Multimeter recommendation request

[David Hearn]

didn't work once you've closed your browser. :(

Its product number 550009 if you want to search for it yourself! £3.32 I think I remember.

D

[IMM]

Andrew,

Thanks. Did that an no joy. The LCD figures look like ink that is spread. The figures are nearly distinguishable, but only just.

[PoP]

Nowt wrong with a multimeter with a good old fashioned display. The kiddies might sneer at them, but there ain't nothing like an Avo ;)

PoP

[John Watson]

Hi Pablo,

I have a Fluke 112 DVM which I highly recommend & as far as I know, is pretty bomb proof. Costs about £100. I use mine all the time. It also has an LCD backlight which can be very handy.

-- John

[John Rumm]

for breaking your toe when you drop it on it... and your bank balance when you buy it! ;-)

Only joking - I am the proud owner of a nice analogue ICE Supertester

680G which still gets an outing from time to time.

Come to think of it I bought the 680G when I needed to repair my first MM which was an ICE Microtest 80. I seem to recall I wanted to test that mains was reaching a transformer - so probed from live to the chassis - forgetting I still had the meter set for ohms!

Big blue flash and one molten probe tip later we had a multimeter that was never quite the same on the ohms range again!

All credit to it though - it did have full repair and service instructions supplied with it in its user guide - the only problem was most of the instructions required the use of a working multimeter! As luck would have it Maplin were having a "clear out" sale* the following week and happened to be knocking out the bigger brother of the MM I just killed for less than I paid for the first one!

• This was back in the days when the Maplin empire was a single shop in Westcliff, plus a mail order department. A clear out sale was a couple of tables of "stuff" set out in the front of the shop with prices written on. This was a time of great excitement since you actually got to see much of the stuff for real, that previously was only a dodgy photo in a (then black and white) catalogue.

(Historical note: Maplin was counter service only in those days (early

80s) - usually there was not much on display in the shop at all - but a team of bods behind a counter - you gave them a list, they collected and bagged all the bits for you, which was actually much quicker and simpler!)

[BillR]

For testing your car battery maybe! I chucked mine out 10 years ago.

[BillR]

Got 2 of those for 99p can't make head or tail of the display .. looks dangerous... into bin

[Grunff]

Happy days - that brought a tear to my eye thinking about it. So many Saturdays spent queuing at Maplin in Hammersmith...

[IMM]

The HRPC multi function screwdriver comes with an instruction leaflet, but costs £3.20. So I am pleased with it. I would never take the results of these as gospel. That is for the multi-meter.

[Andrew Mawson]

Don't be so prejudiced against analogue meters ! I have a couple of (digital) Flukes and two (analogue) AVO's and choose what suites the application best - give me an analogue meter anyday when watching changing values (like rate of discharge of a capacitor or inital charging current of batteries) - much easier to see rate of change than with flashing digits. But for a steady value that you want to measure accurately then the digital solution fits the bill.

But try measuring a long run of wire that may or may not be connected to live mains with a (very) high impedance meter such as a Fluke - as the meter doesn't put significant load on the source you can get a false reading from the capacitive coupling to other conductors running alongside - repeat the measurement using an Avo (20K per volt iirc) and you will get a more meaningful result.

It's 'horses for courses' IMHO.

Andrew Mawson

[Chris Oates]

odd nobody has mentioned these

held scopes that double as a multimeter with true RMS do them for @ £90

[John Rumm]

The most impressive part for me (at a tender age of about 12 I guess) was when someone would walk in from the street and strike up a conversation with one of the chaps behind the desk about how to achieve something or other. After a little head scratching, a pencil would be produced from behind his ear and the sales assistant would set about designing a complete circuit there and then on a bit of scrap paper. Finish off with a flourish of a quick calculation of the passive component values required and finally ask what type of prototype board the customer would prefer before placing all the required bits, plus said circuit design, in a bag ready to be taken away.....

So much more impressive than when one of the current sales bods (i.e. children!) recently asked me "what does a Grommet do?"

[PoP]

I remember catching the train into London, must have been mid-70's. Maplin were holding an event at a big hall in Pimlico. At the time they were into electronic organry in a big way.

PoP

[PoP]

Keeps Wallace in check doesn't he? ;)

PoP

[PoP]

Each to his own. I have 3 meters:

1 - Old analogue meter 2 - Digital meter 3 - Clamp meter

I bought the latter very recently, haven't used it yet.

The digital meter tends to get used most often, not least because it's got a temperature probe (I measure temperatures occasionally) and is also slightly more mobile.

But the analogue meter still finds a useful place in my armoury and I really wouldn't be without it handy in my toolbox.

This sounds like a "my dad is bigger than your dad" playground argument. Doesn't bother me what other people use - if you feel comfortable with what you've got that's no problem!

PoP

[usenet]

I have both an analogue and a digital meter, they both have their advantages. One of the major advantages of the analogue meter is that it's gives a much quicker, easier to see and reliable check on the presence of mains voltage.

The analogue meter switched to the 250v range gives a virtually immediate indication of mains voltage and isn't affected by capacitive effects etc. like a digital meter. If the analoge meter says there's

240 volts there then that's a real 240 volts which will hurt you.

The digital meter firstly takes its time to autorange and even if on a fixed range there's a jumble of numbers for a significant time. One actually has to look at the numbers and see where the decimal point is to decide whether it's 240 volts or not.

For a quick go/no go test the analogue meter is better.

[IMM]

It was the same in Edgware Rd, near Henry's, which is still going. 20 years ago and less, most shops along that stretch north of the flyover were electronics components shops, and those who served in them tended to be buffs. Now it is full of shops serving the rich Arab community and only Henry's and one other disco type amp shop left of about 40 shops selling components and finished radio, hi-fi and other assorted electronics. Henry's now looks out of place amongst all these non-electronics shops, but still they come from miles around to shop there.

[John Rumm]

Mid 70's must have been pretty close to the start of Maplin I would have thought... I think my first catalogue (1980?) was only about the second proper printed jobbie they produced (had a picture of two passing space ships on the cover). The previous years had a picture of concord on it so I am told.

You are right - there used to be all sorts of bizarre organ related stuff in the first few catalogues... I always fancied the idea of building one of their synth projects (up until I saw the price of the kit!)

[PoP]

I bought various bits and started constructing an organ based upon the Maplin designs. Turned out to be one of my more famouse "round tuit" jobs in the end, in so far that I never did finish it.....

PoP