Multimeter advice

[phonefro]

I am consider buying a multimeter for my father as a Christmas present. Use it for AC and DC voltages and for simple temperature test measurements. I was just wondering if anyone here owns one and could give some feedback as to there accuracy and quality. I am looking to spend around £30.Thanks in advance.

cheers

 

[n0legs]

If you hadnt posted your spend limit, I would have said Megger, Fluke and possibly Kewtech. In that order.
When it comes to test equipment you really need reliability and confidence in your readings. I personally wouldn't be confident with any meter not bearing one of the three names above.

Is this for hobby/diy use or professional?

Possibly look at Maplins and Screwfix. A friend had one from Halfords that wasn't half bad. Whichever one you choose, getting one with fused test leads is a must for mains (240 volts) use. Some come with internal fuses, but I'm not so sure of those.

 

[bugbear]

If you hadnt posted your spend limit, I would have said Megger, Fluke and possibly Kewtech. In that order.

As a lover of fine, old, tools, I obviously own and use an Avo.

"Classic" is a barely adequate term in this case.

BugBear

 

[paultnl]

A bit over your budget but these are very good http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/321831807425
review here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOvmVK1G_3c

 

[mind_the_goat]

I'm sure most cheap multimeters will measure true RMS for AC voltages, but worth checking before purchasing.

 

[RogerP]

For a cheap but decent multimeter I'd recommend one from AMECaL.

Here's one at the cheap end of their range...
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Digital-M...hash=item4aeeab8049:m:m52EZ3bxXL9o-Tu0oeIMaEg

 

[xy mosian]

Quite a lot of digital meters, certainly low cost ones, only read AC at low frequencies. If there is a need for audio test work check the highest frequency specifications.
xy

 

[n0legs]

As a lover of fine, old, tools, I obviously own and use an Avo.

"Classic" is a barely adequate term in this case.

BugBear

My mentor retired while I was in the last year of my apprenticeship, he gave me his "tortoise shell" bakelite (I think, pretty sure) wind up Megger. It has pride of place on one of the bookcases in the lounge. I only use it to administer electric shocks these days to willing victims, but it's still surprisingly accurate.

 

[Austinisgreat]

As a lover of fine, old, tools, I obviously own and use an Avo.

"Classic" is a barely adequate term in this case.

BugBear

My mentor retired while I was in the last year of my apprenticeship, he gave me his "tortoise shell" bakelite (I think, pretty sure) wind up Megger. It has pride of place on one of the bookcases in the lounge. I only use it to administer electric shocks these days to willing victims, but it's still surprisingly accurate.

Piccies please! - Not of shock victims obviously! - just the tort bakelite - yummy

Cheers

(Vintage guitar buff)

Andrew

 

[Eric The Viking]

About 20 years ago, I finally won AVO 8 on the net (pre-eBay probably). It's still my low-impedance go-to meter.

I have several DMMs, one _very_ expensive one and some cheapies, but they're all high impedance, and often that's not what you want. The cheap ones are also misleadingly approximate.

Some DMMs have thermocouple ranges for temp measurements. There are different types of thermocouple, so I recently got a dedicated thermocouple thermometer from eBay, which came with the matching ones. It's cheap & cheerful, but seems accurate in as far as I can test it. I think that's a better solution, as it doesn't tie up a DMM at the same time. They're cheap enough for stocking fillers!

I'd go down the "good secondhand" route if you can.

E.

 

[Monkey Mark]

I have two Avo's sat right near me. An Avo 7 & an 8.
I recently gave about 6 of them away.

 

[cedarwood]

Having a nice meter is all very well so long as you know how to use it properly!

Gas board man came to fit new boiler put tester in socket and promptly downed tools saying there was a fault on my ring main and couldn't work safely so called for an electrician he came out with his big megga and went round my whole house and said yes there was definitely an earth fault on the ring main but not on the cooker skt so the fitter carried on using that one to install the new boiler.
We then had our estate electrician come to fix the "fault" only there wasn't one, because the gas board lecky man didn't take out any of the appliances that were plugged in and the fault was the anti surge capacitors in the computer plugs ha ha.
Our electrician says he gets this all the time and knows the gas board electrician well for doing this and causing possible problems using his big megga on the circuits

 

[RogerP]

So Tip of The Day is.... "If the gasman cometh unplug the computer".

 

[Eric The Viking]

If you attack most transistorised and computery things with a Megger (the wind-up sort and its close relatives), there is a strong possibility they won't be transistorised or computery afterwards.

If someone attacked your china with a lump hammer "by accident" you'd expect compensation.

How do these people get/keep jobs?

E.

 

[cedarwood]

Our estate electrician said rule 1 was that to test any household mains circuit for faults you must first unplug all appliances on the circuit to be tested, otherwise you don't know if it's the circuit or any appliance that is at fault.
Only common sense really if you think about it but the young man came in all cocky with his nice big machine strapped to his waist and thinking he knew it all, just goes to show that you cannot always trust the er "experts" as for me well I was the village idiot what don't know nowt.
Me I think that they deliberately hope to find faults so that they then get the work to rectify them.

 

[woodenstx]

tbh, for most use, you only need a rough idea e.g. 240V Ac (rms) or 12/5/3.3V DC etc so the true hyper accuracy isn't vital.

I'm an electronics/software/systems engineer and I still use cheap meters as you only need a guide if the item is in the right area of AVO's.
I also have one of those pikey DIY DSO scopes from ebay for £15 and you solder it together yourself. Again not mega accurate but if you know what kind of pulse you are after it will help you find it etc.
Accuracy is for calibration tasks.

 

[Schoka-Cola]

For a budget DMM you might want to try one of the UNI-T models.

I have a UT61D which, although not as nice as my Fluke 111 works just as well for most measurements and is reasonably well made.

For reviews of budget DMMs see the EEVblog.