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

Taylor Alexander tlalexander at gmail.com
Mon Jan 24 21:29:18 UTC 2011


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
<http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_03482146000P?sid=IDx20070921x00003a&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=03482146000P>
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.
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>
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