[Noisebridge-discuss] New Multimeter needed....

[Taylor Alexander]

Yeah, makes sense.

I've used a lot of $4 meters in my day, but I recently bought a Fluke 233
and I am *so* loving it.

Those $15 sears meters really are good though. At least, they feel like it.
Even they might have a tendency to "walk" because they feel nice.

What about gluing something awkwardly large to a meter, so people can't
easily pocket them? Like what they do with bathroom keys at some places.
Like attaching an ~18" strip of wood or plastic? That's a bit childish, but
if it prevents someone from throwing it in their pocket or backpack, maybe
its worth it? You'd also need to allow for replacing batteries.

Its a tough problem - having an open space where everyone is treated evenly,
without losing nice things or making it feel like a prison. Its also a
problem I don't really expect to solve, short of tossing out my "glue big
things to it" idea.

-Taylor


On Mon, Jan 24, 2011 at 1:47 PM, jim <jim at well.com> wrote:

>
>   my guess is it depends on whether the fuse blows
> before something inside fries.
>
>
> On Mon, 2011-01-24 at 13:29 -0800, Taylor Alexander wrote:
> > If you break a meter by measuring current, doesn't that just pop a
> > fuse?
> >
> >
> > Also, I just remembered that these Sears meters are pretty decent for
> > $15.
> >
> >
> >
> http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_03482146000P?sid=IDx20070921x00003a&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=03482146000P
> >
> >
> > No capacitance on that model and not Auto-ranging, but they're cheap
> > and well-constructed. We have one at work for basic stuff.
> >
> >
> > They have some nicer ones for $30. This one has capacitance, though it
> > doesn't say how much it measures, or at least not with a quick look on
> > the page.
> >
> http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_03482344000P?sid=IDx20070921x00003a&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=03482344000P
> >
> > So maybe the Sears ones are a good cheap alternative to Fluke?
> >
> >
> > -Taylor
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > On Mon, Jan 24, 2011 at 12:15 PM, Dr. Jesus <j at hug.gs> wrote:
> >         On Mon, Jan 24, 2011 at 11:06 AM, jim <jim at well.com> wrote:
> >         >
> >         >
> >
> >
> >         >    Holy Moly! Thanks for the link to the $6 MPJA meter!
> >         >
> >         >    For me, el cheapos work great, but i do power supply
> >         > and audio work where most of the measurements are
> >         > discovering catastrophic failures and continuity.
> >         >    I'd love to know detailed criteria for assessing a
> >         > multimeter. One approach might be to point to the specs
> >         > of a good model (fluke 17{5,7,9}, which i looked up).
> >         >    But it'd be really helpful to understand the why of
> >         > each criterion: in measuring capacitance, what are the
> >         > use cases and acceptable tolerances? For me, if the RC
> >         > figure allows, I can look to see if the "needle" moves
> >         > to know if it's working (can't do that with pfs, of
> >         > course); cap tolerances for me are +-50%, give or take....
> >         >    Is there a need for a does-all meter or is it
> >         > acceptably useful to have a reasonably good VOA meter
> >         > along with separate cap and L measurement tools (maybe
> >         > a frequency generator and scope...)?
> >         >
> >         >    As to "Why We Can't Have Nice Things at Noisebridge",
> >         > that issue makes me furious!
> >         >    It's horribly inconsiderate to take things away: I'm
> >         > guessing mainly it's a sloppy, selfish mentality to the
> >         > effect that "I'll just use it and bring it back after
> >         > I'm done", which very often fails to "I'll just use it
> >         > and let it sit around unused and forgotten somewhere at
> >         > my house forever more after I'm done."
> >
> >
> >         Sometimes people break meters at NB because they don't know
> >         how
> >         current sensing works.  Then they get thrown away.
> >          Noisebridge's
> >         mission is more about education than running a multimeter
> >         farm, so
> >         this doesn't bother me that much.
> >
> >         I guess I'll make another poster showing how to use a
> >         multimeter
> >         without breaking something.  That might help.
> >
> >         _______________________________________________
> >         Noisebridge-discuss mailing list
> >         Noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net
> >         https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss
> >
> >
> >
>
>
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