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Science Forum Index » Electronics - Equipment Forum » Desktop vs handheld multimeter?
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| nabi |
 Posted: Mon Dec 25, 2006 7:21 pm |
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Guest
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Which one is better in the long run?
I'm a beginner in electronics. after reading few electronic books, now
I feel urge to start build small kits for learning purposes. I have a
$15.00 USD worth of multimeter. It's very basic and one funny things is
it can not read 0.00 ohm. Checking zero ohm gives 00.6 ohm. The value
is almost identical to the previous 'mastercraft one. What the heck! In
my workplace, it's good enough. 12 DC environment, mostly checking
continuity of wires and bad ground. Actually, I broke one wire of test
probe. When I went to local stores to buy test wire, it was few times
expensive than the mulitimeter I have. So, I bought another one.
I plan to buy a reliable multimeter within 6 months depend on the
progress I'll have made in projects. I think the multimeter is good for
a while. So, I'm not in hurry but want to have some idea about good
multimeters. Price range is below $500 USD. |
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| Caesar |
| Posted: Mon Dec 25, 2006 7:46 pm |
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Guest
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nabi wrote:
Quote: Which one is better in the long run?
I'm a beginner in electronics. after reading few electronic books, now
I feel urge to start build small kits for learning purposes. I have a
$15.00 USD worth of multimeter. It's very basic and one funny things is
it can not read 0.00 ohm. Checking zero ohm gives 00.6 ohm. The value
is almost identical to the previous 'mastercraft one. What the heck! In
my workplace, it's good enough. 12 DC environment, mostly checking
continuity of wires and bad ground. Actually, I broke one wire of test
probe. When I went to local stores to buy test wire, it was few times
expensive than the mulitimeter I have. So, I bought another one.
I plan to buy a reliable multimeter within 6 months depend on the
progress I'll have made in projects. I think the multimeter is good for
a while. So, I'm not in hurry but want to have some idea about good
multimeters. Price range is below $500 USD.
A reading of .6 ohm is not unusual for a cheap meter. There are two
main causes of this.
1. The quality of the meter in general and the accuracy of the ADC.
2. The most likely cause is in the probe leads themselves. They may
actually have .6 ohms of resistance.
So you should short them together and then subtract that reading from
the total read.
This is where a desktop unit will be better. They tend to have a 4-wire
system that compensates for the probe resistance. It is much more
accurate for a low resistance measurement, but slightly less convenient
since you have to deal with 4 wires.
cv |
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| Aidan Grey |
| Posted: Mon Dec 25, 2006 8:32 pm |
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Guest
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On 25 Dec 2006 15:21:08 -0800, nabi wrote:
Quote:
Which one is better in the long run?
I'm a beginner in electronics. after reading few electronic books, now
I feel urge to start build small kits for learning purposes. I have a
$15.00 USD worth of multimeter. It's very basic and one funny things is
it can not read 0.00 ohm. Checking zero ohm gives 00.6 ohm. The value
is almost identical to the previous 'mastercraft one. What the heck! In
my workplace, it's good enough. 12 DC environment, mostly checking
continuity of wires and bad ground. Actually, I broke one wire of test
probe. When I went to local stores to buy test wire, it was few times
expensive than the mulitimeter I have. So, I bought another one.
I plan to buy a reliable multimeter within 6 months depend on the
progress I'll have made in projects. I think the multimeter is good for
a while. So, I'm not in hurry but want to have some idea about good
multimeters. Price range is below $500 USD.
What you are probably reading when you short the leads on the
lowest ohm scale is the resistance of the test leads. This is normal.
I think Fluke is one of the present manufacturers of test equipment. Do
a Web search, and see if you can locate a list of their present
equipment line.
Good quality multimeters are also frequently offered for sale on
Ebay.
Aidan Grey |
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| Jamie |
| Posted: Tue Dec 26, 2006 1:01 am |
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Guest
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Caesar wrote:
Quote: nabi wrote:
Which one is better in the long run?
I'm a beginner in electronics. after reading few electronic books, now
I feel urge to start build small kits for learning purposes. I have a
$15.00 USD worth of multimeter. It's very basic and one funny things is
it can not read 0.00 ohm. Checking zero ohm gives 00.6 ohm. The value
is almost identical to the previous 'mastercraft one. What the heck! In
my workplace, it's good enough. 12 DC environment, mostly checking
continuity of wires and bad ground. Actually, I broke one wire of test
probe. When I went to local stores to buy test wire, it was few times
expensive than the mulitimeter I have. So, I bought another one.
I plan to buy a reliable multimeter within 6 months depend on the
progress I'll have made in projects. I think the multimeter is good for
a while. So, I'm not in hurry but want to have some idea about good
multimeters. Price range is below $500 USD.
A reading of .6 ohm is not unusual for a cheap meter. There are two
main causes of this.
1. The quality of the meter in general and the accuracy of the ADC.
2. The most likely cause is in the probe leads themselves. They may
actually have .6 ohms of resistance.
So you should short them together and then subtract that reading from
the total read.
This is where a desktop unit will be better. They tend to have a 4-wire
system that compensates for the probe resistance. It is much more
accurate for a low resistance measurement, but slightly less convenient
since you have to deal with 4 wires.
cv
Kelvin connection.
--
"I'm never wrong, once i thought i was, but was mistaken"
Real Programmers Do things like this.
http://webpages.charter.net/jamie_5 |
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| CJT |
| Posted: Tue Dec 26, 2006 1:21 am |
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Guest
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nabi wrote:
Quote: Which one is better in the long run?
I'm a beginner in electronics. after reading few electronic books, now
I feel urge to start build small kits for learning purposes. I have a
$15.00 USD worth of multimeter. It's very basic and one funny things is
it can not read 0.00 ohm. Checking zero ohm gives 00.6 ohm. The value
is almost identical to the previous 'mastercraft one. What the heck! In
my workplace, it's good enough. 12 DC environment, mostly checking
continuity of wires and bad ground. Actually, I broke one wire of test
probe. When I went to local stores to buy test wire, it was few times
expensive than the mulitimeter I have. So, I bought another one.
I plan to buy a reliable multimeter within 6 months depend on the
progress I'll have made in projects. I think the multimeter is good for
a while. So, I'm not in hurry but want to have some idea about good
multimeters. Price range is below $500 USD.
Make sure the battery is fresh.
--
The e-mail address in our reply-to line is reversed in an attempt to
minimize spam. Our true address is of the form che...@prodigy.net. |
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| Jim Yanik |
| Posted: Tue Dec 26, 2006 9:49 am |
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Guest
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"nabi" <k2.mountain@gmail.com> wrote in
news:1167088867.984075.92560@h40g2000cwb.googlegroups.com:
Quote:
Which one is better in the long run?
I'm a beginner in electronics. after reading few electronic books, now
I feel urge to start build small kits for learning purposes. I have a
$15.00 USD worth of multimeter. It's very basic and one funny things is
it can not read 0.00 ohm. Checking zero ohm gives 00.6 ohm.
test leads have resistance,adding to the total measurement.
(like a scale would weigh the container along with it's contents)
Better meters use 4 wire measurements that eliminate lead resistance.
Quote: The value
is almost identical to the previous 'mastercraft one. What the heck! In
my workplace, it's good enough. 12 DC environment, mostly checking
continuity of wires and bad ground. Actually, I broke one wire of test
probe. When I went to local stores to buy test wire, it was few times
expensive than the mulitimeter I have. So, I bought another one.
I plan to buy a reliable multimeter within 6 months depend on the
progress I'll have made in projects. I think the multimeter is good for
a while. So, I'm not in hurry but want to have some idea about good
multimeters. Price range is below $500 USD.
--
Jim Yanik
jyanik
at
kua.net |
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| Jim Yanik |
| Posted: Tue Dec 26, 2006 9:50 am |
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Guest
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Caesar <caesarval@email.com> wrote in
news:459062c2$0$80061$742ec2ed@news.sonic.net:
Quote: nabi wrote:
Which one is better in the long run?
I'm a beginner in electronics. after reading few electronic books, now
I feel urge to start build small kits for learning purposes. I have a
$15.00 USD worth of multimeter. It's very basic and one funny things is
it can not read 0.00 ohm. Checking zero ohm gives 00.6 ohm. The value
is almost identical to the previous 'mastercraft one. What the heck! In
my workplace, it's good enough. 12 DC environment, mostly checking
continuity of wires and bad ground. Actually, I broke one wire of test
probe. When I went to local stores to buy test wire, it was few times
expensive than the mulitimeter I have. So, I bought another one.
I plan to buy a reliable multimeter within 6 months depend on the
progress I'll have made in projects. I think the multimeter is good for
a while. So, I'm not in hurry but want to have some idea about good
multimeters. Price range is below $500 USD.
A reading of .6 ohm is not unusual for a cheap meter. There are two
main causes of this.
1. The quality of the meter in general and the accuracy of the ADC.
2. The most likely cause is in the probe leads themselves. They may
actually have .6 ohms of resistance.
So you should short them together and then subtract that reading from
the total read.
This is where a desktop unit will be better. They tend to have a 4-wire
system that compensates for the probe resistance. It is much more
accurate for a low resistance measurement, but slightly less convenient
since you have to deal with 4 wires.
cv
or buy Kelvin leads that have both wires and a special clip at the end.
--
Jim Yanik
jyanik
at
kua.net |
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| Angelo Campanella |
| Posted: Thu Jan 11, 2007 2:09 pm |
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Guest
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nabi wrote:
Quote: I'm a beginner in electronics. after reading few electronic books, now
I feel urge to start build small kits for learning purposes. I have a
$15.00 USD worth of multimeter. It's very basic and one funny things is
it can not read 0.00 ohm. Checking zero ohm gives 00.6 ohm. The value
is almost identical to the previous 'mastercraft one. What the heck! In
my workplace, it's good enough. 12 DC environment, mostly checking
continuity of wires and bad ground. Actually, I broke one wire of test
probe. When I went to local stores to buy test wire, it was few times
expensive than the mulitimeter I have. So, I bought another one.
I plan to buy a reliable multimeter within 6 months depend on the
progress I'll have made in projects. I think the multimeter is good for
a while. So, I'm not in hurry but want to have some idea about good
multimeters. Price range is below $500 USD.
A few years ago I bought a Fluke 77 Multimeter. It serves all the needs
I have (except for capacitance measurement, but I have another meter for
that).
The Fluke 77 mesaures voltage, ac and dc (even millivolts), resistance,
continuity (beeps) and currents (even milliamps) with a change of
terminals. It has a digital display, and is auto-ranging. It runs on a
small 9 volt battery that lasts for at least a year or two. I think it
cost a few hundred dollars.
I have been using such meters since 1953.
This Fluke77 is among the best that I have owned.
The Fluke meter series can be studied by looking at their web site.
Angelo campanella |
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