On 2/28/2016 6:07 PM, gray_wolf wrote:
On 2/27/2016 4:14 PM, mike wrote:
On 2/27/2016 5:50 AM, Steve Walker wrote:
Wide variety of test leads out there. Anybody have any recommendations
for replacements (and a source)? My Protek takes 4mm banana plug style,
looks like the female contact in the meter is recessed about 8 mm down
an 8mm hole. I would like hard tipped ones. EBay and Amazon have a lot
of name brand (right!!) ones, but who knows. Not looking for cheap, just
quality.
Here's a picture of one like mine.

http://thumbs3.ebaystatic.com/d/l225...YdXE92XcBw.jpg

The tip broke off one of my leads.

There are a couple of problems with cheap meter leads.

Can't tell from your picture, but if the end that plugs into
the meter has a cylindrical plastic shield that surrounds
the banana plug, sometimes the cylinder is too thick to fit
into the hole in the meter.

Second is lead flexibility. Sometimes they start out stiff.
Often they become stiff with age. Leads that age well are
easy to spot once you know what to look for...and have them
in your hand. Hard to describe, but the plastic is not shiny.

Buying a cheap lead set off EBAY will likely get you stiffed.

I always bought some good flexible leads with rubber insulation and
finely stranded wire... Plastic is too stiff. I was a bench tech
for many years so my meter leads got plenty of use. It wasn't too
uncommon for a lead wire to develop an intermittent break.
Could be a real head scratcher for bit. A good test trick is to grab
each end by the tips and pull. If there is a break in the wire the
lead will stretch fairly easily. Odd thing is the ends of the wire
look like they were cut with a knife.

Another tip is to keep the probe points sharp. Dull points will sometimes not
make good contact with oxidized surfaces. Especially if covered with solder
flux... It's a drag to think you just found a bunch of open diodes on a PCB
and find you weren't waking good contact.