Desktop vs handheld multimeter?

Question

Which one is better in the long run?I'm a beginner in electronics. after reading few electronic books, nowI feel urge to start build small kits for learning purposes. I have a$15.00 USD worth of multimeter. It's very basic and one funny things isit can not read 0.00 ohm. Checking zero ohm gives 00.6 ohm. The valueis almost identical to the previous 'mastercraft one. What the heck! Inmy workplace, it's good enough. 12 DC environment, mostly checkingcontinuity of wires and bad ground.  Actually, I broke one wire of testprobe. When I went to local stores to buy test wire, it was few timesexpensive than the mulitimeter I have. So, I bought another one.I plan to buy a reliable multimeter within 6 months depend on theprogress I'll have made in projects. I think the multimeter is good fora while. So, I'm not in hurry but want to have some idea about goodmultimeters. Price range is below $500 USD.

Caesar · Accepted Answer

A reading of .6 ohm is not unusual for a cheap meter. There are two main causes of this.

The quality of the meter in general and the accuracy of the ADC.
The most likely cause is in the probe leads themselves. They may actually have .6 ohms of resistance.

So you should short them together and then subtract that reading from the total read.

This is where a desktop unit will be better. They tend to have a 4-wire system that compensates for the probe resistance. It is much more accurate for a low resistance measurement, but slightly less convenient since you have to deal with 4 wires.

cv

Jamie · Answer

Kelvin connection.-- "I'm never wrong, once i thought i was, but was mistaken"Real Programmers Do things like this.

CJT · Answer

Make sure the battery is fresh.-- The e-mail address in our reply-to line is reversed in an attempt tominimize spam.  Our true address is of the form

Aidan Grey · Answer

What you are probably reading when you short the leads on the lowest ohm scale is the resistance of the test leads. This is normal.

I think Fluke is one of the present manufacturers of test equipment. Do a Web search, and see if you can locate a list of their present equipment line.

Good quality multimeters are also frequently offered for sale on Ebay.

Aidan Grey

Jim Yanik · Answer

"nabi"  wrote in news:test leads have resistance,adding to the total measurement.(like a scale would weigh the container along with it's contents)Better meters use 4 wire measurements that eliminate lead resistance.-- Jim Yanikjyanikat

Jim Yanik · Answer

Caesar  wrote in news:459062c2$0$80061$or buy Kelvin leads that have both wires and a special clip at the end.-- Jim Yanikjyanikat

Angelo Campanella · Answer

A few years ago I bought a Fluke 77 Multimeter. It serves all the needs I have (except for capacitance measurement, but I have another meter for that).

The Fluke 77 mesaures voltage, ac and dc (even millivolts), resistance, continuity (beeps) and currents (even milliamps) with a change of terminals. It has a digital display, and is auto-ranging. It runs on a small 9 volt battery that lasts for at least a year or two. I think it cost a few hundred dollars.

I have been using such meters since 1953. This Fluke77 is among the best that I have owned.

The Fluke meter series can be studied by looking at their web site.

Angelo campanella

Desktop vs handheld multimeter?

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