossen Metrawatt comes to mind, but they are usually more expensive than Fluke- or maybe one of the newer models has some useful features to it than the existing Fluke meters. Also Hioki looks nice, but I have no first-hand experience with them.

--- End quote ---
Exactly.

There are other top-tier meter manufacturers, but they’re not really any cheaper than Fluke, and often more expensive.

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