Multimeter question

[Peter Able]

I've just received an ANENG M118A multimeter.

I bought it as my 33 year-old auto-ranging Fluke 75 has expired - and this cheapo is also auto-ranging. Trouble is that it is even more automatic when it comes to it deciding what it is connected to. Not to say - barmy.

You can see from the website that the AC/DC current spec is 20mA - 10A. I took that to mean f.s.ds of 20mA up to 10A. It doesn't. It means that it'll not recognise a current of less than 20mA - at all.

You can override this auto-ID process for voltage, resistance, continuity/diode test and capacitance - but not for current, it appears.

Please, correct me!

At first I thought that that might be because - as with the Fluke - there is a different test lead (or Watch Pen, as the "user scrap of paper" calls it) socket but apparently, no.

PA

[alan_m]

I read that specification as a single 10A DC range with a resolution of

10mA but with a accuracy of +/-300mA (minimum) or at full scale +/-500mA

A single 6A AC range with a resolution of 1mA, with an accuracy of

+/-30mA for low current measurements.

With a 4 digit display I'm not sure how it can be described as a 5/6 digit device, especially as it is specified for a better accuracy.

[Martin Brown]

The 10A current range shunt is separate on most of these meters. All other currents are measured on the default voltage, resistance, capacitance terminals.

I don't like autoranging meters all that much. I often seem to be measuring something a bit noisy and near a range shift! I still have a trusty Model 7 Avo analogue meter (working apart from resistance).

I generally use a pair of cheapo Chinese meters although I have a working Fluke it is quite a bit bigger and heavier to carry round. The

[Peter Able]

Did I blink or did the review completely ignore measuring current?

PA

[pinnerite]

Your mention of a 33 year-old made me look over at my TMK Model 500. It cost me £8.19.6 in 1962. I also have a digital Precision Gold that cost around £25.00 about 15 years ago.

[Peter Able]

My new multimeter has led me to the conclusion that the Fluke is buggered - despite all the protection devices not being buggered. Flukes are renowned for the ruggedness and their warranty. Both have left me down.

The diagnosis was reached with the help of two HT-320 analogue multimeters bought from G. W. Smith of Lisle Street, mid 60s. I'd always thought that PP3s have fattened over the years - and this exercise confirmed that. A modern PP3 only fitted in when one side of the 9v battery compartment cracked off! Likewise the two 1.5v cells clearly weren't expected to be AA cells and only awkwardly, AAA cells.

The RPI-inflation-corrected (as of October 1964) uk price of the new ANENG is 11/2d. As low as advertised 2/9d on Aliexpress! Both including delivery.

PA