I have some electrical issues that Bill Curlee is going to help me with when he is back in town. Bill suggested I have a DC Volt/ohm meter to take some readings with and I am looking for advice on a brand name and/or model that I can get at a reasonable price.

Since I will be working in cramped quarters to take these readings it would be helpful if the meter was adaptable and easy to work within those constraints.

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

You can get a reasonably priced dvom at either Sears or Harbor freight or even radio shack. You don't need to spend three hundred bucks for a professional model. I would think around thirty bucks? Good luck!

 

No need in spending big bucks, unless you use if daily in your profession.

 

I use mostly Flukes because I like the durability, but I do use them routinely for work and even cheap flukes are $150.

You only need really basic features for working on a car 95% of the time, a range of resistances from 0 to about 2Kohms, a voltmeter to 15volts and that's about it. Some of the cheap ones even have a buzz feature that you get audible beep for anything under 10ohms. That's nice if you are working by yourself in areas difficult to see the meter face. I would get nice long leads with clip ends instead of just the pointed ones so you don't have to hold the lead on the contact area.

 

HarbourFreight cheapie! Like others have said you don't need much working on a car. The audible beep for continuity is a nice feature for testing go or no go situations, saves looking at the meter.
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=37772

or
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=90899

 

Thank you to all who replied! I just ordered from Harborfreight.

 

Personally, I would have highly recommended you look for a meter that is autoranging and has an auto power-off. That way, if you want to measure DC volts, you just turn the **** to DC volts. When you leave it on it will turn off and not kill the battery.

Other things to look for are Amp inputs that are fused so you do not blow up the meter the first time you connect the meter to voltage while it is set-up to measure current.

I didn't look long but here's what appears to be an OK example. It is autoranging, auto power off and has at least one current input fused but I couldn't find a manual. A nice feature is that this meter covers the current inputs unless you select to measure current and I believe you also must keep the dial on current when the probe is in the socket. This helps you from putting the probes in the wrong spot. The most likely problem you will have is measuring current and then forgetting to move the probe back to the voltage input right before trying to measure voltage which will either blow the meter fuse or blow up the meter.

http://www.amazon.com/Mastech-Manual.../dp/B000J3B6BU

As far as I'm concerned, the super cheap manual range meters are not worth the cheap money you spend on them. That meter I linked is about as cheap as I'd go.

Peter

 

listen you get what you pay for when it comes to meter. spend the money on a fluke or snapon dvom well worth money both on cars and stuff around house. and if your a mechanic like me its a tax write off too

 

Flukes are about the best around and yes, I agree that you get what you pay for. But, you don't need to buy more than you know how to use either.

 

Flukes are great but good for pro and they are couple hundred bucks, lionelhutz listed pretty good one and autoranging is awesome feature.

 

If you are working in tight spots consider if you will need a meter with backlighting. Trying to read a digital LCD display meter is miserable with inadequate lighting. Depending on the ambient lighting it can be hit or miss due to differing viewing angles. If you wear glasses or are getting older it can be maddening.

I prefer older analog meters which typically have a plate that is painted bright white with black and red numbering and graticles. These may still be somewhat difficult to read under poor lighting but usually do not suffer from the fading problem of LCD displays from differing angles.

If you have the time you can pick up a good used Simpson 260 on e-Bay for around $20.00. They are pretty darn tough and the analog meter movement is fairly large, about 5 inches as opposed to a lot of the little 1.5 inch nutdrivers. Alternatively you can buy a small (about 2 inches) handheld analog meter at Harbor Freight, Lowes, local electrical supply houses or online via a Google search. If you want an analog meter search for "VOM". I f you prefer Digital search for " LCD Volt Ohm Meter. Both will likely be mixed results but the specific search will provide more hits for your preference.

Lastly consider the test probes included. Sharp points on the probes are nice as they allow you to scratch through tarnish and other crud easily to get a good contact with the metal.

Good hunting.

 

The Simpson meter is great for measuring some types of electrical circuits but nowadays you really should have a DVM. Price isn't that important but making sure it has a 10 MegOhm input impedance is important. If it is less than that the meter itself can affect the reading you are trying to make. Buy one that is intuitive and works like all the rest of the meters. Functions that don't have anything do with measuring electrical circuits should not be part of the meter.

When my first Radio Shack meter's AC voltage measurement section bit the dust I bought a second one which had more functions and is harder to use as it changes the normal operation of the resistance measurement.

All through my career an open circuit meant an infinite reading on a meter and a short circuit meant 0 ohms. On this one an open reads 0 and a short reads 0. It was done on purpose as that part of the meter can also be used to make temperature measurements. It can be very confusing at times and requires a lot of double checking. A lot of times I get the old meter out and use it to check resistance readings as it is easier to use.

Bill

 

To the OP: speaking of test probes, learn to use the probes correctly or damage/problems WILL occur. Do NOT back-probe connectors by just pushing the probe into the cavity when taking readings. The same applies when front probing. The size of the tips on the probes will bend (permanently) the thin metal used in many of the male/female contacts of connectors and create an "open" circuit (no contact) where one did not exist before. Personally, I use very small or medium paperclips inserted into the connector cavities and then use either the probe to take the reading, or clip on alligator clips onto the paperclips to do it.

The point is: pay attention to HOW your are taking readings when doing so on these small connectors because if you don't, you are creating more problems than if you had just left it alone.

HTH