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Recommend me a multimeter


reb78

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As above. Can you recommend me a decent multimeter, suitable for most vehicle work that won't break the bank. Will a budget of up to £30 get a decent one?

Previous ones have come from lidl, but all the cables have failed. I could replace these I suppose.

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Get an auto-ranging one. I keep one of these in my portable tool kit, very good but of kit. First one lasted 5 years before I destroyed the cables. http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/3-in-1-autoranging-multimeter-with-non-contact-detector-n73bz

I compliment it with one of these in the workshop,it's overkill but nice: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fluke-115-Multimeter/dp/B0011D6O0A

For vehicle electrics, a power probe is very handy, doesn't quite replace a meter, but is better and easier to use for a lot of jobs: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B000R9Y35C

I'd buy the £13 meter and a power probe over w £30 meter for car stuff

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I've got a draper expert one with a thermocouple function, auto ranging too, I think its been discontinued as can't find one for sale, but generally I'm a fan of draper kit, usually pretty good quality. There's also "Fluke" equipment which is meant to be good as my housemate kindly boasted as after using mine he had to go one step above me... Yawn..

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I was looking around for a meter to live in the 90 last year and after quite a bit of investigation I went for a Fluke 325.

I know it's (a lot) more than your budget, but I think this is a near perfect meter for automotive applications. It has everything you are ever likely to need, including the ability to directly measure starting currents, and temperature via an external themocouple proble (which it comes with).

There are cheaper models of clamp meter, but if you think about buying one, check it will measure DC current: most of the cheaper models only do AC.

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http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/uni-trend-ut50c-with-temperature-and-frequency-digital-multimeter-n78cb

I bought this one about five years ago, more useful features than the frankly overpriced Snap on one it replaced.

It's got all you need for automotive work.

For me audible continuity and a back light are a must for working under dashboards, it also switches itself off if you wander off and forget it.

Mines in use every day in the workshop, two of my colleagues have since bought one and all are faultless.

I have an old set of leads I cut the probes off, I then crimped some 6mm lucar spades on the ends, this allowed me to make up a variety of test probes I can attach with different ends, like crocodile clips, male and female spades and bullets in different sizes. Means you can attach the meter to connectors with the correct terminal rather than forcing a probe in.

I also made up some extension leads so you can connect the probe at one end of a vehicle while the meter and the other probe are at the other end.

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I know it's a bit over budget and not the best but I got a fluke T5 meter , auto ranging, 5 settings and a little amp meter for about £100 which came with a power detecting pen thing(that I hardly use)

Although your budget is 1/3 of that I would say have a look at least. It's been in the outside pocket of my tool bag for about 4 years now. dragged up tower cranes in all weathers(inc hard rain) taken an oil bath and dropped from around 15m up........still works fine, tested it against other meters to check. The leads are still in one piece and the probes have interchangeable tips. It's seen me through AC hoist and crane controle panels and through my Megasquirt build and was worth everey penny!

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I know it's a bit over budget and not the best but I got a fluke T5 meter , auto ranging, 5 settings and a little amp meter for about £100 which came with a power detecting pen thing(that I hardly use)

I have a bit of a collection of Flukes, about a dozen different types... yep sad I know. ...My collection also includes a T5-1000 - IMO Its probably good enough for most vehicle auto stuff but as you know its a bit limited - only reads to 1KR, resolution very limited etc

If I'm working on a big motor or dis box in a ****ty place - yep - if I'm sorting out my LR at home I'd reach for something different.

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FLUKE - every time!

I have a Fluke 79 which I bought in 1990 and it still works as well now as then.

One of my friends asked the same & I recommended a used Fluke 75 - which can be had Used on eBay for about £30. They are very solid and were generally sold to Utilities / MOD. It's auto-ranging and accurate.

The Chinese offerings from Maplin etc may do what you want but are less likely to be accurate and less likely to work long term. They are the electrical equivalent of Britpart!

Si

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Flukes are very nice but massive overkill. I have one because I love wiring and can afford it, but as long as a meter has a beep function, resistance and volts, it will do the job fine.

In most cases with vehicles, accuracy isn't totally crucial, it doesn't much matter if the volts is out by 0.1, most of the time I want to know if it's live and if it's 6v 10v 12v or 14v, not if its 12.2 or 12.3v. i agree it matters more for ecu sensors and is crucial for canbus diagnostics, but that doesn't seem like the focus for the OP.

Cheap multimeter and a power probe :)

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Another vote for power probes, a quick way of tracing most vehicle electrics, just think about what your doing before you press the apply power button and get one with a volt gauge on. Mine just has an LED which can be misleading if you have a bad connection, the LED on mine will light even if theres only 3v coming through making you think all is well, however 3v isn't generally enough to make whatever it's connected to go.

The multimeter in my carry around box came free with a battery, I've seen them for sale elsewhere 2 for a fiver. I don't expect anything from it but it's good enough for a land rover where most of the time it could be half a volt or a few ohms out and you wouldn't really care.

If your able to spend more then a better tool will give more confidence and come in for other jobs.

Analogue ones can be useful too as if something changing you can see the rate rather than just numbers jumping about or a blurry bar going up and down. I used to have an old AVO one that I loved as you could clip it onto an alternator and if gave you rpm which made setting carbs much easier :)

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Flukes are very nice but massive overkill. I have one because I love wiring and can afford it, but as long as a meter has a beep function, resistance and volts, it will do the job fine.

In most cases with vehicles, accuracy isn't totally crucial, it doesn't much matter if the volts is out by 0.1, most of the time I want to know if it's live and if it's 6v 10v 12v or 14v, not if its 12.2 or 12.3v. i agree it matters more for ecu sensors and is crucial for canbus diagnostics, but that doesn't seem like the focus for the OP.

Cheap multimeter and a power probe :)

This.

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I think suggesting a power probe to someone who who is asking advice on what type of multimeter to buy is folly. Unless you understand the circuit you are testing and the implication of pressing the button,you could end up with more and possibly expensive problems than you started with.

A multimeter on volts or ohms scale is unlikely to get anyone into trouble.

This book would be a better suggestion than a powerprobe;

https://haynes.co.uk/catalog/car-manuals/car-techbooks/automotive-electrical-haynes-techbook

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Well I look at these things as cost of ownership over the expected life of the item, and nowadays I factor in my own active life expectancy as well :-)

In 1983 my Fluke 77 cost me 120 Quid including the extra rubber HD case / holster thingy. Its still as effective today as it was then, in fact its a damn site better on battery life than the more recent Flukes I own but thats another thing....

so in 30 odd years thats cost me less than four quid a year - ok I should factor some inflation but believe me when I was on the tools it earned its keep *every* day. Its been dropped, stood on, left hanging from its leads in a jcb engine bay for a day while the owner was clearing a site, its capable of measuring synthesiser steering line voltages to 3ph motor controllers. Unlike a draper it will still read accurately if you have a mobile phone near it etc..

Whilst a draper or silverline will almost certainly do the job today ......... to be fair most basic stuff on a car could be tested with a bulb and battery and a bit of common sense.

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I have a couple of Maplin jobbies which work great - but you know - the bit of kit I use most at home and at work and cannot replace without building a new one, is my ancient bog standard continuity tester comprising 2 probes with one a battery powered lamp. Simples!!

Barry

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Hands up I'm another Fluke fan, though I agree it's probably overkill for a little basic faultfinding.

(Though, as Simon suggested, a secondhand Fluke would still get my money)

Please do beware of the looky-likeys occasionally found on some of our favourite internet shopping sites though.

http://hackaday.com/2015/06/02/fail-of-the-week-the-deadliest-multimeter/

I've got through a few meters over the years. I've got 'throwaways' in the toolbox of each vehicle, they are hateful and tell lies, only to be used in emergencies. I have decent midrange meter in the workshop for general faultfinding. I have a couple of Flukes for work, which I'd normally grab on the way if I know I'm going to be looking at an electrical problem.

In 20 years, I've only had to bin one Fluke - I loaned it to another forum member who appears to have tried to measure the HT voltage with it :o (Given it was a standard Rover V8 I'm surprised it managed enough energy to take out the Fluke :rofl: )

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Of course *if* I need to measure a voltage on the bench I use a 4 wire HP meter that second hand cost me nearly 1K UKP ten years ago, now that would be overkill to sort out a brake light switch :-)

TSD, I suspect the Fluke that was connected to HV by mistake more than likely could have been repaired quite cheaply, its likely that the volts was more than the MOV's could clamp without going SC, in that case they fail and the meter stays safe. When I was building big transmitter amps the RF would sometimes make them fail so I used to have a stock of the MOV's on the bench.

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you're right about MOVs Paul, I don't/won't use them in most of my designs for that reason. (Very little point in protecting the kit by introducing a different failure, since repair costs are mostly labour, parts cost is generally irrelelevant.)

The Fluke was farther gone than that - I don't recall if it even had any signs of life.

I've got a brand new HP/Agilent/whatever 4wire meter on the bench at the moment, but you're right, it wouldn't balance nicely on the front wing of the Ibex.

I'm not above using my 18GHz Net An to tune the FM radio antenna though :ph34r:

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If the MOV's failed dead short as normal it wouldnt be too bad but I had a few times where they almost fail, very unpredictable. I still use them to protect some crude switching but as you most likely know the industry has moved toward Silicon devices. Its a coincidence you mention testing the antennas, I cut the DAB whip on my Hilux using a VNA worth more than the car .... anyway before we drift further :-)

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