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Was your first meter a "trashy" meter?

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Ian.M:
How about this one I inherited?

Actually I had two of them, and IIRC still have one. It was a truly crappy meter that heavily loaded any circuit you connected it to (25Ω/V !!!)  |O
The only difference between its 8V range and its 40mA current range was the terminals you were *supposed* to use, with both sets of terminals actually wired in parallel, so 8V burden voltage at FSD!  See https://www.radiomuseum.org/r/pifco_all_in_one_pocket_meter.html for details and specs.

When I started studying electronics formally, I treated myself to a 20KΩ/V analog multimeter from Radio Shack - this was in the days before shrouded test leads and CAT ratings.  It did have a fuse for its 300mA range, but the 10A range was totally unfused and there was no overload protection for its Ohms ranges so I rebuilt its divider resistor chain a few times due to mishaps with large charged capacitors.  :'(

My first digital meter was the infamous Radio Shack/Tandy Micronta 22-164 'Autorange Voice Meter' which took over a second for the reading to stabilise before the speech function would give the correct result.  If you pressed the button too soon, it often gave the correct digits, but the wrong order of magnitude.  It also had cheesy leads with a proprietary +ve probe, which I eventually had to rebuild with new connectors at the meter end.  At the time I used a hacked 2.5mm jack plug for the speech trigger and built it as a Y cable with a 4mm banana plug for the probe connection.  As I've still got the meter, if I ever do it again, I'll probably 3D print a shell to replicate the original connector, and coat it in red plastidip. Otherwise, it was a reasonably decent meter for its vintage and price-point.

Here's someone else's video of it:

Fungus:

--- Quote from: BillyO on March 23, 2023, 08:47:33 pm ---But I was chuffed as hell to have it!

--- End quote ---

Do they say "chuffed" in Canada? I thought that word was from Sheffield, UK.

(where I spent a few years)


alm:
The first meter I used as a kid was an analog meter of what was probably a decent brand I can no longer remember. That meter died when I tried to measure resistance of the wall socket, which sent sparks across the display and presumably burnt out the coil. The meter would swing freely after, so I got rid of it. Then I got a rebranded Metex meter. Manual ranging 3.5 digit, but okay for that era. Costs about US$75 in today's money. The important property back then was having a 10 MOhm input impedance. Not exactly a Fluke, but back then decent hobbyist quality. Cheaper DMMs would have only a 1 MOhm input impedance. Analog meters were still being sold, but mostly in the cheapest price bracket.

I killed the buzzer in that DMM when i applied reverse-power: my lesson that the polarity on battery clips is reversed from that of 9V batteries, so the big contact is the positive instead of the negative, but later replaced the CMOS logic IC that died to the reverse-voltage.

shakalnokturn:
Metex 3650B (I voted high-end, it felt good for my ego. Who else cheated on the poll?)
I still have it today even if it no longer gets to see the light, in fact due to this topic it's been powered on for the first time since at least 17 years. (No I'm not checking calibration...)
It was heavily used and highly respected between about 1992 to 2006, too much choice now...

vk6zgo:

--- Quote from: wasedadoc on March 23, 2023, 05:18:53 pm ---
--- Quote from: Fungus on March 23, 2023, 03:43:20 pm ---
--- Quote from: wasedadoc on March 23, 2023, 03:36:34 pm ---That is the type of fuses in my house which was built in 1976.

--- End quote ---

You still have that type?

A fuse is a fuse, I guess.

Do you have an RCD?

--- End quote ---
No RCDs in the house.  In the garage I fitted a RCD equipped dual socket outlet.  One outlet has the pond pump plugged into it.  The pump is fully submerged.

When cutting the hedges with an electric clipper I use a long extension cable with a RCD plug on it.  I did trip that once when I accidentally cut the clipper's cable.

--- End quote ---

My old work (TV Studio) hired their indoor plants.
The supplier regularly sent a staff member equipped with secateurs to trim any unruly growth or dead bits off.

It so happened that one of the offices had a large, rugged shelf intended to hold a TV, & which was currently inhabited by a 27" Philips TV. There was just enough spare room to accommodate the indoor plant as well.
For reasons best known to themselves, Philips used beige insulation on the power cord, which made for a nice inconspicuous installation because it was indistinguishable from the plant stem & branches.

Enter the guy with the secateurs, "snip", "snip", BANG!!.
The circuit breaker dropped out, the TV set was rescued & taken off for repair, & the indoor plant hire guy went home to change his undies!
Luckily, there was still a useable length of power cord on the TV, so a new plug was fitted, & it was placed back in service, this time with several flags of red insulating tape distributed along its length.

I'm pretty sure they were unnecessary, as the story would almost certainly have become part of the folk lore of the indoor plant hire company!

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