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Recommend me a multimeter
pigeondave - 19/5/20 at 02:52 PM

Hi,

As title really, I'm looking to get into the electrics side of things and need a multimeter.

Need some advice on whats good for reasonable money. say £100 and under? or don't I have to spend that much.

Also any good how to videos on how to use it correctly would be nice.

Thanks


Schrodinger - 19/5/20 at 02:55 PM

something like this
https://www.toolstation.com/tis-258-digital-multimeter-with-temperature-probe/p87874

should be fine for most jobs.


BangedupTiger - 19/5/20 at 03:07 PM

I’d buy a cheap one for £10 from Screwfix as it will do most things. Then from there work out what functions you need from a better one.

It’ll never hurt to have a cheap £10 unit. So nothing really wasted.


ianhurley20 - 19/5/20 at 03:15 PM

https://www.screwfix.com/p/lap-mas830b-digital-multimeter-600v/75337

This is the £9.99 one from screwfix and I agree - it will do everything you need to build a car with and if you decide on something better later then its always useful to have around


J666AYP - 19/5/20 at 03:26 PM

As above the £10 screwfix ones will do anything you need. I have been using one for ages and never had a problem with it.

J


coyoteboy - 19/5/20 at 03:54 PM

I have a nice Uni-T one, which works a treat and is functionally just as nice as the £100 flukes we have at work. Mine does temperature and has an optical output too and you can log readouts over time to a laptop, which can be useful.

The RS-Pro kit has impressed me recently, good compromise of quality and cost.

I'm not a fan of the cheapycheapy ones as they rapidly start degrading if they're even remotely abused, and the key items that make a meter usable are things like quality probes.


pigeondave - 19/5/20 at 04:04 PM

quote:
Originally posted by coyoteboy


I'm not a fan of the cheapycheapy ones as they rapidly start degrading if they're even remotely abused, and the key items that make a meter usable are things like quality probes.


What makes a good probe? (sounds wrong)

Do you have a particular make in mind or is it just quality of materials/plastics?

Would you advise on getting a probe set with the clips and stuff?


briarswood57 - 19/5/20 at 04:39 PM

At the risk of repeating what has already been said, £10.00 cheap one will do most things, however make sure you get some probes with clips etc. There is nothing more frustrating than faffing about trying to hold two probes, balance the meter, etc.


coyoteboy - 19/5/20 at 05:07 PM

quote:
Originally posted by pigeondave
quote:
Originally posted by coyoteboy


I'm not a fan of the cheapycheapy ones as they rapidly start degrading if they're even remotely abused, and the key items that make a meter usable are things like quality probes.


What makes a good probe? (sounds wrong)

Do you have a particular make in mind or is it just quality of materials/plastics?

Would you advise on getting a probe set with the clips and stuff?


Good probes have nice flexible silicone coated wires to let them rest easily in places, have narrow, long well insulated tips, or removable tip collars to stop you accidentally shorting stuff, and have a good stress relief at the top of the probe body. As mentioned above, ones with witches hat type wire clip additions or interchangeable tips will let you hook up and hold wires without needing to have 4 arms.

On car stuff it's useful to have a decent current measurement range, 10-20A if you can. Backlight is super useful. Stand on the rear is a nice touch to help you see it while in the car. Also good if you can get one with average, max/min hold capabilities for transient stuff


steve m - 19/5/20 at 06:16 PM

Ive had one of these, although mines black for about 30 years,

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Electrical-multimeter-tester-test-meter-AC-DC-Continuity-resistance-ohms-car/352304163542?hash=item5206f6ead6:g:5hYAAOSwVWF ap~Ih


gremlin1234 - 19/5/20 at 06:57 PM

I have a couple of those 'cheepy' meters, and yes they are ok, but I won't trust them on mains
if I had to get a meter tomorrow, I would probaly get
https://cpc.farnell.com/tenma/72-13430/dmm-handheld-auto-manual-2000/dp/IN08405
£14.15 inc vat

or just for car use the non auto-ranging one at £7.84
https://cpc.farnell.com/tenma/72-13440/dmm-handheld-manual-2000-count/dp/IN08407


but I would order a few other bits and bobs, (min order 17.50+vat for free delivery)
edit:
or it wouldn't be too stupid to spend £22 on the pair, then you would be able to test voltage and current at the same time

[Edited on 19/5/20 by gremlin1234]


britishtrident - 20/5/20 at 07:02 AM

Uni-T UT203 ---- apart from being a decent multipurpose multimeter it has a clamp DC ammeter function


https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-UNI-T-UT203-Digital-Clamp-Meter-AC-DC-Voltage-Resistance-Genuine/362956363244?epid=2254508517&hash=item5481e295ec:g :5a0AAOSwxDFefdNc

[Edited on 20/5/20 by britishtrident]


nick205 - 20/5/20 at 07:32 AM

I think mine is a Clarke CDM45 multimeter. I was given it for Christmas by a family member some 20 odd years ago. It's always done me just fine in the garage and around the house. I keep it (with its test leads) in the original box so it's easier to store and tidier.

Budget wise I'd not spend more than £30 on one. If you frazzle it then no great loss. The one I have also has a rubber jacket around it so it'll withstand being dropped/knocked on the floor as well.

Finally it has a buzzer feature for continuity testing, which has come in handy a few times.


cliftyhanger - 20/5/20 at 07:39 AM

I tend to buy cheap meters. In the garage they can (and do) get broken. Trust me, a £100 meter will be a little more robust, but will break just as easily as £3.50 one will if you tread on it. I have got a couple of cheapies that came with a handy rubber jacket.
I would spend £10 and buy 2.... and yes, I have used them on mains (230V) stuff, pretty accurate for all that, resistance measurement less so especially at low resistance. But I have my Mega MFT for that (£700 worth) if I really need to measure low resistance accurately, but in 35 years haven't needed to.


pigeondave - 20/5/20 at 08:48 AM

Thank you all for your input.

There's a few things above which I wouldn't have thought about.
The best being the ability to measure current greater than 10A.

I now have a list of things which I think I should have, and a list of nice to have.

Thanks again for all the suggestions.


gremlin1234 - 20/5/20 at 11:36 AM

quote:
Originally posted by pigeondave
The best being the ability to measure current greater than 10A.


if you need to test 10A then the clamp meter mentioned above is the best bet. (note many clamp meters don't work with dc, but that one does) however, it is difficult to use for low currents.

and yes, I do have a clamp meter very similar to above, as well as various other multimeters. but often a test bulb is just as easy...


nick205 - 20/5/20 at 12:22 PM

Here's another that looks perfectly suitable for home mechanic garage/kit car use:

https://www.toolstation.com/tis-258-digital-multimeter-with- temperature-probe/p87874


02GF74 - 20/5/20 at 01:01 PM

Whatever you decide to buy 2 useful functions is recommend
1 audible buzzer for continuity checks
2 auto ranging.
3 decent leads that do not fall apart after 7 uses

My most recent (I wanted capacitance measurement) search ebay: AIMOMETER F0601005 Digital Multi meter DMM MS8233D pro

£12.does all what coyote does less logging.


[Edited on 20/5/20 by 02GF74]


coyoteboy - 20/5/20 at 01:26 PM

Mine< br /> But I would replace the probes if I bought it again, these are fine, and haven' failed, but the wire is stiff, partly because I left it datalogging in the sun for 6 months.

[Edited on 20/5/20 by coyoteboy]


907 - 20/5/20 at 05:11 PM

Another vote for the Lap from Screwfix.

Another tip is to make up an additional lead with a push in connector, wire, and a little crocodile clip on the other end.
It gives you a free hand which is, er, handy sometimes.

Paul G


gremlin1234 - 20/5/20 at 08:25 PM

quote:
Originally posted by cliftyhanger
... and yes, I have used them on mains (230V) stuff, pretty accurate for all that,

while yes they may be accurate on mains, I just don't trust the build quality on something like... https://cpc.farnell.com/duratool/d03046/multimeter-digital/dp/IN07220 but its a good cheep meter, for 12v circuits


rgrs - 21/5/20 at 09:51 AM

I have just bought a new meter for faultfinding on boats and solar.

Although i have always used fluke or avo i needed something that also had clamp current measuring on dc, something that a lot of cheaper clamp meters dont do.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07Q6HJRYR/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I have so say that it is acurate as my fluke and has the advantage of a bluetooth link to your phone so you can do live data capture and also work remotely from the meter.

[Edited on 21/5/2020 by rgrs]


v8kid - 22/5/20 at 12:16 PM

On the other hand I have a good quality AVO digital multimeter that I bought 40 years ago and it still works perfectly nearly every day and is still accurate too.

Would you buy cheap spanners?

Cheers!