Need good multimeter

[slow-poke]

Really nice to have a list and spread sheet, but is there no reference that is a little lest outdated? This thread and list was posted February 24, 2014, 07:22:51 so is 10 years old. I suspect that there have been lots of improvements and that many machines on this list are not even still available. I also suspect that a lot of the cheaper ones that were unsafe are not even still around anymore and that this inexpensive class has also improved in safety during the past 10 years?!

Actually 3 years.... Last Edit: March 07, 2021, 10:15:26 am by Wytnucls »

Better than no chart

There is no indication that the fake CAT rated meters have improved, They still have glass fuses and totally inadequate creepage and clearance. I would use a 30 year old Fluke, I would not use one of the fakes to measure anything over CAT1

 

[matthewsx]

Great point about potential uses (see what I did there)

Big difference between testing a flashlight D cell and checking a live high voltage circuit. I deal with 480v at work and only use the good Fluke units there. At home I have burnt up leads on a cheap meter testing 120v. Definitely frightening.

John

 

[slow-poke]

I did some work as a consultant for a firm that was designing a remote metering device that would clamp around and connect to the pole mount transformers, you see everywhere. I had specified a particular type of HRC fuse that could open under the fault conditions in a CAT 4 application like this. Some other bone head consultant recommended removing the fuse from the design to save money and had half convinced them that the fuse could be replaced with a simple narrow trace on the PCB. The bone head consultant had no clue about arc fault/ ionization of air etc. We brought two samples one with the fuse and one with a thin trace to the high voltage test lab at Kinectrics to see who was right. They video everything so it's interesting to watch. The fused one nothing happened except the fuse opened no sign of anything other than the leads jumping a bit in the ms it took for the fuse to open. The thin trace one, much like a grenade, shrapnel everywhere. These devices were to be installed live by default, and would be perhaps a foot from the installers face. IMO the other consultant should loose his designation.

Moral of the story, not all "experts" are actually experts, so be careful where you get your safety advice.

 

[woodchucker]

I did some work as a consultant for a firm that was designing a remote metering device that would clamp around and connect to the pole mount transformers, you see everywhere. I had specified a particular type of HRC fuse that could open under the fault conditions in a CAT 4 application like this. Some other bone head consultant recommended removing the fuse from the design to save money and had half convinced them that the fuse could be replaced with a simple narrow trace on the PCB. The bone head consultant had no clue about arc fault/ ionization of air etc. We brought two samples one with the fuse and one with a thin trace to the high voltage test lab at Kinectrics to see who was right. They video everything so it's interesting to watch. The fused one nothing happened except the fuse opened no sign of anything other than the leads jumping a bit in the ms it took for the fuse to open. The thin trace one, much like a grenade, shrapnel everywhere. These devices were to be installed live by default, and would be perhaps a foot from the installers face. IMO the other consultant should loose his designation.

Moral of the story, not all "experts" are actually experts, so be careful where you get your safety advice.

Oh I know that. I was a consultant at AT&T and they hired a high priced performance consultant. Really high priced. He made some recommendations that I didn't agree with. My junior assistant insisted it was the right way to go, she had some bias because he was from the same area of her country of origin. I told her to test his idea first. Surprise , surprise, it was factors slower. She had a hard time understanding why he was wrong. Because theory and testing real world are two different animals... Always test before .

btw I test my ideas as well, because of the same . I have been wrong so many times, that I always feel, I am never sure, until I test, and even then the results may be skewed... so never say never.

 

[WobblyHand]

Oh I know that. I was a consultant at AT&T and they hired a high priced performance consultant. Really high priced. He made some recommendations that I didn't agree with. My junior assistant insisted it was the right way to go, she had some bias because he was from the same area of her country of origin. I told her to test his idea first. Surprise , surprise, it was factors slower. She had a hard time understanding why he was wrong. Because theory and testing real world are two different animals... Always test before .

btw I test my ideas as well, because of the same . I have been wrong so many times, that I always feel, I am never sure, until I test, and even then the results may be skewed... so never say never.

I've met plenty of experts that were wrong. If I disagreed with them, I would propose a test, saying to humor me. Usually they'd take the bait.

If you know your stuff, stand your ground, but do it nonconfrontationally. A fair test, with some cases that should work and some cases that should fail, right on the edge, is usually enough to get them to your way of thinking. Sometimes you both learn something. The managers learn something as well.