Hi -

I'm sick of using £5 Chinese DMM's off ebay. They don't seem to last 5
minutes before the test leads break, and I don't trust their accuracy much.

Is there a decent DIY level DMM - maybe around £40-50 - which anyone
could recommend? I know I'm not going to get a Fluke for that, but I
just want something sturdy & reliable.

Testing requirements are mainly home (UK 230v) and car (12v), just
ordinary stuff about continuity, resistance, volts and milliamps etc.

Thanks

PS - Have tried anglegrinder... :-)

On 06/04/2015 12:39, Steve Walker wrote:
Hi -

I'm sick of using £5 Chinese DMM's off ebay. They don't seem to last 5
minutes before the test leads break, and I don't trust their accuracy much.

Is there a decent DIY level DMM - maybe around £40-50 - which anyone
could recommend? I know I'm not going to get a Fluke for that, but I
just want something sturdy & reliable.

Testing requirements are mainly home (UK 230v) and car (12v), just
ordinary stuff about continuity, resistance, volts and milliamps etc.

Thanks

PS - Have tried anglegrinder... :-)

I have several cheaper ones scattered around various cars, drawers,
toolboxes, etc. That way I can usually find one fairly quickly.

If you are more organised than me, a Fluke off eBay would make sense. I
find it useful to have spare sets of leads with croc clips (eBay). I
also have a home made "extra long" set.

On 06/04/2015 12:39, Steve Walker wrote:
Hi -

I'm sick of using £5 Chinese DMM's off ebay. They don't seem to last 5
minutes before the test leads break, and I don't trust their accuracy much.

Is there a decent DIY level DMM - maybe around £40-50 - which anyone
could recommend? I know I'm not going to get a Fluke for that, but I
just want something sturdy & reliable.

Testing requirements are mainly home (UK 230v) and car (12v), just
ordinary stuff about continuity, resistance, volts and milliamps etc.

Thanks

PS - Have tried anglegrinder... :-)

There was a thread about this a while back, had some useful answers.

If the build quality is like the older units then this is worth a look:
http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/precision-...ltimeter-gw24b

Lee

Dave Plowman wrote:

You might have to approach it in a different way.

Maybe, maybe not ...

Even my rather expensive Fluke came with what I consider poor leads
rather stiff PVC. So I upgraded them to silicone rubber ones

When I bought a second-hand insulation and continuity tester, it had no
leads, so I bought a set of nice flexible silicone ones with probe and
croc-clip ends, they fit it OK.

However they don't fit very well in my cheapish Maplin/UniTrend meter,
waggling the leads in the meter gives different readings, so I tend to
use the nasty stiff leads that came with the multimeter :-(

On 06/04/2015 12:39, Steve Walker wrote:

Is there a decent DIY level DMM - maybe around £40-50 - which anyone
could recommend? I know I'm not going to get a Fluke for that, but I
just want something sturdy & reliable.

Testing requirements are mainly home (UK 230v) and car (12v), just
ordinary stuff about continuity, resistance, volts and milliamps etc.

I found some useful info at
http://codeduino.com/information-and...st-multimeter/
- recommends the Extech EX330

Googled that suggestion, and discovered a thorough comparison by a
hilariously blunt Aussie tech ("Seriously mate, this is just ****") -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZoeUgMFLyAw
http://www.eevblog.com/files/EEVblog...r_Shootout.pdf

He also recommends the Extech EX330, and it's still available via Amazon
for £40 =
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Instruments-...dp/B000EX0AE4/

I'm tempted. Might buy some extra leads too.

You know we used to slag off Tandy when it was about as being over priced,
but i bought a meter in their sale and it lasted me until I lost too much
sight to use it. the leads were very good as well, it was probably a badge
engineered well known make of course.
I also used to lust after a meter I saw advertised in old construction
magazines which had both an analogue meter and digital one in the same box.
may have been a gimmick but it was over 100 quid at the time and hence it
was never purchased.

Those were the days...
Tandy also had a talking multimeter, but I never bought one, I cold have
done with it now!
Brian

--
From the Sofa of Brian Gaff Reply address is active
"newshound" wrote in message
o.uk...
On 06/04/2015 12:39, Steve Walker wrote:
Hi -

I'm sick of using £5 Chinese DMM's off ebay. They don't seem to last 5
minutes before the test leads break, and I don't trust their accuracy
much.

Is there a decent DIY level DMM - maybe around £40-50 - which anyone
could recommend? I know I'm not going to get a Fluke for that, but I
just want something sturdy & reliable.

Testing requirements are mainly home (UK 230v) and car (12v), just
ordinary stuff about continuity, resistance, volts and milliamps etc.

Thanks

PS - Have tried anglegrinder... :-)

I have several cheaper ones scattered around various cars, drawers,
toolboxes, etc. That way I can usually find one fairly quickly.

If you are more organised than me, a Fluke off eBay would make sense. I
find it useful to have spare sets of leads with croc clips (eBay). I also
have a home made "extra long" set.

On Mon, 06 Apr 2015 12:39:22 +0100, Steve Walker wrote:

Hi -

I'm sick of using £5 Chinese DMM's off ebay. They don't seem to last 5
minutes before the test leads break, and I don't trust their accuracy
much.

Is there a decent DIY level DMM - maybe around £40-50 - which anyone
could recommend? I know I'm not going to get a Fluke for that, but I
just want something sturdy & reliable.

Testing requirements are mainly home (UK 230v) and car (12v), just
ordinary stuff about continuity, resistance, volts and milliamps etc.

I've had a few Draper 60792s. Seem to work just fine, do exactly what I
want from 'em, and come with a decent rubberised case. Never had any
problems with the leads on them. £10-15 is the usual price.

I've had "a few" because, despite being bright blue, they do like to
hide. One of them hid over winter right underneath a drip from the shed
roof - they're definitely not waterproof.

On Mon, 06 Apr 2015 12:39:22 +0100, Steve Walker
wrote:


I'm sick of using £5 Chinese DMM's off ebay. They don't seem to last 5
minutes before the test leads break, and I don't trust their accuracy much.

Is there a decent DIY level DMM - maybe around £40-50 - which anyone
could recommend? I know I'm not going to get a Fluke for that, but I
just want something sturdy & reliable.

Testing requirements are mainly home (UK 230v) and car (12v), just
ordinary stuff about continuity, resistance, volts and milliamps etc.

" I know I'm not going to get a Fluke for that"

Think again


Fluke 101
UK stock
39 quid delivered
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/181510463471

One drawback of the 101 is no current range


Fluke 107
German stock (no import tax or vat to pay when brought into UK)
£57.97 delivered
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/221710928704

The 107 does almost everything and is a brand you can trust

I've no connection with either seller, both might be cheaper from
China / HK but you may get knobbled with VAT/Duty/Parcelfarce/Rolyal
Mail 'Handling Fees'

In article ,
The Other Mike wrote:
I've no connection with either seller, both might be cheaper from
China / HK but you may get knobbled with VAT/Duty/Parcelfarce/Rolyal
Mail 'Handling Fees'

I never have been. On Ebay if is says free postage that's what happens.
Never did understand why - having been charged VAT etc on stuff of the
same cost from the US.

--
*The statement below is true.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On Mon, 06 Apr 2015 18:50:09 +0100, "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:

In article ,
The Other Mike wrote:
I've no connection with either seller, both might be cheaper from
China / HK but you may get knobbled with VAT/Duty/Parcelfarce/Rolyal
Mail 'Handling Fees'

I never have been. On Ebay if is says free postage that's what happens.
Never did understand why - having been charged VAT etc on stuff of the
same cost from the US.

Yes the postage if declared as such will be at no cost but never underestimate
the ****s at any of the couriers in the UK who look at how much they can screw
out of the end user in import duty, vat and then extortionate fees for
collecting that import duty and vat, maybe with vat added to that fee.

If I occasionally get knobbled by them now I'm a bit more relaxed about it
because I'm a very long way ahead after a big price item sailed past them a few
years back.

But I'd far sooner customs concentrate on the illegal stuff like drugs and
weapons rather than **** about collecting duty and vat on low priced consumer or
industrial items (say anything under 500 quid)

--

In article ,
The Other Mike wrote:
I never have been. On Ebay if is says free postage that's what happens.
Never did understand why - having been charged VAT etc on stuff of the
same cost from the US.

Yes the postage if declared as such will be at no cost but never
underestimate the ****s at any of the couriers in the UK who look at how
much they can screw out of the end user in import duty, vat and then
extortionate fees for collecting that import duty and vat, maybe with
vat added to that fee.

Stuff I buy from the far east from Ebay seems to enter our postage system
direct.

Just recently bought some bits from the US that spent over a week in
customs or whatever. And as you say, the charges for collecting the VAT
etc are extortionate.

--
*What happens if you get scared half to death twice? *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

In article , Steve Walker
scribeth thus
Hi -

I'm sick of using £5 Chinese DMM's off ebay. They don't seem to last 5
minutes before the test leads break, and I don't trust their accuracy much.

Is there a decent DIY level DMM - maybe around £40-50 - which anyone
could recommend? I know I'm not going to get a Fluke for that, but I
just want something sturdy & reliable.

Testing requirements are mainly home (UK 230v) and car (12v), just
ordinary stuff about continuity, resistance, volts and milliamps etc.

Thanks

PS - Have tried anglegrinder... :-)

Keep an eye out on ebay or try Stewart of reading, he does them for
around that price sometimes. Got one for field use many years ago never
let me down and worked fine:-)..




http://www.stewart-of-reading.co.uk/DMM.htm
--
Tony Sayer

En el artículo , Steve Walker
escribió:

I'm sick of using £5 Chinese DMM's off ebay. They don't seem to last 5
minutes before the test leads break, and I don't trust their accuracy much.

Is there a decent DIY level DMM - maybe around £40-50 - which anyone
could recommend? I know I'm not going to get a Fluke for that, but I
just want something sturdy & reliable.

Funnily enough, I got a Wavetek Meterman 15XL meter with decent probes
and rugged case for 8 euro (about 6 quid) from the flea market last
Sunday. Looks almost new and worked fine once the battery was replaced.

Hadn't heard of Wavetek before but it looks quite Fluke-like with a
similar standard of construction (I've used Flukes at work for years,
but like you, sick of using cheap Chinese junk at home).

On googling I find Wavetek is actually a division of Fluke, so quite
pleased with that.

--
:: je suis Charlie :: yo soy Charlie :: ik ben Charlie ::

Brian Gaff wrote:

Tandy also had a talking multimeter,

"Ow! Bloody hell! You connected me to the mains when I was set for 2VAC
FSD!"

Bill

On Tue, 07 Apr 2015 00:35:07 +0100, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

I never have been. On Ebay if is says free postage that's what
happens.
Never did understand why - having been charged VAT etc on stuff of the
same cost from the US.

Yes the postage if declared as such will be at no cost but never
underestimate the ****s at any of the couriers in the UK who look at
how much they can screw out of the end user in import duty, vat and
then extortionate fees for collecting that import duty and vat, maybe
with vat added to that fee.

Stuff I buy from the far east from Ebay seems to enter our postage
system direct.

A lot of it's drop-shipped from a warehouse near Heathrow. So it's
actually entered the country in a container, through the usual port
customs channels.

On 06/04/2015 12:39, Steve Walker wrote:
Hi -

I'm sick of using £5 Chinese DMM's off ebay. They don't seem to last 5
minutes before the test leads break, and I don't trust their accuracy much.

What do you do to them? Even my cheapest and nastiest sacrificial
multimeter is still going strong as is a venerable Model 7 Avo
secondhand in the 1970's (though it doesn't get much use these days).

You can get replacement test leads for most brands.

Is there a decent DIY level DMM - maybe around £40-50 - which anyone
could recommend? I know I'm not going to get a Fluke for that, but I
just want something sturdy & reliable.

Testing requirements are mainly home (UK 230v) and car (12v), just
ordinary stuff about continuity, resistance, volts and milliamps etc.

Around £25 ought to be enough to get a half decent one and you may get
frequency, capacitance, diode and transistor gain testing as well.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Proster-Digi...rds=multimeter

(an example not a recommendation)

Thing you need to decide is do you want autoranging or not.

You could probably do better on RapidOnline and nicer test leads but the
saving might well be eaten up by deliver charge under £40.


Thanks

PS - Have tried anglegrinder... :-)


--
Regards,
Martin Brown

In article ,
Mike Tomlinson wrote:
Hadn't heard of Wavetek before but it looks quite Fluke-like with a
similar standard of construction (I've used Flukes at work for years,
but like you, sick of using cheap Chinese junk at home).

I've read that Fluke (or at least some models) are now made in China.

FWIW cheap junk is junk regardless of where it comes from, and China make
some superb stuff too.

My experience says a £40 or so DVM from the far east is likely to be ok.
For many, a Fluke is simply too expensive for casual use.

--
*What do little birdies see when they get knocked unconscious? *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

In article ,
Adrian wrote:
Stuff I buy from the far east from Ebay seems to enter our postage
system direct.

A lot of it's drop-shipped from a warehouse near Heathrow. So it's
actually entered the country in a container, through the usual port
customs channels.

That would make sense given the low cost 'postage'.

--
*(over a sketch of the titanic) "The boat sank - get over it

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

In article ,
Martin Brown wrote:
Around £25 ought to be enough to get a half decent one and you may get
frequency, capacitance, diode and transistor gain testing as well.

For DIY I'd make sure it has temperature measurement too. Useful for
checking oven, freezers, radiator balance etc.

--
*When a clock is hungry it goes back four seconds*

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On 07/04/2015 08:50, Martin Brown wrote:

Around £25 ought to be enough to get a half decent one and you may get
frequency, capacitance, diode and transistor gain testing as well.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Proster-Digi...rds=multimeter



I like this one
http://cpc.farnell.com/tenma/72-9480...amp/dp/IN06560
but I can't say the test leads are better than average but I don't need
the leads often anyway.

You can get it for less if you find the working two digit code to put on
the end of the item number.

Brian Gaff explained :
Those were the days...
Tandy also had a talking multimeter, but I never bought one, I cold have
done with it now!
Brian

I have a gimmicky one, credit card sized, which does volts, DC or AC or
Ohms, or frequency. On the auto setting it decides itself what you are
trying to measure.

--
Regards,
Harry (M1BYT) (L)
http://www.ukradioamateur.co.uk

On Tue, 07 Apr 2015 11:01:14 +0100, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

My experience says a £40 or so DVM from the far east is likely to be ok.
For many, a Fluke is simply too expensive for casual use.

40 notes these days will buy you a lovely s/h AVO model 8 and it'll last
a lifetime. I bought a model 7 the other day for 15 quid and it's built
like a tank and will measure up to 1200V with zero risk of exploding in
your face - unlike those ridiculous cheap AND nasty DVMs where you're
taking your life in your hands with just normal mains voltages.
Real quality never dates.

On Mon, 06 Apr 2015 13:35:37 +0100, Lee wrote:

On 06/04/2015 12:39, Steve Walker wrote:
Hi -

I'm sick of using £5 Chinese DMM's off ebay. They don't seem to last 5
minutes before the test leads break, and I don't trust their accuracy
much.

Is there a decent DIY level DMM - maybe around £40-50 - which anyone
could recommend? I know I'm not going to get a Fluke for that, but I
just want something sturdy & reliable.

Testing requirements are mainly home (UK 230v) and car (12v), just
ordinary stuff about continuity, resistance, volts and milliamps etc.

Thanks

PS - Have tried anglegrinder... :-)

There was a thread about this a while back, had some useful answers.

If the build quality is like the older units then this is worth a look:
http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/precision-...ltimeter-gw24b

Lee

I bought a very similar DMM from Aldi a few years ago (possibly a
decade, now I think on) for a tenner (maybe a little less). It has the
same 23 way rotary selector switch using push toggle buttons in place of
the on/off and the hold(?) buttons (in the same layout). It has four test
lead sockets, a common with one for the V/ohms, another for the (fused) 2
to 200mA scales) and an unfused one for the 20A scale (same selector
setting as the 20mA).

There's a 9 and 1.5 volt 'battery test' in place of the Hz option but
apart from that, this Craft labelled MD10759 would appear to have been
made in the same factory (it also sports a transistor test socket).

I bought it to supplement an old Fluke DMM I'd inherited from work (not
one their higher spec models but it might become a collector's item in
another decade or so :-).

The Aldi meter has been perfectly fine all these years but it's never
had a very hard life (parked on my workbench, stuck on the 20v scale most
of the time - testing laptop charging bricks- with the odd excursion to
the 200v and the ohms ranges for buzzing out cct traces or wiring).

You might find a similar DMM in AdiLidl for around a tenner today (such
DMMs are frequently on sale in these shops). Whether the build quality is
as good as that 10(?) year old example in my possession, I wouldn't like
to say but it would certainly be worth having a look next time you're
handy to one of their stores.

--
Johnny B Good

On Tue, 7 Apr 2015 20:48:53 +0000 (UTC), Cursitor Doom
wrote:

On Tue, 07 Apr 2015 11:01:14 +0100, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

My experience says a £40 or so DVM from the far east is likely to be ok.
For many, a Fluke is simply too expensive for casual use.

40 notes these days will buy you a lovely s/h AVO model 8 and it'll last
a lifetime. I bought a model 7 the other day for 15 quid and it's built
like a tank and will measure up to 1200V with zero risk of exploding in
your face - unlike those ridiculous cheap AND nasty DVMs where you're
taking your life in your hands with just normal mains voltages.
Real quality never dates.

They are way too heavy* for portable use and always occupied far too much bench
space. They are the kind of thing the soviets would have made, good in their
day, maybe 50 years ago but not IMHO now. No need to buy nasty exploding DMM's
either especially at the 40 quid price point.

* Circa 6lb for an Avo 8 vs 6 ounces for a 40 quid brand new Fluke 101

Apart from being British and that they might survive a nuclear apocalypse I
can't see *any* other redeeming features.
--

In article ,
The Other Mike wrote:
They are way too heavy* for portable use and always occupied far too
much bench space. They are the kind of thing the soviets would have
made, good in their day, maybe 50 years ago but not IMHO now. No need
to buy nasty exploding DMM's either especially at the 40 quid price
point.

* Circa 6lb for an Avo 8 vs 6 ounces for a 40 quid brand new Fluke 101

Apart from being British and that they might survive a nuclear
apocalypse I can't see *any* other redeeming features.

I have one here. Can't remember when it was last used. Having to search
for expensive batteries - rather than getting one in the local shop -
would make it a PITA for most. Apart from the bulk.

--
He who laughs last, thinks slowest*

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On Tuesday, 7 April 2015 21:49:51 UTC+1, Cursitor Doom wrote:
On Tue, 07 Apr 2015 11:01:14 +0100, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

My experience says a £40 or so DVM from the far east is likely to be ok.
For many, a Fluke is simply too expensive for casual use.

40 notes these days will buy you a lovely s/h AVO model 8 and it'll last
a lifetime.

But for a lot of modern uses an AVO isn't that good. It's relatively big, bulky and heavy too.

I bought a model 7 the other day for 15 quid and it's built
like a tank and will measure up to 1200V with zero risk of exploding in
your face - unlike those ridiculous cheap AND nasty DVMs where you're
taking your life in your hands with just normal mains voltages.
Real quality never dates.

not everyone wants to measure 1200V. I have about a dozen AVOs on a shelf they haven;t been used for years. We use DMMs now they are far better for almost every use an AVO was put to.

En el artículo , The Other
Mike escribió:

Apart from being British and that they might survive a nuclear apocalypse I
can't see *any* other redeeming features.

Sometimes an analogue meter can be useful - you can see decaying/varying
voltage or capacitance of a circuit in a way a digital meter doesn't
show you.

But yes, an AVO 8, while superb in its day, is a bit of a dinosaur
nowadays.

--
:: je suis Charlie :: yo soy Charlie :: ik ben Charlie ::

On Wed, 08 Apr 2015 03:09:36 -0700, whisky-dave wrote:

On Tuesday, 7 April 2015 21:49:51 UTC+1, Cursitor Doom wrote:
On Tue, 07 Apr 2015 11:01:14 +0100, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

My experience says a £40 or so DVM from the far east is likely to be
ok.
For many, a Fluke is simply too expensive for casual use.

40 notes these days will buy you a lovely s/h AVO model 8 and it'll
last a lifetime.

But for a lot of modern uses an AVO isn't that good. It's relatively
big, bulky and heavy too.

I bought a model 7 the other day for 15 quid and it's built
like a tank and will measure up to 1200V with zero risk of exploding in
your face - unlike those ridiculous cheap AND nasty DVMs where you're
taking your life in your hands with just normal mains voltages.
Real quality never dates.

not everyone wants to measure 1200V. I have about a dozen AVOs on a
shelf they haven;t been used for years. We use DMMs now they are far
better for almost every use an AVO was put to.

Quite often that extra little bit of loading an analogue meter puts
across a measurement makes for a more meaningful reading. DMMs are so
high impedance and whilst most of the time that's a good thing, there are
other times when it can be very unhelpful and provide a false positive.
And like someone else said, for peaking & tweaking, they're *way* better
than a DMM.

On Wednesday, 8 April 2015 17:59:37 UTC+1, Cursitor Doom wrote:
On Wed, 08 Apr 2015 03:09:36 -0700, whisky-dave wrote:

On Tuesday, 7 April 2015 21:49:51 UTC+1, Cursitor Doom wrote:
On Tue, 07 Apr 2015 11:01:14 +0100, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

My experience says a £40 or so DVM from the far east is likely to be
ok.
For many, a Fluke is simply too expensive for casual use.

40 notes these days will buy you a lovely s/h AVO model 8 and it'll
last a lifetime.

But for a lot of modern uses an AVO isn't that good. It's relatively
big, bulky and heavy too.

I bought a model 7 the other day for 15 quid and it's built
like a tank and will measure up to 1200V with zero risk of exploding in
your face - unlike those ridiculous cheap AND nasty DVMs where you're
taking your life in your hands with just normal mains voltages.
Real quality never dates.

not everyone wants to measure 1200V. I have about a dozen AVOs on a
shelf they haven;t been used for years. We use DMMs now they are far
better for almost every use an AVO was put to.

Quite often that extra little bit of loading an analogue meter puts
across a measurement makes for a more meaningful reading. DMMs are so
high impedance and whilst most of the time that's a good thing, there are
other times when it can be very unhelpful and provide a false positive.

In those cases I'd hope the user would have the inteligence to use a load resistor.

And like someone else said, for peaking & tweaking, they're *way* better
than a DMM.

How ?
If I want to know the peak voltage I leave the meter connected go off have a cup of tea and when I come back the peak, average, maxium can be called up,
(depending on meter) without me having to sit there for seconds, minutes, hours or days staring at a needle with a mirror behind it.

On Thu, 09 Apr 2015 04:04:34 -0700, whisky-dave wrote:

How ?
If I want to know the peak voltage I leave the meter connected go off
have a cup of tea and when I come back the peak, average, maxium can be
called up,
(depending on meter) without me having to sit there for seconds,
minutes, hours or days staring at a needle with a mirror behind it.

Slight misunderstanding here. I'm talking of the kind of tweaking and
peaking us radio hams have to do when tuning intermediate frequency
stages of amplifiers. The effect is much more easily seen with an
analogue meter.

In article , Cursitor Doom
scribeth thus
On Thu, 09 Apr 2015 04:04:34 -0700, whisky-dave wrote:

How ?
If I want to know the peak voltage I leave the meter connected go off
have a cup of tea and when I come back the peak, average, maxium can be
called up,
(depending on meter) without me having to sit there for seconds,
minutes, hours or days staring at a needle with a mirror behind it.

Slight misunderstanding here. I'm talking of the kind of tweaking and
peaking us radio hams have to do when tuning intermediate frequency
stages of amplifiers. The effect is much more easily seen with an
analogue meter.


'Tho best seen on the DC coupled input on a scope..

You can "amplify" the trace and then move it with the shift controls to
magnify it as it were...
--
Tony Sayer

On Thursday, 9 April 2015 21:56:03 UTC+1, Cursitor Doom wrote:
On Thu, 09 Apr 2015 04:04:34 -0700, whisky-dave wrote:

How ?
If I want to know the peak voltage I leave the meter connected go off
have a cup of tea and when I come back the peak, average, maxium can be
called up,
(depending on meter) without me having to sit there for seconds,
minutes, hours or days staring at a needle with a mirror behind it.

Slight misunderstanding here. I'm talking of the kind of tweaking and
peaking us radio hams have to do when tuning intermediate frequency
stages of amplifiers. The effect is much more easily seen with an
analogue meter.

yes I can understand how flicking needles can make things easiier for some.
But the majoroty I think are better off with a DMM, some of those have anolgue displays if you really need it.
Are they many radios hams left, our rad-soc in the uni disapeared 20 years ago.

In article ,
whisky-dave wrote:
Slight misunderstanding here. I'm talking of the kind of tweaking and
peaking us radio hams have to do when tuning intermediate frequency
stages of amplifiers. The effect is much more easily seen with an
analogue meter.

yes I can understand how flicking needles can make things easiier for
some. But the majoroty I think are better off with a DMM, some of those
have anolgue displays if you really need it. Are they many radios hams
left, our rad-soc in the uni disapeared 20 years ago.

If you're dealing with a receiver so old as to have IF coils that need
tweeking, a low impedance AVO is probably the correct tool for the job as
voltage measurements will be given with that too.

With high impedance circuits a low impedance AVO can make a big difference
to the reading. Which is why a modern DVM is so much better. ;-)

--
*War does not determine who is right - only who is left.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On Fri, 10 Apr 2015 04:13:16 -0700, whisky-dave wrote:

On Thursday, 9 April 2015 21:56:03 UTC+1, Cursitor Doom wrote:
On Thu, 09 Apr 2015 04:04:34 -0700, whisky-dave wrote:

How ?
If I want to know the peak voltage I leave the meter connected go off
have a cup of tea and when I come back the peak, average, maxium can
be called up,
(depending on meter) without me having to sit there for seconds,
minutes, hours or days staring at a needle with a mirror behind it.

Slight misunderstanding here. I'm talking of the kind of tweaking and
peaking us radio hams have to do when tuning intermediate frequency
stages of amplifiers. The effect is much more easily seen with an
analogue meter.

yes I can understand how flicking needles can make things easiier for
some.
But the majoroty I think are better off with a DMM, some of those have
anolgue displays if you really need it.
Are they many radios hams left, our rad-soc in the uni disapeared 20
years ago.

We have a Tinkering Society here (and a maker space).

I think we got 14 people through their Foundation licence last year, and
another 12 this year (plus some Intermediates and an Advanced).



--
My posts are my copyright and if @diy_forums or Home Owners' Hub
wish to copy them they can pay me £30a message.
Use the BIG mirror service in the UK: http://www.mirrorservice.org
*lightning surge protection* - a w_tom conductor

In article , Bob Eager
scribeth thus
On Fri, 10 Apr 2015 04:13:16 -0700, whisky-dave wrote:

On Thursday, 9 April 2015 21:56:03 UTC+1, Cursitor Doom wrote:
On Thu, 09 Apr 2015 04:04:34 -0700, whisky-dave wrote:

How ?
If I want to know the peak voltage I leave the meter connected go off
have a cup of tea and when I come back the peak, average, maxium can
be called up,
(depending on meter) without me having to sit there for seconds,
minutes, hours or days staring at a needle with a mirror behind it.

Slight misunderstanding here. I'm talking of the kind of tweaking and
peaking us radio hams have to do when tuning intermediate frequency
stages of amplifiers. The effect is much more easily seen with an
analogue meter.

yes I can understand how flicking needles can make things easiier for
some.
But the majoroty I think are better off with a DMM, some of those have
anolgue displays if you really need it.
Are they many radios hams left, our rad-soc in the uni disapeared 20
years ago.

We have a Tinkering Society here (and a maker space).

I think we got 14 people through their Foundation licence last year, and
another 12 this year (plus some Intermediates and an Advanced).



But how many licence holders brew anything like their own nowadays?.

Christ am I just getting olde;!)?...

--
Tony Sayer

On Monday, 6 April 2015 12:39:30 UTC+1, Steve Walker wrote:
Hi -

I'm sick of using £5 Chinese DMM's off ebay. They don't seem to last 5
minutes before the test leads break, and I don't trust their accuracy much.

Is there a decent DIY level DMM - maybe around £40-50 - which anyone
could recommend? I know I'm not going to get a Fluke for that, but I
just want something sturdy & reliable.

Testing requirements are mainly home (UK 230v) and car (12v), just
ordinary stuff about continuity, resistance, volts and milliamps etc.

Thanks

PS - Have tried anglegrinder... :-)

Test leads are trivial to replace. I've got a good variety of meters, including a batch of £2 jobs for a job when I wanted to measure lots of things at once, and quite honestly I've not had problems with any of them... other than:
leads breaking
leads coming out far enough to not make contact
These days almost any multimeter is good enough for diy. Just dont use some of them north of the CU's fuses, for that you need a suitable category rating.


NT

In article ,
wrote:
These days almost any multimeter is good enough for diy. Just dont use
some of them north of the CU's fuses, for that you need a suitable
category rating.

Having had a quite expensive DVM blow up on mains, I'll not use one for
that any more. Have a proper mains test stick one for that - more
convenient too.

BTW, no more volts 'north of the CU' in the average UK house anyway. ;-)

--
*TEAMWORK...means never having to take all the blame yourself *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On Friday, 10 April 2015 19:10:36 UTC+1, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,

These days almost any multimeter is good enough for diy. Just dont use
some of them north of the CU's fuses, for that you need a suitable
category rating.

Having had a quite expensive DVM blow up on mains, I'll not use one for
that any more. Have a proper mains test stick one for that - more
convenient too.

BTW, no more volts 'north of the CU' in the average UK house anyway. ;-)

Its the i squared t that's the problem


NT

On Thu, 09 Apr 2015 23:43:07 +0100, tony sayer wrote:

In article , Cursitor Doom
scribeth thus
On Thu, 09 Apr 2015 04:04:34 -0700, whisky-dave wrote:

How ?
If I want to know the peak voltage I leave the meter connected go off
have a cup of tea and when I come back the peak, average, maxium can
be called up,
(depending on meter) without me having to sit there for seconds,
minutes, hours or days staring at a needle with a mirror behind it.

Slight misunderstanding here. I'm talking of the kind of tweaking and
peaking us radio hams have to do when tuning intermediate frequency
stages of amplifiers. The effect is much more easily seen with an
analogue meter.


'Tho best seen on the DC coupled input on a scope..

You can "amplify" the trace and then move it with the shift controls to
magnify it as it were...

I've got 12 or 13 oscilloscopes here at present (most of 'em work!) but
I'd still rather use an analogue meter. Yeah, I guess I'm old fashioned
inasmuch as I find it hard to get enthused about modern gear. I'm lucky
in preferring vintage as at least the components are manageably large,
unlike today's SMDs which I personally can't deal with.

On Fri, 10 Apr 2015 04:13:16 -0700, whisky-dave wrote:

Are they many radios hams left, our rad-soc in the uni disapeared 20
years ago.

The advent of the computer has tempted away a vast proportion of
youngsters who would otherwise have got stuck into radio. I suspect the
resulting shortage is why good RF engineers are remunerated to such
stratospheric levels.