New Multimeter Purchase

It's time, I need to purchase a new multimeter, home benchwork only. I could work with a autorangeing meter as long as it's not slow. AC, DC, volts, ohms, amps, capacitance ok but I have a cap meter. I generally use a 0.1 ohm or 0.01 ohm resistor as a shunt to measure current. I'm looking at the Fluke meters, I want it to last 15 years, the one after that will last my lifetime! I figure on spending around $200. Any suggestions about another quality brand or Fluke Models?

Mike

Reply to
amdx
Loading thread data ...

Fluke 177

Reply to
Meat Plow

Fluke 179, a thermo couple is nice to have around. Still $200 and change. I'd personally get the 287 or 289, with data logging. But these are $500.

Cheers

Reply to
Martin Riddle

Much as I like Fluke (I have a model 12 and 75) they're kinda expensive. The 75 was stolen from a former employer in 1982. The Model 12 was obtained in liu of payment on a repair job in about 1995. Both are totally reliable and very easy on consuming 9v batteries.

A few months ago, I bought three Extech DVM's.

About $40. Comes with a temp probe, rubber bounce protector, big digits, and the usual probes. The frequency counter goes to 5MHz which has been very handy. One has already survived about 3 months banging around my vehicle's toolbox, so I think it's sufficiently rugged.

--
Jeff Liebermann     jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D    http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
 Click to see the full signature
Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

In sci.electronics.design amdx wrote: : It's time, I need to purchase a new multimeter, home benchwork only. : I could work with a autorangeing meter as long as it's not slow. : AC, DC, volts, ohms, amps, capacitance ok but I have a cap meter. : I generally use a 0.1 ohm or 0.01 ohm resistor as a shunt to measure : current. : I'm looking at the Fluke meters, I want it to last 15 years, the one after : that will last my lifetime! I figure on spending around $200. : Any suggestions about another quality brand or Fluke Models?

Well, this is not a known quality brand, but I was very happy with my TENMA, I think the equivalent current model is the 72-7732.

181e in Farnell. Mine had a 80mV range with 10uV lowest count, which might come handy with your low value shunts. That range was very useful in SQUID work. The 72-7732 seems to have a 40mV range with same reso. My unit had a robust and solid feel and served me well for 3 or 4 years, and felt like it would serve much longer. Unfortunately British Airways lost my luggage last year and down that drain went the DMM, too.

Nowadays I'm using Agilent U1253A which is nice, except for the annoying start-up chime and the short battery life due to its OLED display. I should have gotten the LCD version. It has a range with 1uV lowest count - good. I also like the dual display AC/DC voltmeter mode, handy when checking gains of various amplifier stages as it separates the DC bias point from the AC test excitation. I guess the Agilent is above your budget, however.

Regards, Mikko

Reply to
Okkim Atnarivik

Hard to beat a Fluke 87 series V. There is a new 28 series II which is almost identical function, and uses AA cells instead of a 9V battery, but it's brand new, not discounted yet, costs 50.00 more than the 87, and here's the kicker for me:

The 800 hour rated battery life is great, yes? Except for the battery corrosion problems we are inevitably going to see resulting from this. People are simply going to forget to change their batteries in time. Hopefully Fluke will have the appropriate replacement parts available...

A 9V battery in a 87V should last about 1 year of normal use, and 9V models are double encased, therefore less prone to leakage. Current consumption in auto-power off mode is vastly improved over the III series, about 25uA. My

85III ia useless in this respect, drawing very nearly as much in "power-save" mode as in actual operation.

Contrary to popular belief however, Fluke's vaunted lifetime warranty is only to the original purchaser. On the bright side, they are all over eBay for less than 250.00 used.

The 28II is waterproof though! And 10 foot drop resistant! How cool!

Mark Z.

Reply to
Mark Zacharias

Hows the low ohms range, the problem I have with my meter is on low ohm range. When I short the leads it might read 15 ohms, pull the leads, twist, yell at them and it may go down to 0.5 ohms. I have used Cremolin on them but this is a problem that is getting old! The other day I had an odd reading and had to rotate the function switch to get a normal reading. This is a Tenma. I have a Beckman HD 110 that went flakey many years ago and a Fluke 77 that a battery leaked in. Meters I should have tossed them 15 yrs ago, but ya know "someday" I might fix them. ;-) Mike

Reply to
amdx

Yea, have a Tenma now, it's worked for me at least 15 years, but has connector problems. I like that low volt range. I'll look into the price. Mike

Reply to
amdx

Hey Jeff, What is the autorange time? Say I probed a 9mv signal, how long before it reads correct? Mike

Reply to
amdx

fter

=A0 =A0Mike

I have a Fluke 75 and a 77 from new [25+ years] and they both are working perfectly. Autoranging is fast enough that it is usually unnoticed. 9V batteries last for years in my usage. I also have a pair of Fluke 8000 bench DVMs, one with the Monsanto 'pin-point' LED display, the other with the later 'light pipe' display and both with internal NiCd battery pack. The still both work accurately but one has a somewhat flakey switch. I bought a cheap 'Canadian Tire' DVM I could take were I needed a simple troubleshooting tester and there was a risk of loss or destruction. It cost about $9 and is better than 1% on all ranges.

Neil S.

Reply to
nesesu

That's not the leads. It's the bananna jack connector where it enters the meter. It might also be a broken wire.

I have that problem with every meter I own and use the same fix. Spin the bananna jack. I just noticed I have a Extech 22-816 True RMS Multi-meter on my desk. No idea who left it here or where I stole it from. Works nicely on low ohm. About 0.5 ohms without spinning the bananna jacks. About 0.3 after.

Clean out the residual oil and grease. Start over.

Sorry, no experience with Tenma.

I bought one of those at a club meeting. Most of the attenuator section was blown. I gave it to a friend for parts.

Nice work. I wrap my 9v batteries in cellophane foil.

I had my pile also. However, I use them often enough that I recycled all my $5 Harbor Freight DVM's and got something better (Extech).

--
Jeff Liebermann     jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D    http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
 Click to see the full signature
Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

AC or DC? Frequency?

It's fairly noisy at low AC voltages. With nothing connected to the leads, I'm getting about 1mv of noise, probably from AC hum and AM radio stations. Looking at the settling time, my guess(tm) is that it will be close within about 0.5 seconds, and stable after about 2 seconds. At 9mv AC, you're not going to get a stable reading without shielding.

This is with the Extech (Radio Shack) 22-816 which somewhat different from the Extech MN-16 that I'm too lazy to go to the car and retrieve.

--
Jeff Liebermann     jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D    http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
 Click to see the full signature
Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

Jeff Liebermann wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

FYI,those HF meters are all 1 Megohm input Z.

At one time,I flirted with the idea of redoing the divider string to get a

10MegR input Z. It's doable.
--
Jim Yanik
jyanik
 Click to see the full signature
Reply to
Jim Yanik

I have an Extech DVM/thermocouple thing and it's pretty nice. I haven't blown it up yet.

The Extech stuff is generally pretty good. FLIR recently bought them (probably to sandbag their IR imager project) so I don't know if they can stay pretty good.

John

Reply to
John Larkin

"John Larkin" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com...

They do have a neat wireless datalogger in a couple of their meters. IP6 and 10' drop rating. Much less than a caparable Fluke.

Cheers

Reply to
Martin Riddle

Current Tenma models are made by Uni-T (United Trends) and can be had for less buying direct (eBay).

Looks like pretty good stuff, as far as it goes. I cannot think the support would be much good, but their better meters start at 60.00 to about 180.00 for the handheld oscilloscope.

The Chinese Fluke 110 series don't cost much more, and have a 3 year warranty, but I don't think they have a regular technicians' multimeter in this range, only electrician (industrial) type.

Anyone interested should check out Dave Jones' EEVblog on Youtube for multimeter reviews. I really enjoy them.

Mark Z.

Reply to
Mark Zacharias

It is indeed. See my Fluke 28-II review:

formatting link

I will also be posting my "torture test" of a 28-II soon, where I, umm, destroy a brand new meter. Let's just say that it meets the claimed ruggedness specs.

Dave.

--
================================================
Check out my Electronics Engineering Video Blog & Podcast:
 Click to see the full signature
Reply to
David L. Jones

e

after

=A0 =A0Mike

I blew up my Fluke 77... big sigh, don't ask, it was a silly mistake and I won't make it again.

I loved that meter.

George H.

Reply to
George Herold

Have you seen this DMM at Harbor Freight?

It appears to be a Mastech MS8229, which some places sell for $99. I bought the HF meter on sale for $29.99. The regular price is $39.99

It is on sale for $29.99 to their 'Inside Track Club' members, through 03/31. That price isn't available without paying to join the ITC.

--
Greed is the root of all eBay.
Reply to
Michael A. Terrell

I still have two Fluke-77s, from '88 or so. The third walked off...

...so I bought a few $4 Harbor Freight meters to keep in sight, for borrow bait.

Reply to
Keith

ElectronDepot website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.