Fluke 83-1 Meter

[xray]

What’s up guys! New to the forum but was recommended here by a 4chaner lol fairly new to the world of meters and have a question.

I recently bought a fluke 83–1 meter.
When the dial turns to AC volts with the leads untouched the air is 20-130v. In operation the meter is working as expected for every function.

Why doesn’t it zero?
Haven’t replaced battery, did swap leads, does it need calibration? Is it normal for this old meter?

Someone replied if I held both leads together and press the rel that may solve my issue, not too sure, not home yet.

I spend some money on this and really like the meter hopefully it’s nothing to crazy where I can’t diy. Pretty resourceful forum you guys have here, might be here more often since I work as a car mechanic and want to get into diesel generators soon then transition hopefully back and work as a engineer for tesla, if they don’t go bankrupt by that time 🙄

[Electro Detective]

I've got an 87-1 which is similar

In your case I would suspect the internal selector switch tracks may be a bit dirty and or some of the black (carbon based?) track material has crept around on to adjacent tracks
and affecting the AC Range 

There should be posts here at EEVblog with pictures somewhere or links to external blogs    

Don't attempt Fluke dis-assembly or clean up/lube of the switch area if you're not familiar otherwise you may kill it...    

I'm confident some members will be along here asap with some tips, so hang in there   

[danadak]

You could be experiencing pickup from power lines, instruments,
lighting (especially fluorescent lights).

Start by powering stuff down in your lab and see what dominates.


Regards, Dana.