“Blown” Fuses in Several New Multimeters

[Gyro]

Nobody has answer for why brand new meters have blown fuse. I don't either except perhaps those are not brand new.

Nor me. I'm sure Fluke and Brymen don't ship new meters with dead fuses, so I can only put it down to 'finger trouble' sometime in their short lives.

[wraper]

Nobody has answer for why brand new meters have blown fuse. I don't either except perhaps those are not brand new.

IMHO the answer is quite clear:

Then, just out of interest, I then opened up the brand new Fluke 179 and tested both fuses in the 179 (out of the meter). One of them was open - no continuity. (Checked with a new Fluke 87V.) What?? This was a brand new meter and the only thing I tested with it, for function was continuity, the resistance of the leads, a couple of AA alkaline batteries and the AC house current. IN the AC voltage setting - NOT in the current setting.

"brand new"

[Fungus]

An AA battery is perfectly capable of blowing one of those fuses if the leads are in the wrong holes.

[wraper]

An AA battery is perfectly capable of blowing one of those fuses if the leads are in the wrong holes.

Alkaline most likely won't be able to blow 11A fuse, but can easily blow 440mA. A few NiMH in series (much lower ESR) probably will blow 11A fuse too, a single battery likely won't be enough due to multimeter lead resistance.

[Fungus]

An AA battery is perfectly capable of blowing one of those fuses if the leads are in the wrong holes.

Alkaline most likely won't be able to blow 11A fuse, but can easily blow 440mA.

I didn't say which one. 

[Locator]

I get it - don't do it. That wasn't my question. Lead "alarms" wouldn't have helped and I'm not defending the 117 that I blew the fuse on. The leads were in the correct jacks for the dial setting - they were in the 10A jack and the dial was on the "A"/amps setting. There should not be no alarm showing in that case. The mistake was - I accidentally touched the leads to the outlet and blew the fuse when distracted. Got it. You're not supposed to do that, I get it...

My question - and surprise/alarm is - I don't know why all the other bad fuses. And no, they were never used to check current, nor voltages with the leads in the current jacks. My assumption is I've received some previously used meters from Amazon. If you've bought much from Amazon, you have often received things people have returned. It's usually easy to tell, when the display protector has been removed or there is hair on the meter or the meter is turned backward, with a magnet against the face, or there is a return shipping label from some other Amazon customer in the package, etc...

And I have plenty of devices to check that an outlet is working - I was checking the consistency of the AC readings on each of the meters. How else would you do that? Not that I need to give this info, either, but I personally keep plugs in the current jacks on my multimeters. It's something I rarely have to use, the aforementioned time, notwithstanding. I have clamp meters for that.

And - WHY would checking alkaline batteries with DC voltage on any multimeter blow a fuse? It wouldn't.

[Fungus]

And - WHY would checking alkaline batteries with DC voltage on any multimeter blow a fuse? It wouldn't.

No, but people get the leads in the wrong holes.

Bopttom line: No "new" meter would have blown fuses. If you're buying off Amazon and it arrives with a blown fuse then return it ASAP.

[J-R]

I've purchased two Fluke DMMs from the Amazon Warehouse that were returns.  87V and 287.  Both were in great condition and came with third-party calibration data (per the listing), although the Bluetooth to IR adapter was missing from the 287.  I contacted customer service and got a some money back.  Was a steal of a deal.

Anyway, long story short: neither had any blown fuses.

However, plenty of used handheld and bench DMMs that I've purchased on eBay have had blown fuses.  Obviously user error.  But that is the job of the fuses.  Most recent was a mint condition Fluke 45.  The 10A input uses a 15A fast-blow fuse.

[Doctorandus_P]

I don't know about the flukes, but the Brymen meters beep at you when you have the test leads in a current plug while the rotary switch is in another position. My first meter did not have this (That was 30 years ago), and the first serious DMM I bought (Dynatek 112) also already had this.  It's very rare to blow a fuse with such a meter. I also have a Wavetek Meterman XP35. I bought it in a pawn shop for EUR35. It also had it's fuses blown, even though this meter also has this bleeping function. So I replaced them, and had a fully working meter again

[floobydust]

Fluke is looking at adding LED-rings to the input jacks as yet another way to stop jack mistakes from happening.
But I'm sure we've all measured something on the mA range when current goes up a bit unexpectedly and takes out the fuse.
One way to eat up fuses is automotive 12VDC work. Opening a door interior lamp, tap the brake pedal etc. and fuse blows while measuring parasite draw.

I have seen really cheap fuses from china that had salt-water inside them. Corrosion   You could take apart your blown fuses for an autopsy.
OP, I think unless you've got aliens borrowing your test equipment, you're buying defective products. Might be why the price is lower than the rest?

[tooki]

I don't know about the flukes, but the Brymen meters beep at you when you have the test leads in a current plug while the rotary switch is in another position. …

Fluke is looking at adding LED-rings to the input jacks as yet another way to stop jack mistakes from happening.

Did both of you miss the original post and subsequent reply where OP (re)stated that the problem was user error where the meter was in amps mode when the leads (in amps jack) were connected to mains? No input jack alert can prevent this, because it wasn’t a mode–jack mismatch error.

[floobydust]

Having a bad day? Seeing your posts today giving people shit. Try not to blow a fuse.
Yes I read the 117 fuse getting blown due to user (jack) error. Thread is about several new multimeters though.
In OP, the 179, 827/DM-830, MM6000, AM-570 also had bad fuses and why?
Post #30 "...I don't know why all the other bad fuses. And no, they were never used to check current, nor voltages with the leads in the current jacks..."

[tooki]

Having a bad day? Seeing your posts today giving people shit. Try not to blow a fuse.

Nope, I’m actually in a great mood. It just baffles me why people provide responses that ignore clearly- and repeatedly-stated information. 

Yes I read the 117 fuse getting blown due to user (jack) error. Thread is about several new multimeters though.
In OP, the 179, 827/DM-830, MM6000, AM-570 also had bad fuses and why?
Post #30 "...I don't know why all the other bad fuses. And no, they were never used to check current, nor voltages with the leads in the current jacks..."

OK, and how would an input jack alert have helped here? 

[J-R]

Definitely some forums users could use a "quality over quantity" adjustment...

My overall opinion of this thread is that the OP probably blew the fuses in the other DMMs but just didn't realize it at the time.

[IanB]

Nobody has answer for why brand new meters have blown fuse. I don't either except perhaps those are not brand new.

I have certainly bought a brand new meter that came with a blown fuse out of the box. A previous purchaser had bought it, blown the fuse, and then returned it.

For as long as retailers have a policy of accepting returns, you run the risk of getting returned goods "as new".

[Fungus]

For as long as retailers have a policy of accepting returns, you run the risk of getting returned goods "as new".

And you have the option of instantly returning it as "damaged".

Me? If I'm paying top $$$ for a multimeter I want to know its history.

[floobydust]

Having a bad day? Seeing your posts today giving people shit. Try not to blow a fuse.

Nope, I’m actually in a great mood. It just baffles me why people provide responses that ignore clearly- and repeatedly-stated information. 

Yes I read the 117 fuse getting blown due to user (jack) error. Thread is about several new multimeters though.
In OP, the 179, 827/DM-830, MM6000, AM-570 also had bad fuses and why?
Post #30 "...I don't know why all the other bad fuses. And no, they were never used to check current, nor voltages with the leads in the current jacks..."

OK, and how would an input jack alert have helped here? 

Previous post #33 was about the jack alert so I mentioned the LED-ring addition. Nothing can save a fuse. They are made to die.
Threads usually are full of misunderstanding, side-channel issues etc. so I will not stay laser-focused especially when we don't know what went wrong and have to guess or speculate.
Why do the other four or five new multimeters have blown fuses? That is not clear but likely user error I guess, before or after the resell.

[thm_w]

Unless you are buying from Amazon Warehouse Deals (returned or damaged items), the chance of you getting this many returned "new" meters is low. Its possible but quite low. It also assumes you don't check the box tape when opening it, and notice that its already been opened.

I have certainly bought a brand new meter that came with a blown fuse out of the box. A previous purchaser had bought it, blown the fuse, and then returned it.

For as long as retailers have a policy of accepting returns, you run the risk of getting returned goods "as new".

Definitely, but, did you notice the packaging was opened already? Or was there no tape sealing the box.