digital multimeter
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RosalieL
- Posts: 939
- Joined: 28 Jan 2021, 13:24
- Job Title: Lab Assistant
- School: MCS
- State/Location: NSW
digital multimeter
I've done a quick search because I am sure I've seen it here before but I came up with nothing useful... What digital multimeters do you recommend? Ours are all "not working", probably due to a combination of bad storage and user error. I have kept in the back of my brain a post from here regarding them saying something along the lines of "make sure you pay the little bit extra to get the ones with 'x' ..." but do you think I can remember what 'x' was???
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bigmack
- Posts: 1307
- Joined: 15 Dec 2015, 10:49
- Job Title: Lab Technician
- School: FCAC
- State/Location: QLD
Re: digital multimeter
Hi Rosalie
Not sure what topic you saw .I remember one about Digital Ammeters ....maybe that was the one .
But yeah , we need to get some more soon too . Many of ours have gone dark in the Display .You can still read most of them but it's not easy . Seems to me that most of the $10- $20 cheap multimeters are pretty much the same .
The only "get the ones with X " I can think of is to get ones that read True RMS .They have a far more accurate measurement method and considering our School Power packs put out an unfiltered full wave rectified output rather than a nice steady voltage like comes out of a battery , then the cheap meters can be very hit and miss .
This is what the DC voltage coming out of a school power pack looks like . ( that's not my hand , I pinched the pic from the Web) Cheap meters can't read it with much accuracy where as a TRMS meter can . Unfortunately the starting price is around $50
Regardless what Multimeter you buy , the Kids will almost certainly connect the current terminals to a voltage source and blow the internal fuse .
Expect to replace a few fuses every time they come back .
Not sure what topic you saw .I remember one about Digital Ammeters ....maybe that was the one .
But yeah , we need to get some more soon too . Many of ours have gone dark in the Display .You can still read most of them but it's not easy . Seems to me that most of the $10- $20 cheap multimeters are pretty much the same .
The only "get the ones with X " I can think of is to get ones that read True RMS .They have a far more accurate measurement method and considering our School Power packs put out an unfiltered full wave rectified output rather than a nice steady voltage like comes out of a battery , then the cheap meters can be very hit and miss .
This is what the DC voltage coming out of a school power pack looks like . ( that's not my hand , I pinched the pic from the Web) Cheap meters can't read it with much accuracy where as a TRMS meter can . Unfortunately the starting price is around $50
Regardless what Multimeter you buy , the Kids will almost certainly connect the current terminals to a voltage source and blow the internal fuse .
Expect to replace a few fuses every time they come back .
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Pm706Narrogin
- Posts: 260
- Joined: 11 Feb 2025, 10:30
- Job Title: Laboratory Technician
- School: Department of Education
- State/Location: WA
Re: digital multimeter
We've got a bunch of the yellow Protech QM-1500s and have been using them for years with no issues. Like bigmack says, I think if you're looking at cheap multimeters they're much of a muchness.
My fencing club also has a QM-1500 in our armoury kit for testing equipment and repairs and it's been a pretty reliable little toy
My fencing club also has a QM-1500 in our armoury kit for testing equipment and repairs and it's been a pretty reliable little toy
Re: digital multimeter
Bob Death (repairs equipment in NSW) recommended one from Jaycar, QM1529: Economy Multimeter with non-contact voltage sensor. At the time it cost $29.