Re: Advice on Multimeter for Home Use...

I used to have a nice big chunky DMM I bought back in the early 1990s,

>memory says "Metex", bought from Jaycar, but it seems to have gone >walkabout. > > Now, ignoring the "real" multimeters like Fluke, what should I get just so > when I need to do something like check a circuit or cable of component or > whatever. > > I've looked at the Jaycar/Altronics/DSE catalogues, but have no idea. > > For that matter I vaguely recall some posts talking about shops in > Melbourne other than the chains, but my google-fu is not working. South > east is where I am located. > > Suggestions? On both the DMM and shops. > > And ones to avoid, too.
**It almost doesn't matter. I have 6 or 7 digital meters. I still have the first one I ever purchased. It was a SOAR branded auto ranging meter. Except for a broken battery cover, it works very well and is (for day to day measurements) is entirely adequate. The only meter I managed to bugger up, is a Micronta bench meter, which I used to measure a 2kV (specifically warned against in the manual, BTW) power supply. I have a range of meters, which cost me between $8.00 (I keep this one in the car glovebox) and $500.00 (I keep this one on the bench) and I honestly can't think why you would want to spend more than $100.00 on one, unless you have specific needs (my Fluke is pretty much physically indestructible, but, at a huge cost). Even $50.00 will get you an excellent and versatile instrument.
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Trevor Wilson
www.rageaudio.com.au
Reply to
Trevor Wilson
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My first digital was a hand-me-down SOAR autoranger as well. I still have it and it still works fine too. I thought that meter was the ducks guts until I saw the early Fluke ads which showed the Fluke 70 next to a beat up Soar, the same model as mine, with the slogan "How to beat the high cost of cheap meters" :-(

Indeed. The $50-$100 range has some decent meters. I would not touch the

Reply to
David L. Jones

On 9 Nov 2005 21:11:19 -0800, "David L. Jones" put finger to keyboard and composed:

I'd buy a cheap meter and calibrate it (or at least verify its calibration) using Maxim's MAX6350 5.000V precision reference IC. Not long ago I tested the accuracy of various DMMs at my local DSE store using such a circuit.

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-- Franc Zabkar

Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email.

Reply to
Franc Zabkar
[SNIP]

Thanks all, and particularly Dave.

I bought a QM-1539 at Jaycar, and, as the new Altronics store is just near my nearest Jaycar, and they were giving away a freebie DMM with any purchase, I also took the advice of having another one in hand.

Cheers, Gary B-)

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Armful of chairs: Something some people would not know
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Gary R. Schmidt

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