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