multimeter

[pengwin]

ok, so i need to buy a multimeter, anyone know any good brands and good stores?

thanks

 

[waylander]

Going to do some psu investigative work? I think most electronic part stores will carry them, I'd go in and ask them what is the best. Even radio sh!t carries them.

 

[pengwin]

i dont have fry's here


best buy, circuit city and radio shack.

best buy carries nothing but BS. circuit city is the same.

radio shack is smaller than my room.


the thing is i dont wanna spend 300 bucks on a DMM but i dont want one that'll break in 3 days.

 

[CodeJunkie]

Any hardware store (not computer hardware) should have them. I know Sears has a Craftsman line that is pretty good and inexpensive.

 

[ecosoft]

Pengwin Dude

There are a multitude of variables involved when measuring electrical phenomena, so the design (digital vs analog) and cost (cheap to Oh-my-God) obviously come into play. Additionally, precisely what do you wish to measure, and moreover why? If, you are simply doing A-B comparisions of voltage and/or current I recommend a cheap ($40-50) RadioShack unit. Otherwise, the higher the factual accuracy required the higher the cost will be.

PS: I've had a RadioShack Micronta model #22-183 for 12 years now, and it works perfectly, although every few years one must replace the batteries.

 

[itneal2277]

Any home improvement store (ie. Home Depot and Lowes) should carry a fairly good selection of multimeters. I am currently using a $35 digital multimeter from radio shack and it has worked fine for many years now. I recommend going with a digital meter for ease of use. Also spend some money on it, don't buy the cheapest one in the store as those are the ones that usually crap out. I doubt you'll need the most expensive ones either since PSU troubleshooting just consist of taking simple voltage and current readings.

 

[CodeJunkie]

Good call ecosoft on the multitude of functionality. I just remembered the brand we used in college for building a solar car was Fluke. they have a good camparison tool for their multimeters and a where to buy tool but don't igve pricing

link Fluke to camparison tool

 

[pengwin]

Any home improvement store (ie. Home Depot and Lowes) should carry a fairly good selection of multimeters. I am currently using a $35 digital multimeter from radio shack and it has worked fine for many years now. I recommend going with a digital meter for ease of use. Also spend some money on it, don't buy the cheapest one in the store as those are the ones that usually crap out. I doubt you'll need the most expensive ones either since PSU troubleshooting just consist of taking simple voltage and current readings.

yeh, im just gonna be monitoring voltages and testing if the PSU is working.


any online stores?? fan of buying stuff online. usually cheaper and no tax!!

 

[Batspoon]

Good call ecosoft on the multitude of functionality. I just remembered the brand we used in college for building a solar car was Fluke. they have a good camparison tool for their multimeters and a where to buy tool but don't igve pricing

link Fluke to camparison tool

I second that.

Fluke, Tektronix and HP Agilent are the high end / professional ones, expensive too of course.

Maybe you don't need to go that high, probably you will do just fine with any digital multimeter from a local electronics store.


You may want to look here.

 

[itneal2277]

Don't know any off hand but amazon.com had some good results. Also found a store called Allied Electronics that seemed to be pretty good. Never used the site but they had a few inexpensive models to choose from.

ADD: Fluke is a very good brand but they may be overkill. The cheapest fluke I've seen during a search was over $100. They seem to be for high voltage and automotive applications and wouldn't be necessary in a PC testing environment.

 

[mdalli]

It all depends; if you are going to dust it off twice a year and do basic voltage checks, go get an el-cheapo Radio Shack meter.

I use mine several times a week on the job and at home, and I demand a certain measure of accuracy and reliability, so I insist on a Fluke. I tend to like high-quality tools, it inspires confidence in your work.

I especially like the Fluke 73 or 77 for a lower-end meter, and a 179 for a mid-range meter that will measure capacitance, but that's me. If you are loaded, you can get a hand-held 20Mhz o-scope for about $1200.

 

[pengwin]

anything in the $1-$40 range you guys would recommend?

 

[itneal2277]

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103176&cp=2032058.2032235.2032305&parentPage=family

It isn't the best but for what your using it for it will do. Also its not too expensive.

Add: its max current rating is 10A so if you plan on doing current readings go with something else as some PSUs can hit 30 plus amps.

 

[pengwin]

wait...so does that mean it wont give correct reading if im testing lets say my NeoHE 500w. (triple 12v rail's 15 amps

 

[pcsteve]

Yeah, good shout man. I was just about to point out that on an el-cheapo, you can expect a max current reading of 10 Amps. So, probably not advisable to measure current on the +5v or +12v rails :lol: 8O :lol:

 

[pengwin]

ok, so which one will work for testing PSU's?

 

[itneal2277]

It would give correct voltage but when measuring current you can overload the meter. This can harm the meter or just blow an internal fuse. If your looking for a meter within the $40 dollar price range you should probabally give up an being able to read amperage. The cheaper ones usually cap off around 10A as pcsteve has mentioned.

 

[pengwin]

ok, so which would you guys recommend??

ill be besting various PSU's the 12v rail amps would be little or big.

 

[icbluscrn]

even most of the cheap "digital" MM's dont have high amperage radioshack use to carry an analog one that could measure current.
I have both fluke and NI multimeters i think the cheapest fluke is the fluke 10 $50 no current measure though. But since you made me go look this one's not to bad cheap toohttp://cableorganizer.com/triplett/digital-multimeter/digital-multimeter-dt9205a.htm $20 I also recommend a D805.


Edit: I think i will pick one up so people can stop borrowing my nice one.

 

[pcsteve]

What makes the most sense is to decide whether you are gonna measure current or just monitor the voltages with it. Obviously, if you're just going to monitor voltages with it, a cheapy will do fine. If you do need to measure current drawn on the 12v rail, then I would advise you to look for one that will measure up to @30Amps or so.
In which case, you're prob. looking at a professional or a lab. spec. beasty. Which, again, in turn means Cost....
Anyone else got any ideas? (Not living in the States, makes it difficult to know whats available locally).

 

[pengwin]

i want to be able to calculate and see if the PSU i have is actually out putting the advertised 17 amps on the 12v rail.


is that possible?


as u can see, im a multimeter noob.

 

[michaelahess]

Get a good quality analog mm as they show variations MUCH better than dmm's which are really only good for static readings at a given moment (unless you have a graphing dmm).

I too have an older radio shack, handles amps up to 100 ac, around 10 years old, great to see drain increases as devices spinup, max out, etc.

 

[PeterBateman]

i want to be able to calculate and see if the PSU i have is actually out putting the advertised 17 amps on the 12v rail.


is that possible?


as u can see, im a multimeter noob.

Icbluescrn has a link to one thats a good cheap one and has 20amp max.

as far as measuring the current it is no to hard all you have to do is get a small extension on the section you want to measure (something like they have for 20 to 24 pin adaptors) and use the dmm as the wire you want to measure, Lets say its a red one cut the red wire and run it to the "com" port of the MM then from the 20A port of the mM you will reattach to what you first cut.

Get a good quality analog mm as they show variations MUCH better than dmm's which are really only good for static readings at a given moment (unless you have a graphing dmm).

I too have an older radio shack, handles amps up to 100 ac, around 10 years old, great to see drain increases as devices spinup, max out, etc.

"MUCH better than dmm's which are really only good for static readings at a given moment" that is very untrue.

*No need Digital is more then fine, anything you can do with an analog MM you can do better with a digital. maybe a cheaper dmm will give you a greater % of error but its small regardless.



*except maybe for the amount of current analog can measure.

 

[noexcuse4you]

You might want to check out e-bay. I picked up a Fluke 177 multimeter on there for about $100. The nice thing about Flukes is they come with lifetime warranties.

I've measured voltages up to +7.5KV with mine. (although it doesn't read that high)

 

[zebaca]

the main difference between the expensie ones and the cheapos are the that more expensive ones will measure true rms voltage values. If you are looking for accuracy make sure that you get one that reads true rms. You can google rms and find what i am talking about and what it means. I only have a few mins on here..... Fyi I am an Electrical engineer so I hope i know a bit of what i am talking about.