Products > Test Equipment
Big Clive's "Trashy" meter, unboxed ( Duratool D03047 multimeter )
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AndyBeez:
There is a justifiable real world use case for trashy meters: A school science lab or engineering department requires meters that can be used, abused, destroyed and stolen by pupils, whilst keeping inside the school's diminished science/engineering budget. [ As the school prefers to spend all of its funds on a fully equipped sport gym, next year's budget will be even slimmer. Which will be blown on portable oscilloscopes. ] Chances are, the smart EE students will already have a Fluke or EEVBlog meter at home.

As for the price of these meters, put your production engineering hard-hats on for a moment. Could as a business you design, manufacture, promote and distribute these meters for their western market price point? Very unlikely.
Fungus:

--- Quote from: robert.rozee on April 15, 2023, 07:48:23 pm ---an average reasonable person (as defined in law) would be hard pushed to not assume it was safe for making measurements up to 500 volts.
--- End quote ---

An "average person" has no business poking around inside mains distribution panels. It might even be illegal.

Even Dave doesn't do it. He calls in an electrician in the videos where he's connecting up his solar panels, etc.

I assume all electricians:
a) Are aware of what a CAT rating is
b) Would laugh if they were given this meter to work with


--- Quote from: robert.rozee on April 15, 2023, 07:48:23 pm ---it is a poor analogy, "About 90 people are killed every year on New Zealand roads because they weren't wearing a seatbelt"

--- End quote ---

It's a perfect analogy, you just forgot to contrast with "how many people didn't?"

According to this page: 91,000 people were fined in NZ for not wearing a seatbelt.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/motoring/122306446/traffic-fines-have-cost-kiwis-more-than-272-million

(nb. that's just the ones who were caught/fined - the real number will be much, much higher)
Fungus:
The manual that comes with this meter is surprisingly specific about overload protection on each range:





Edit: I'm not sure why it says the 5A range has a 250V fuse, the one inside the meter definitely has "500V" stamped on it.


Maybe they decided to upgrade the fuse to match the other one after the manual was printed - avoid confusion by having them both the same.
robert.rozee:
with just a little photo editing, here is a much more suitable version:



note that apart from removing ranges, a small electrical modification would be required so that above 75v an over range is displayed - the continuity buzzer could also be pulsed as an extra warning.


cheers,
rob   :-)
joeqsmith:

--- Quote from: robert.rozee on April 15, 2023, 07:48:23 pm ---... , i can not think where the average person might today encounter such a defined source. in times gone by, perhaps a battery-powered fluorescent lamp? but today, no.

--- End quote ---

From the link provided:

--- Quote ---CAT I describes secondary circuits not intended to be connected to the mains electricity supply, such as electronics, including a typical laptop PC, and circuits powered by regulated low voltage sources.
--- End quote ---

I wouldn't consider people involved with this forum being average.  I'm sure there are a few of us working with electronics in excess of 500V.  I would have no problem using even the free HF meter to measure kV levels as long as the energy is low enough.   
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