I've been using one of these for ever. Even to someone with only a barely rudimentary understanding of electrickery - it's pretty crap - and the LCD display now shows some fairly significant screen bleed.
(Annoyingly, I gave my dad a really nice Fluke meter some years ago (as he was properly trained and could actually use it), but I couldn't find it bloody anywhere when he passed away.
So recommend me a multimeter please. One with both probes and croc clips ideally. I will only use it a couple of times a year and only need rudimentary functionality - I just want one that isn't completely crap. For these reasons my brain tells me that I'm not spending more than a completely arbitrary £35.
Re: Recommend me a decent multimeter please
Posted: Sun Dec 29, 2024 9:22 pm
by Jobbo
I have used one of those for ages. I only bought a replacement because one of the wires is nicked and has a dodgy connection. So I have a pristine, unused new one which should be much better and I’m sure falls in your budget while I muddle through with the old one
I've also recently added a small oscilloscope (similar form factor) because I wanted to check the waveform being applied to the dash illumination, but then it started working again so I've not actually used the 'scope function in anger yet.
That first one has quite a small screen. Big screen easier to read. None of us are getting any younger
The second one looks like it covers everything.
What do you actually need ? I rarely use it for anything other than checking if something is 12V (or up to ~15V, I guess), and continuity.
Re: Recommend me a decent multimeter please
Posted: Mon Dec 30, 2024 4:46 pm
by mik
Sundayjumper wrote: Mon Dec 30, 2024 10:14 am
The second one looks like it covers everything.
What do you actually need ? I rarely use it for anything other than checking if something is 12V (or up to ~15V, I guess), and continuity.
Pretty much that. So I think I’ll probably just get the £20 draper. Although…. I watched a vid on the Kaiweets one that Simon has and it does appear to have a few cool features. 17% discount so £34….
Re: Recommend me a decent multimeter please
Posted: Mon Dec 30, 2024 4:55 pm
by mik
mik wrote: Mon Dec 30, 2024 4:46 pm
Although…. I watched a vid on the Kaiweets one that Simon has and it does appear to have a few cool features. 17% discount so £34….
OK - that’s what I did.
@Simon and I are now multimeter fwends.
Thanks all
Re: Recommend me a decent multimeter please
Posted: Tue Dec 31, 2024 12:12 am
by Simon
Awesum. Glad you picked it. You won't be disappointed.
Re: Recommend me a decent multimeter please
Posted: Fri Jan 10, 2025 9:09 am
by mik
@Simon Cheers for the recommendation - took a while to arrive, but the display is excellent (I've already managed to change the temperature probe display to swap DegC to be the larger of the two readouts by default), it feels pretty chunky/solid, and the standard probes are good. I think I'd prefer the backlight to be on by default, but I'm not sure I can do that?
Feels a little like I've bought a unimog to pop to the shops in, but after owning an ultra-basic crapola-meter for decades, I'm OK with that (as it was far from £silly).
This is such a simple, but brilliantly idiot-proofing feature. (As is the backlight turning red whenever you are dealing with any dangerous-to-human voltage - even if you are just using the non-contact body probe to sense whether a cable is live).
Re: Recommend me a decent multimeter please
Posted: Fri Jan 10, 2025 10:01 am
by Simon
Glad you like it @mik, money well spent! I love the fact that it illuminates which sockets to plug the probes into based on which selection reading you do.
A new multi-pack of leads/and clips is on my radar - at some point I'll find an excuse to buy them.
BTW, how do you do the degC change that you mention? Is that in the manual?
Not sure about having the backlight on all the time - I think that's a battery saving feature...
Re: Recommend me a decent multimeter please
Posted: Fri Jan 10, 2025 10:16 am
by mik
Simon wrote: Fri Jan 10, 2025 10:01 am
BTW, how do you do the degC change that you mention? Is that in the manual?
Video moves fast, but you can watch it a few times before you try..... effectively you are 1/putting it into setup mode, and then 2/changing the temp default.
I paid an extra tenner to get the "HT01" lead set as I really wanted some croc clips, and this set offered more (thumb-lock hook things, and a pair of 1m probe extension leads) for barely any extra squids. The plugs on all of these leads are tight however.
Re: Recommend me a decent multimeter please
Posted: Fri Jan 10, 2025 10:19 am
by Simon
Ah, nice, thanks. Now I just need an excuse to go measure some temps!