Show your Multimeter!

[pickle9000]

These things are handy, I use one for lead identification all the time.

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/2014-Latest-Transistor-Tester-Capacitor-ESR-Inductance-Resistor-LCR-Meter-MOS-/251506763822?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a8ef8a82e

[RobertoLG]

mine is a Motech MIC 2200A

[timofonic]

Transistor testing functions in a multimeter are considered a gimmick because of a number of reasons.

1. The socket needed for the transistor test brings internal voltages close to the surface of the meter casing. This is very bad practice when it comes to making a multimeter safe for high voltages and CAT ratings. You now have exposed metal contacts that could be at the potential of the whatever the test leads are connected to, especially if there is some failure inside the meter.

2. Transistor test functions on multimeters are almost always very poorly implemented and the readings are really only good for maybe a relative measurement between transistors. You don't have the full curve of the transistor's function so it will be a guess as to what the real value of the transistor is.

3. Because of the above, and because it is a cheap gimmick to add to the multimeter, it would be much better return on a design to spend the time and funds adding better safety, durability, quality, or accuracy. It is a cheap "look at all my functions" gimmick rather than something useful.

It is much better to spend the money on a dedicated transistor tester than waste money on a multimeter just because it has the transistor feature.

I see. Thanks for your explaining, it's very helpful.

I didn't understand why people was into these cheap LCR meters, I did believe that should be part of a DMM for electronics.

We newbies are easily amused by feature creep and the all-in-one obsession is very deep in our minds.

These things are handy, I use one for lead identification all the time.

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/2014-Latest-Transistor-Tester-Capacitor-ESR-Inductance-Resistor-LCR-Meter-MOS-/251506763822?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a8ef8a82e

Okay, so a LCR meter is a better tool for this task. I see!

Because many DMM feature a communications port, I wonder if a LCR module would be feasible. It could make one less thing to wear and save parts such as the LCD, and provide easy sockets port putting components.

Thanks!

[Hydrawerk]

My multimeters seem to be still quite stable after some years.

[fergch]

Hi

New to the forum, and this seems a quick and easy introduction. I stumbled on the EVblog some time ago and have enjoyed learning from the videos. Thought I should join the forum as I am just retired and have a number of projects to develop and will need help I am certain.

Back to the meters, several are not so well known, and all have been acquired for not much outlay, or even free, over many years. The Ecom Ex-DM 1000 and the Avometers (Avometer M3006S, EM272 and Mk 8) and the Fluke 37 are less usual, and the bench BCC Goerz Mettrawatt is old, as is the Beckman and Robin. Anyway, make of it what you will...

hope the photo appears...

[abdullahseba]

Here are a bunch of the multimeters I have had throughout my life.


On the left is my first one I got as a kid from my dad. I did some projects with the boy scouts with it. Its a Hung Chang HC-213.
Next is a GB Instruments GDT-11 I got as a teenager to put together an intercom kit and trouble shoot a doorbell with.
The green one is a Greenlee DM-40 home depot special cheapo meter I use to check mains voltage at work. I also use the ohms and continuity on it.

The big yellow one on the end is what I purchased recently for $40 on ebay. Its a BK test bench 389.
I have been using it building a bunch of kits and just starting to really learn about electronics and I like it!

Ok now show me what you got!!

where did you get a triangle multimeter from?

[abdullahseba]

Here's mine:


My first one is a garbage yellow thing with a knob for £7.
Second one is "not bad" UNI-T UT60E £55.
Third one is awesome Agilent/Keysight U125B £580.
Plus some more garbage ones and one from the 1950's

[BravoV]

where did you get a triangle multimeter from?

... that is because the OP was using crappy external image hosting ... 


and your own post ...

Here's mine:
Image hosted at some bla..bla.. cheap n free soon will be gone ... https://s5lm5a.bn1304.livefilestore.com

Why not used the forum's built in image attachment feature ? Instead of using unreliable external hosting ?

[abdullahseba]

where did you get a triangle multimeter from?

... that is because the OP was using crappy external image hosting ... 


and your own post ...

Here's mine:
Image hosted at some bla..bla.. cheap n free soon will be gone ... https://s5lm5a.bn1304.livefilestore.com

Why not used the forum's built in image attachment feature ? Instead of using unreliable external hosting ?

how do use the forum image attachment feature?
As for "https://s5lm5a.bn1304.livefilestore.com" what post was that in?

[Deathwish]

I have the sapiens mark 1, it has an awesome over current protection system, if it meets anything dangerous it lets out a loud howl and the main fuse stops and blows, alarms will ring and sirens will ring. It comes with two probes that are even more supple than silicone ones and both have their own hard case either side on the end. Resistance reading is not very good when used with mains items.

[VK5RC]

@Daethwish, I laughed at your last post as I recalled  one of the older and now quite conservative fellows in my radio club saying he built, tested and aligned a valve transceiver using your "Sapiens Mk 1" meter, he added he was always careful to use the back of his hand!

[Deathwish]

It's also quite good on static stuff too, the hairs on the back stand up to let you know that you need to earth yourself.

beats my ut61E or the extech I have.

[KJDS]

Some of the latest

[bitwelder]

Some of the latest

That picture reminds me of Segal's Law: "A man with a watch knows what time it is. A man with two watches is never sure." 

[KJDS]

Some of the latest

That picture reminds me of Segal's Law: "A man with a watch knows what time it is. A man with two watches is never sure." 

I've still got a couple of Keithley 2015's about, I could add those to the mix, but I'd need to buy some more leads.

[tooki]

My first meter was a little analog thing I got when i was 7 or something. Pretty sure I fried it rather quickly, LOL. Next came a Radio Shack meter I got in 1996 that looked an awful lot like the one at far right in this post, but with fewer functions. When it finally died around 2011 (battery leakage, broken detent in mode selector, and something else), a coworker got me the Mastech as a surprise gift (having not realized that my offhand comment that I wanted to get a new meter actually meant I wanted to finally get a Fluke). And finally, early this year I got the Fluke 87, after literally nearly 30 years of lusting after the Fluke meters I saw advertised in Popular Electronics and the like. And finally, I picked up the old Keithley on the Swiss local equivalent of eBay to have something that can do 4-wire ohms and whatnot.

Pic 1: Fluke 87 V, Mastech MY64 (rebadged as some European distributor), Keithley 197. It probably goes without saying which one of the bunch is my everyday meter. (In the back you can see a Rigol DS1054Z, an Ersa i-Con Nano, and a Korad KA3005P.)

Pic 2: Probes. Clockwise from top left: Fluke TL175 (showing one shroud extended, one retracted); Mastech pack-in probes; Oldaker needle tip probes included with the Radio Shack meter; Oldaker standard probes given with the used Keithley (with the finger guards hacked off... wtf?); and Fluke TL224 test leads, TL238 test probes, and AC220 alligator clips all included with the Fluke 87V/E2 kit. The TL175 are the ones I use most.

Pic 3: Closeup of probe tips. Clockwise: Fluke AC220 alligator clips, Fluke TL238 test probes, Fluke TL175 test leads, Mastech, Oldaker needle tip, Oldaker standard tip.

Pic 4: The el-cheapo SMD tweezers I got off fleabay.

[tooki]

As an aside, a fascinating observation on this thread: We've got everything from young beginners saving up to buy an entry level meter, all the way to people literally collecting Flukes for sport.

[fivefish]

Behold! The awesomeness of this meter!

[xrunner]

Behold! The awesomeness of this meter!

It is awesome, but I don't understand the terminal markings. On the left it says "-Com"

But on the right is says "+V   -ohms   -A

Ohms has no polarity! 

[onlooker]

I think "+V-ohms-A" really means "+{V or ohms or A}".

"Ohms has no polarity"

If one wants to check diodes with some ohm range, one would want to know the polarity of the leads. The interesting thing is that I used to have an old DMM that had the lead polarity for the ohms reversing the red/black convention.

[fivefish]

The interesting thing is that I used to have an old DMM that had the lead polarity for the ohms reversing the red/black convention.

Yup, and if you want to light up an LED (to see if it works), besides the reverse leads, it needs to be on x1 position .

[Jay_Diddy_B]

Hi,

I used to use a Datron 1281:





But for precise work I have switched to using a monkey:




Jay_Diddy_B

[MarkF]

Here is my Fluke line-up.  Not included are a few old old Radio Shack specials.

   

[retrolefty]

Fluke 45. Great meter from the era. Nice features, dual display, streaming RS-232 output and with care can be quite a bargain on the e-bay used market.

[med6753]

My trio. Fluke 8021B, Fluke 87, and Heathkit V-5 VTVM (Yes, it works well even though it looks battered and bruised)

Guess which one is my "go to" multimeter?