| Products > Test Equipment |
| “Blown” Fuses in Several New Multimeters |
| << < (7/9) > >> |
| Locator:
I get it - don't do it. That wasn't my question. Lead "alarms" wouldn't have helped and I'm not defending the 117 that I blew the fuse on. The leads were in the correct jacks for the dial setting - they were in the 10A jack and the dial was on the "A"/amps setting. There should not be no alarm showing in that case. The mistake was - I accidentally touched the leads to the outlet and blew the fuse when distracted. Got it. You're not supposed to do that, I get it... My question - and surprise/alarm is - I don't know why all the other bad fuses. And no, they were never used to check current, nor voltages with the leads in the current jacks. My assumption is I've received some previously used meters from Amazon. If you've bought much from Amazon, you have often received things people have returned. It's usually easy to tell, when the display protector has been removed or there is hair on the meter or the meter is turned backward, with a magnet against the face, or there is a return shipping label from some other Amazon customer in the package, etc... And I have plenty of devices to check that an outlet is working - I was checking the consistency of the AC readings on each of the meters. How else would you do that? Not that I need to give this info, either, but I personally keep plugs in the current jacks on my multimeters. It's something I rarely have to use, the aforementioned time, notwithstanding. I have clamp meters for that. And - WHY would checking alkaline batteries with DC voltage on any multimeter blow a fuse? It wouldn't. |
| Fungus:
--- Quote from: Locator on September 05, 2024, 08:47:09 pm ---And - WHY would checking alkaline batteries with DC voltage on any multimeter blow a fuse? It wouldn't. --- End quote --- No, but people get the leads in the wrong holes. Bopttom line: No "new" meter would have blown fuses. If you're buying off Amazon and it arrives with a blown fuse then return it ASAP. |
| J-R:
I've purchased two Fluke DMMs from the Amazon Warehouse that were returns. 87V and 287. Both were in great condition and came with third-party calibration data (per the listing), although the Bluetooth to IR adapter was missing from the 287. I contacted customer service and got a some money back. Was a steal of a deal. Anyway, long story short: neither had any blown fuses. However, plenty of used handheld and bench DMMs that I've purchased on eBay have had blown fuses. Obviously user error. But that is the job of the fuses. Most recent was a mint condition Fluke 45. The 10A input uses a 15A fast-blow fuse. |
| Doctorandus_P:
I don't know about the flukes, but the Brymen meters beep at you when you have the test leads in a current plug while the rotary switch is in another position. My first meter did not have this (That was 30 years ago), and the first serious DMM I bought (Dynatek 112) also already had this. It's very rare to blow a fuse with such a meter. I also have a Wavetek Meterman XP35. I bought it in a pawn shop for EUR35. It also had it's fuses blown, even though this meter also has this bleeping function. So I replaced them, and had a fully working meter again :) |
| floobydust:
Fluke is looking at adding LED-rings to the input jacks as yet another way to stop jack mistakes from happening. But I'm sure we've all measured something on the mA range when current goes up a bit unexpectedly and takes out the fuse. One way to eat up fuses is automotive 12VDC work. Opening a door interior lamp, tap the brake pedal etc. and fuse blows while measuring parasite draw. I have seen really cheap fuses from china that had salt-water inside them. Corrosion :o You could take apart your blown fuses for an autopsy. OP, I think unless you've got aliens borrowing your test equipment, you're buying defective products. Might be why the price is lower than the rest? |
| Navigation |
| Message Index |
| Next page |
| Previous page |