Multimeter Advice

[marnold]

My son is going to need a multimeter for a science project which I thought would be handy for guitar-related tom foolery. Actually, he only needs a volt meter, but I figured that if we're going to spend money, we might as well get something useful long-term. Any of you hard-core electronics guys have any suggestions of features to look for, brands to seek or avoid? I'd prefer to spend as little as possible while still getting a decent meter. I'd mainly use it for guitar wiring, pedal troubleshooting, etc.

By the by, is the pronunciation supposed to be "mul TIM met uhr" or "MUL tea meat uhr"?

[Zip]

I use a Fluke 87 III. They're discontinued (Fluke makes the 87 series 5 now), but fleabay has them reasonably priced. They do just about everything.

And, I pronounce it "Vee Oh Em" ;)

[MichaelE]

Another vote for Fluke. I have a 187 and an 8000A on the bench. Just about the best meters money can buy.

[marnold]

The Flukes look cool, but don't fall under the "spend as little as possible" category.

[333maxwell]

The Flukes look cool, but don't fall under the "spend as little as possible" category.


Hiya Marnold..

I just had to get a multimeter myself.. although I own two I also have older kids and couldn't find one..

I went to Walmart and picked up a lil analog one for 7 bucks.. it does everything I need it to. ...it works fine..

For a casual, keep at the table, simple project thing, it should hold up at least long enough for the next time one of my kids kipes it, and at that point I am twice as glad I only spent 7 bucks..

[Ch0jin]

Speaking as a former bench tech I'd have to agree that Fluke are the industry standard, but they are a "pro level" piece of kit, which is why I'm going to say it's overkill for what you need Marnold.

I actually have 2 Fluke 75's, but I also have a little radio shack cheap unit that i paid like $20 for that I used to use only as a loaner "Hey can I borrow your multimeter?" Due to extreme laziness though, as both my flukes have had no battery installed for some years, I've just been using the cheap unit for general kit building and guitar stuff and it's absolutely 100% fine for that kind of work.

My biggest gripe with the cheap units are the leads. After using the sexy silicon coated Fluke leads, using "normal" leads on a cheap meter annoy me, but thats only because I spent years and years, day after day using Flukes. Totally a non-issue for casual repair work.

Oh and the cheaper ones don't tend to be autoranging, mine isn't, but when your starting out, thats probably a good thing. It'll make you consider what your measuring before you do it.

FWIW, As a first year engineer apprentice I started with an AVOMeter (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avometer) that one of the old guys let me use until I bought my own. I then bought a Fluke 73 AND a mid range (I forget the brand now) analogue meter as well.

Anyway, i'm rambling.

My .02c is get a cheap digital unless your looking to build up a professional toolkit. Analogue meters are great, and most definitely have their place in any pro toolbox, but the cheap ones are likely to be less accurate than a cheap digital, and they can be harder to read accurately too, so I say go cheap radio shack or similar digital.

Features?
For basic stuff then any bottom of the line unit will have what you need, but I recommend an audible continuity feature. You'll use it all the time. Apart from that.....(thinking).......I think transistor testers are a gimmick (you'll see meters with little sockets for transistors) You can test any type of transistor and determine the pinouts WITHOUT a transistor testing feature, so you wont need that. Oh, mine has a squarewave generator built in too, thats actually pretty useful for injecting signal into parts of a circuit for troubleshooting.

Oh and here in Oz, I'd say "MUL tea meat uhr".

Oh OH, and lastly... Get yourself some alligator clip leads too. Just a little length of wire with an alligator clip on each end. Buy a bag of them, make them yourself, any way is good, but I can tell ya, alligator clip leads and multimeter's go together like bacon and cheese.

[Tig]

Pronounced "MUL tea meat uhr" as far as I've heard.
I still have my old Fluke 83 that's goin' strong after almost 20 years.

Lt. Aldo Raine of Maynardville, Tennessee might not agree.
http://images.fandango.com/images/fandangoblog/inglbasttrailer.jpg
[southern accent] "Bawn gorno."

[Ch0jin]

Pronounced "MUL tea meat uhr" as far as I've heard.

Lt. Aldo Raine of Maynardville, Tennessee might not agree.
http://images.fandango.com/images/fandangoblog/inglbasttrailer.jpg
[southern accent] "Bawn gorno."

Hehe, inglorious post :)

[Tig]

Hehe, inglorious post :)

It keeps me running while working Aussie hours (night shift here in the US).
Lt. Aldo Raine:
"You probably heard we ain't in the prisoner-takin' business; we in the killin' Nazi business. And cousin, Business is a-boomin'."
:rollover

[kiteman]

I bought a digital VOM at Wal-mart for $15. Works real good surprisingly.

It's a GB Instruments model GDT-11 (whatever that is)

[duhvoodooman]

For kid's projects & casual hobby use, find something here:

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Category.taf?CategoryID=551

[Bloozcat]

Even my Fluke 12B is over $100.00.

Harbor Freight Tools is the best bang for the buck. If it's going to be made in China, you might as well pay a made in China price. I have a "Centex" model from them and it's not bad. It is a little off when checked against my Fluke, but not by that much. On sale it was $4.95.

[duhvoodooman]

If it's going to be made in China, you might as well pay a made in China price....
'Xactly. The stuff at Radio Shack is no better, but costs 3x as much.

[marnold]

When my wife was in Green Bay she bought one of these:
http://www.amazon.com/W-Sperry-DM350A-Function-Multimeter/dp/B000ET5VYC

I think it was for just about the price on that site. Good enough for government work?

[duhvoodooman]

Yep, should be fine.

[tunghaichuan]

Yep, Fluke meters are the industry standard. Pro level. What is nice about them is that they are fused so if you screw up and over voltage the meter, the fuse blows and you can replace it. I seem to remember that fuses cost about $8, but could be wrong.

I mainly use budget meters from Radio Shack. They used to put their meters on sale every few months, and were good meters for the money. Seems to me that they only want to sell cell phones these days.

I believe that Sears sells a budget meter, about $20 on sale, but it has been a while since I've seen on. Definitely made in China, but is a decent deal.

[Bloozcat]

Yep, Fluke meters are the industry standard. Pro level. What is nice about them is that they are fused so if you screw up and over voltage the meter, the fuse blows and you can replace it. I seem to remember that fuses cost about $8, but could be wrong.

Well then, it seems my cheap little $4.95 Harbor Freight Centex multimeter is the fuse....
:rollover

[tunghaichuan]

Well then, it seems my cheap little $4.95 Harbor Freight Centex multimeter is the fuse....
:rollover

Yeah, ain't it the truth. :)

[Duff]

Just picked up a fifteen dollar analog multimeter from Lowe's to fill in for my nice digital one that ceased to work, or was vandalized.

I definitely NEED to have a multimeter around, even if it is an inexpensive one. I like the larger, easy to read, digital readout ones a lot better though, but I have quite a few tools to replace and have had to compromise. One is better than none, WAY better; and a safety valued item as well.

[kidsmoke]

Thanks for this thread Marnold. I was in a home improvement store recently and saw the W I D E range in price an features and thought I need this kind of input.

Planning a complete electronics overhaul on a 335 type box, I'm a total noob, and this is gonna be a helpful little tool. They sell that same Sperry line that you ended up with in the area stores.

[Duff]

The one that I have that doesn't work is a Sperry and it worked fine before whatever happened to it, possible foot stomp vandalism. I liked it and would get another one. It was large format digital readout. This little analog one will have to do for now.