Voltcraft ME-32 DMM teardown

[jitter]

My one surviving cheapie multimeter, also my first autoranger.
Bought in May 1998 for the (converted) sum of about € 45.

It's cheap, and feels it. Lightweight but stiff. The selectorswitch doesn't feel very nice and binds a bit halfway through.
It came with testleads, a K-type thermocouple and a pouch. It's powered by two AAA batteries.

The biggest drawback: a mechanical power switch that will be operated when something is pushing only lightly on it, and there's no auto power off. On more than one occasion this thing drained the batteries well into leaking electrolyte...

Underneath it's a Metex... so why bother with a teardown? Why not...
Is there anyhing good about it? Yes, threaded metal inserts and captive screws. And it has ceramic fuses, but the spare 5x20 800 mA fuse I only just now discovered is a glass fuse  .

[jitter]

More...

[retiredcaps]

It's powered by two AAA batteries.

Thanks for sharing the pictures.  I like meters that use AA and AAA cells as I like using rechargeable ni-mh eneloops.

[jitter]

Aren't there any Eneloop (or similar low self discharge type NiMH) in 9 V versions?