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21st May 2017, 05:48 PM #1Senior Member
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Decent Digital Multimeter for Home and Automotive Use.
Howdy people,
I am looking at Multimeters and I have no idea of decent brands other than Fluke, my dad and brother in law both use them and I made the stupid mistake of buying a Jaycar meter. I was told that they were decent but the one I bought was garbage, it is over a volt off at 12VDC, continuity test takes about a second before the beep sounds and Jaycar don't stock the weird size fuse mine seems to use.
So, is there anything with- Auto ranging, 10A current, Capacitance, Resistance, Peak Hold, temp input, beeper.
Would be nice- Backlit screen, duty cycle, Dwell time and Fluke quality leads/probes.
I would like to keep the price under$200 or if it meets all the Would be nice specs I could go to $300.
Cheers.
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21st May 2017 05:48 PM # ADSGoogle Adsense Advertisement
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21st May 2017, 06:07 PM #2Woodworking mechanic
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We bought six Tenma 72-7780 for work. So far to good. Have mine at home at the moment to do some current measurements on the DC with an inductive pick-up.
IMG_0698.jpg
72-7780 - TENMA - 600V AC/DC True RMS Digital Multimeter with NCV | element14 Australia
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21st May 2017, 06:08 PM #3
Check out EV Blog electronics site he sells a good model that fits your description
Acoustic & Electric Bass Guitars
Neptune’s Guitars - Master Luthiers
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21st May 2017, 08:55 PM #4.
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I have two Proteks that I bought more than a decade ago and used them for a few years as data loggers connected to a laptop but more recently I have used them only as stand alone meters.
Given they are a 1990's designed meter they are a very good meter and slightly newer models are still available (e.g. http://www.altronics.com.au/p/q1098-...al-multimeter/ ) although the PC interface RS232 is now pretty clunky.
We used dozens os these at work in the student labs where they got a hammering and they stood up to the task well.
There are much newer Proteks available but they don't seem as good as the older ones.
Basic Usb data logging meters are a lot cheaper but they may not necessarily be as good a quality meter.
Data logging meters are available that interact with mobile phones like this one from Jaycar are up near the $300 mark
https://www.jaycar.com.au/ip67-true-...e-app/p/QM1576
Redfish make a nice one US$149
iDVM 510 — Redfish Instruments with similar specs to the Tenma but unfortunately no shipping outside the US.
A Fluke with the similar specs as the Tenma Lappa refers to will set you back $200+ and unless you are something like a field technician that needs to work in a rugged environment, the Tenma should easy do what you want.
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22nd May 2017, 10:40 PM #5Senior Member
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Cheers guys, that Tenma is crazy cheap for what it does, I was planning on spending more but if the quality seems okay I guess it could be worth a shot. I prefer my $20 Pocket Schneider DMM over my ~$80 Jaycar heap o rubbish. I no longer buy anything over $50 from Jaycar as I have found that the quality of their stuff is no better than a popular auction site so I won't buy another meter from there.
I quite like the look of the Protek but if I get data logging it would be at worst an IR interface, RS232 is a bit old hat. I guess it is far cheaper than a Fluke with data logging capabilities.
I Don't have an apple or Android phone so I don't think the Redfish is much use to me, the accuracy seems oddly low for a meter of that price too.
I spotted some Hioki meters but I had never heard of them so I asked my old man and he said that they have a good reputation and he liked the gear he'd come across. The fact that they are made in Japan makes the price a bit easier to take, the only other company I could spot that made semi affordable stuff in the home country was Gossen but they were very basic for the price.
DT4256 -Hioki General Use Electrical Multimeter. Australian Distributor
DT4256 - General Electrical Use DMM
$250.00
RRP $320.00
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The DT4256 is a digital multimeter design
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22nd May 2017, 10:50 PM #6
The Tenma unit pictured looks exactly like my Uni-T, I wonder if they're the same unit inside. I've been very happy with mine for the price.
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23rd May 2017, 08:36 AM #7GOLD MEMBER
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Hioki brand multimeters were very common in industry 20 to 30 years ago, probably just as reliable now.
Alan...
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23rd May 2017, 10:52 AM #8SENIOR MEMBER
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Having acquired a collection of multimeters, I've tended to find the most important features are rarely mentioned, which is update speed and autoranging speed (which are related). On some meters it can take a second or three for the meter to step through the ranges, which gets annoying if you're doing a succession of measurements. The second neat feature is a warning beep if your red lead is plugged into the amps socket when you select volts, preventing you from accidentally placing a dead short across a voltage. A latching continuity setting with an audible buzzer is also good. I've also found min/max detection handy.
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4th October 2017, 05:16 PM #9Senior Member
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I have only just got around to ordering a meter, I was going to go with the Hioki 4256 but I have opted for the best in their range, the 4282. It doesn't do a million things but it's a brand people have never heard of so it is probably less likely to be stolen than a Fluke and this one has a decent capacitance test range so I can check the caps I buy to make crossovers. Will be interesting to see how it compares to the Fluke 77III I now use, I threw the Jaycar POS in the recycling tub. Having a screen that lights up red for continuity will be handy while working on noisy things, hopefully it's a bit quicker reacting than the old Fluke.
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4th October 2017, 06:11 PM #10.
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I bought a Tenma a couple of months back because I was too lazy to constantly move my meters back and forth from my shed to my electronics are inside the house. It has been really good, apart from the shortish length of time it stays on automatically. I wish that time could be doubled.
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4th October 2017, 08:58 PM #11
Christ - this thread just reminded me that I am still using, on a daily basis, two items originally purchased as a spotty first year Elec. Eng. student at Uni some 35 years ago. An original Fluke 75 multimeter, and a Hewlett-Packard 32S RPN Scientific calculator......
Fluke make great gear (I recently purchased a non-contact IR thermometer of theirs), but I'm sure there are plenty of perfectly functional alternative multimeters around these days at a fraction of the price. Having said that, if you like to throw your gear around, drop it on hard surfaces, etc. - get the Fluke.
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4th October 2017, 09:34 PM #12.
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5th October 2017, 10:13 AM #13SENIOR MEMBER
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Probably not quite the quality the OP was after, but this is my new favourite toolbox meter:
UNI-T DIGITAL UT210E 100Amp 600V AC DC CLAMP METER Multimeter True RMS VFC diode | eBay
Has a 2A AC/DC mode for its clamp meter, so good for testing for parasitic currents in vehicles, as well as leakage currents in mains circuits. Best part is that there's instructions on EEVBlog about how to change the display and settings behaviour (i.e. default to DC volts).
I wouldn't really trust its CAT ratings, so wouldn't routinely use it on high energy mains, but as a toolbox meter it's nice and small, and I find myself often reaching for it, rather than bust out the much bigger Fluke.
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5th October 2017, 10:47 AM #14.
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5th October 2017, 04:02 PM #15Woodworking mechanic
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I had a Fluke 75 also which wore the selector dial contacts so it no longer worked every time. Couldn’t be fixed. Bought it in 1983 and cost me over a weeks wages. Great meter!
Regarding measuring parasitic current draw; most manufacturers are recommending a max of 0.05A after everything shuts down, so we have found most inductive clamp meters aren’t accurate enough or lack the resolution, so we use the Amps function on the multimeter.
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