Huge typed


My digital multimeter's just given up the ghost.

Any suggestions as to a replacement? I don't need a golly-gee-whizz
one with dB scales and transistor testers, but I'd like a large
display (so I can see it when I'm hanging out of the ceiling) and
it's got to be reasonably robust.


On the desk in front of me sits a Maplin multimter of which I bought a
job lot a few years ago; they were £4.99 each but BOGOF, making them
hardly more expensive than the PP3 within.

The display digits are 1cm tall and I've not yet but the meter.

The probes are not very good and my partner has had them come adrift
between the wire and probe. (Mine are reinforced with insulting tape)

I have never tried the transistor tester, but this is a feature...

I don't suppose Maplin will still do exactly the same meter but they
seemed to have some nice ones when we went there last week.

--
Helen D. Vecht:
Edgware.

On the desk in front of me sits a Maplin multimter of which I bought a
job lot a few years ago; they were £4.99 each but BOGOF, making them
hardly more expensive than the PP3 within.

The display digits are 1cm tall and I've not yet but the meter.

The probes are not very good and my partner has had them come adrift
between the wire and probe. (Mine are reinforced with insulting tape)


These yellow meters are *awful*. The sockets on mine came loose and started
to rotate (they are only attached to a thin PCB by solder) and when
measuring the mains one day it exploded with a puff of smoke. Since then it
is total kaput. So for everyday use, they can't take the strain.

john2

On Sun, 15 Oct 2006 16:50:52 +0100, Helen Deborah Vecht
wrote:

Huge typed


My digital multimeter's just given up the ghost.

Any suggestions as to a replacement? I don't need a golly-gee-whizz
one with dB scales and transistor testers, but I'd like a large
display (so I can see it when I'm hanging out of the ceiling) and
it's got to be reasonably robust.


On the desk in front of me sits a Maplin multimter of which I bought a
job lot a few years ago; they were £4.99 each but BOGOF, making them
hardly more expensive than the PP3 within.

The display digits are 1cm tall and I've not yet but the meter.

The probes are not very good and my partner has had them come adrift
between the wire and probe. (Mine are reinforced with insulting tape)

I have never tried the transistor tester, but this is a feature...

I don't suppose Maplin will still do exactly the same meter but they
seemed to have some nice ones when we went there last week.

For electrical as opposed to electronic work, a digital meter isn't
always ideal; with its very high input impedance you can easily get
misleading readings due to induction from wiring around the place or
very low leakage currents.

--
Frank Erskine

In article ,
john2 wrote:
These yellow meters are *awful*. The sockets on mine came loose and
started to rotate (they are only attached to a thin PCB by solder) and
when measuring the mains one day it exploded with a puff of smoke.
Since then it is total kaput. So for everyday use, they can't take the
strain.

Probably like most things - you get what you pay for. I have a Maplin Gold
which cost about 70 quid many years ago and did sterling service until it
blew up when measuring mains - brass dust on the switch tracks. I repaired
it - it actually had a circuit diagram - but decided to treat myself to a
Fluke which is in a different league. As it should be, being newer and
more expensive. But, of course, it depends on what you're going to use it
for.

--
*Born free...Taxed to death.

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

Probably like most things - you get what you pay for. I have a Maplin Gold
which cost about 70 quid many years ago and did sterling service until it
blew up when measuring mains - brass dust on the switch tracks. I repaired
it - it actually had a circuit diagram - but decided to treat myself to a
Fluke which is in a different league. As it should be, being newer and
more expensive. But, of course, it depends on what you're going to use it
for.

I also have a Maplin DVM with autorange & RS232 interface which is rugged,
but it has the weight and feel of a housebrick

john2