Products > Test Equipment

Looking for a decent 220VAC multimeter

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AVGresponding:

--- Quote from: Fungus on October 08, 2022, 09:37:38 pm ---
--- Quote from: AVGresponding on October 08, 2022, 09:27:42 pm ---Turning circuits off one at a time is a decent low-tech way of discovering the general source of this type of fault.[/color][/size][/b]

--- End quote ---

Normally it would be when a motor turns on, eg. a fridge.

--- End quote ---

If it's a current spike, yes. Might be earth leakage from, say, too many cheap SMPS on a circuit, or inrush from LED lights. Without being there and seeing for myself, it's impossible to do more than guess.

Black Phoenix:

--- Quote from: moreg on October 08, 2022, 08:32:28 pm ---Thank you very much guys, much appreciated !

There most likely are competent electricians in my area, but I couldn't find one that's freelancing.
They seem to work with companies on large projects, not "routine" stuff.
And we don't have some sort of public database (such as a telephone directory) that would allow us to find a certified competent electrician. It's all "word-of-mouth".

I would definitely prefer to have an electrician do this for me, it's just that I couldn't find one that's trustworthy.

One of the electricians we brought to fix an issue (main RCBO constantly tripping) was supposed to be super qualified : he had done the electrical work of many luxurious houses in the area (tens if not hundreds over the years), with a ton of experience.
Not only did he fail to fix the issue, but he also tried to trick us into thinking he had fixed the issue by replacing the RCBO with a breaker that lacks earth fault detection.
"There's an earth fault that's constantly triggering the RCBO? Let's get rid of the earth fault protection, and tell them I've fixed the problem !"

Another "funny" story with him: I start talking to him about how I want to have whole house surge protection installed (such as this).
His reaction ? "No, you don't need stuff like that! That's super expensive, it involves a huge antenna, only factories use this sort of stuff!"
You guessed it, he didn't even now what whole house surge protection is about, he thought I was asking for a lightning rod.

We brought another "electrician" that's supposed to be competent, he couldn't fix the issue either, right now we're still using the breaker that lacks the earth fault detection.

Anyways, I'm not trying to be negative or judgemental, I'm just frustrated that I have to take this matter in my own hands  :-\

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To quickly answer some of your questions :

* Chauvin Arnoux is the only "reputable" brand available in my city. In theory, there's one company in another city that sells Fluke stuff, I'll try to reach out to them within the next few days and see if they ship products.
Is it safe to buy DMM from Aliexpress? No risk of receiving a knockoff?
* As I said earlier, I'm a total noob, I didn't know anything about the existence of two-probe testers  ;D
One of the reasons I wanted to get a DMM was to be able to identify why stuff is malfunctioning, and check the wiring (more on that later).

For example :
- I plug my pressure washer (rated at 230V, not full range) into an outlet, yet it fails to work properly. Is it because there are bubbles trapped inside the machine, or because the supplied voltage is too low?
If I test the voltage with my DMM and find that the supplied voltage is way too low (say 180V instead of 220V), I will know it's probably not a good idea to keep using this plug for anything power intensive
But if I find that the voltage is 220V, I will not go looking for another plug with better voltage, I'll try getting rid of any potential bubbles

- Recently, one of the kitchen's plugs got ripped out of its place when trying to unplug an appliance. Culprit? The "hooks" that maintain the plug in place are janky, the plug needs to be replaced. I go buy a new plug, shut down the main breaker, and start disassembling the plug.
What do I find? The "electrician" who ran the wires inside the house left us a beautiful surprise : the earth wire isn't yellow/green, it's black. There's a blue wire, supposedly neutral, and two, not one, yellow wires for what appears to be the phase ;D
How do I know for sure I'm not risking my life when touching those wires to redo the plug?
A DMM would help me make sure there's no voltage across any wire, and identify which is which (would I be able to check this sort of stuff with a two-probe tester?)
Anyway, I'll do some research to try and understand how a two-probe tester differs from a DMM, and will look into all of your propositions.

Again, thank you all for your precious help, have a great day !

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Heck I'm currently 10000KM away from you, since my home country is Portugal and looks that you are in Morocco.

If I was in Portugal I would do the trip to Morocco (easy as going to the south of the country and then catch a ferry) and to the job for you. Your problem looks like the same I had in Shenzhen that was connection in a plug who was tripping the breaker, plus breakers screws not snug tight. I have access to a Instalation tester plus my own DMMs.

themadhippy:
If you go down the 2 probe tester avoid the ones that use a string of leds to show the voltage,whilst ok as a quick check, for fault finding you want something that shows the actual voltage

--- Quote ---There's an earth fault that's constantly triggering the RCBO
--- End quote ---
For those sort of faults an insulation tester,often called a megger,is almost an essential

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