[AT] Multimeters--recommendation?

Spencer Yost yostsw at atis.net
Mon Sep 27 05:06:38 PDT 2004


*********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********
On 9/27/2004 at 6:07 AM Mike Sloane wrote:
>I do find an "analog" meter useful when checking out points on a 
>I like the old "tried and true" stuff as much as the next guy, but 
>sometimes that newfangled stuff works pretty well too. :-) And, dollar 
>for dollar, it is hard to beat the new meters for our kind of use. Those 


Hear Hear!   Love my digital Fluke, wouldn't be without it.  I got it with
a professional discount so it was affordable years ago(about 12).   Been
soaking wet, has been used in a heavy rain storm, been run over, dropped a
thousand times and still works great.  I will say part of the case did get
broken when it was run over and now it doesn't work in the rain (-;  I do
like analogs and some measurements are intuitively easier to read with an
analog.  Digital just requires rethinking and new ways of doing things.
It will reliably measure, and you can train yourself to read, anything an
analog will measure.

One other note:  I really like being able to measure DC current with my
vehicles(old tractors too).   I no longer have access to a DC measuring
meter but my next one will be able to measure amperage so I can have this
capability back.  If you go this route, be sure to get the inductive
clamp-on style.   Don't get the style that actually wires into the circuit.
  Also be careful.   Very common for units that measure amperage to measure
AC current only.   Be sure you get DC current measuring capability as well.


Spencer Yost
Owner, ATIS
Plow the Net!
http://www.atis.net


>distributor; you can watch the needle swing as you turn the shaft and 
>also set the timing for the precise moment when the needle starts to 
>move. And I do have a couple of them that I sometimes use for that
purpose.
>
>But that is about it. For reading very low voltages or resistance, 
>generator frequency, adjusting voltage regulators, checking batteries, 
>etc., a "digital" meter has it all over the old analog types. And you 
>can use the "continuity/diode" audible "beep" setting to perform the 
>same function as the needle swing to set points, and you don't even have 
>to see the meter.
>
>  old Simpsons in good working order are hard to find used, and I don't 
>even know if you can still buy them new (and if you can, they would be 
>well over $200). That Harbor Freight DVM costs $20 and has a 3/4" 
>display, which is very easy to read, uses hardly any battery power, and 
>has all the "bells and whistles" (and more) that are on my $200+ Fluke. 
>Surely, it won't take the abuse and may not last as long as the Fluke or 
>Simpson, but I am not climbing communications towers, servicing radar 
>relay huts in Manitoba, or tuning up medical diagnostic instruments - my 
>point being that John asked about an instrument that would work for 
>dealing with old tractors, and I feel that in terms of price/performance 
>the HF unit will meet his requirements.
>
>Mike
>
>Cecil E Monson wrote:
>
>>> Can someone recommend a multimeter (mine is kaput) that is very good
but
>>>
>>> the price of those solid gold Fluke meters?   John
>> 
>> 
>> 
>>     I've had a Simpson 260 for 35 or 40 years and still use
>> it almost every week. It is in the golf cart right now to help
>> me with an ignition problem on my JD 420 crawler. It's just an
>> analog meter but just seems to last and last. I also have a
>> Beckman Tech 310 digital VOM that I bought in 1981 that is a
>> pretty good reliable instrument. Don't use it as much as the old
>> Simpson. Guess I just like to see that needle swing when I find
>> voltage.
>> 
>> Cecil
>
>-- 
>Mike Sloane
>Allamuchy NJ
>Email: (mikesloane at verizon.net)
>Website: <http://www.geocities.com/mikesloane>
>Blog: <www.mikesloane.blogspot.com
>Tractor images: <www.fotki.com/mikesloane>
>Work: none - retired
>
>Patriotism is supporting your country all the time and the government 
>when it deserves it. -Mark Twain, author and humorist (1835-1910)
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