DIY level Multimeter recommendations?

[Alex Gibson]

Hi all

 

Does anyone have a recommendation for a decent low-budget autoranging multimeter please? 

 

I am looking to get a second meter - the one I have is basic, meets all my minimum needs but I need one for work and home, and it’s a bit of a clunker ergonomically. 

 

It seems inflation rather than Moore’s law has ruled the pricing for like for like replacements, looking at £50+ to replace, meanwhile some quite exciting looking graphing meters seem to be only around £80.  Has anyone tried one?

 

The replacement is more likely to be used at work on a desk, so sleek rather than solid is preferred, I can use the one I have at home, on the car etc.

 

I’m definitely not getting a Fluke, or anything else any of our lovely Electrical Engineer colleagues would probably consider a bare minimum, sorry…! 

 

Minimum needs are

-autoranging

-auto power off

 

Would love to have:

-continuity test as a 1^st level option – drives me nuts that the single thing I do most often I have to turn to Diode and then press a whole extra button!

 

 

Alex Gibson

 

edumaker limited

 

+44 7813 810 765    @alexgibson3d  

 

Unit 3B Bacchus House, Calleva Park, Aldermaston, READING RG7 8EN

 

[Frank in Woodcote]

Go for a cheapo bench meter with a scope function if you're not fussed about durability... Or you can even get bluetooth multimeters now that link to your phone (via app), and can be used for sampling, scope work and everything. And best of all, mains isolated... And you can capture data and email it.

Here's a pic of my regular I've had from brand new. Before fluke became popular. Just after AVO...

[Mr E]

Hi Alex,

I have one of these:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bluetooth-Multimeter-Multimeters-Voltmeter-Resistanceth/dp/B08NJT38SF/ - £45.99

Which has bluetooth, which will log to your phone or there's a windows app you can run on a laptop that's got bluetooth.  Which works just fine for all my logging needs.  Also does temperature (works fine), Non-contact Voltage detecting (find a cable in a wall), capacitance as well as the usual.  Decent backlight, although it does turn off after a few mins.

It's more on the chunky rather than sleek, but I guess that is a question of taste.  You can remove it from the rubber over case if you want though.  The back prop/bale thing works fine.  Proper fuses inside.  The probes it came with are surprisingly sharp, you can unscrew the probe safety covers for extra probe length.  Also comes with some screw on crocodile clips, which are quite useful.

I've had it for 2 years and not run the first battery flat.  It autoranges reasonably fast and will auto-power off provided you're not in bluetooth mode.

It does however need to push an extra mode button to put it into beep mode.

Things I've vaguely missed that others have - the ones with a magnet on the back so you can stick it to a panel.   The ones with an amp clamp built in.  Possibly not so needed for desk work, but stuff to consider.

Overall I've been entirely happy with it though.  One to consider?

All the best.

Rupert

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[Alex Gibson]

Good suggestions thanks both!

Nothing wrong with old, and I thought about getting an old major brand on eBay.

 I will look in detail at the modern one you've linked Rupert!  It's not that there's a shortage of choice, your long term hands on experience instantly elevates it.

I thought about benchtop as I have a decent soldering station, and I have an ancient oscilloscope, but I am most likely to want to take it around the print farm.  Case is optional.

Bluetooth scoping with a phone as a screen makes a lot of sense, I'm a bit suspicious of the cheaper Amazon examples with huge LCDs, or ones that need the phone to work as a basic meter.  Hybrid in this case makes sense.

What is it with the UX designers that they think a continuity beep is so secondary as to need to hide behind diode testing?  It's about my number one use of a multimeter!  The design consensus is strongly against me.

Thanks a lot, any other favourites to compare?

Cheers

Alex

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[Gavin]

I can recommend Mastech as a brand in that price range. A bit on the chunky side but fully featured

Gavin

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[Alex Gibson]

Does anyone have hands-on experience with ‘pen-style’ multimeters?

 

On the face of it, looks appealing as my needs are fairly basic and it saves toolbox space and might be less faff to grab for when doing simple things like checking for voltage and continuity.

 

Wondering about getting one of these now and eventually one of the desk-mount units.   Seems like one of these with Bluetooth to output to a phone would be ideal.  Unfortunately Amazon is terrible for researching specific keyword combinations.

 

Alex Gibson

 

edumaker limited

 

+44 7813 810 765    @alexgibson3d  

 

Unit 3B Bacchus House, Calleva Park, Aldermaston, READING RG7 8EN

 

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[Mr.G]

I have this one Black Friday last year was £25

Does all the usual stuff

Kind regards
Mr.G

Gerald

On Fri, 11 Nov 2022 at 20:31, Alex Gibson <al...@alexgibson.net> wrote:

--

[Alex Gibson]

Looks smart – a lot of batteries though!

 

How does its auto function work – does it go beyond autoranging so you don’t even have to tell it you’re looking for volts/amps/continuity?

 

Cheers,

 

Alex Gibson

 

edumaker limited

 

+44 7813 810 765    @alexgibson3d  

 

Unit 3B Bacchus House, Calleva Park, Aldermaston, READING RG7 8EN

 

From: reading-...@googlegroups.com [mailto:reading-...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Mr.G
Sent: 13 November 2022 18:33
To: reading-...@googlegroups.com; Alex Gibson
Subject: Re: [RDG-Hack] DIY level Multimeter recommendations?

 

I have this one Black Friday last year was £25

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[Mr.G]

Rechargeable

Kind regards
Mr.G

Gerald

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[Nigel Worsley]

On Sun, 13 Nov 2022 at 17:25, Alex Gibson <al...@alexgibson.net> wrote:

Does anyone have hands-on experience with ‘pen-style’ multimeters?

I have one of these:

https://www.banggood.com/MUSTOOL-MT007-or-MT007-Pro-or-MT007-Pro-EN-True-RMS-Digital-Multimeter-+-Voltage-Test-Pen-+Phase-Sequences-Meter-3-In-1-Color-Screen-Voice-Broadcast-p-1806010.html

I have the voice version which is a bit of a gimmick, I would recommend the Pro instead. I originally carried it on site visits as a spare meter, but have ended up using it as my main one, not having to find somewhere in a cramped electrical cubicle to balance a conventional meter while still making the display readable saves a lot of time. Accuracy is good, and battery life is much better than expected for a meter with a permanently illuminated display that runs off a single AAA. The auto function works out if you want AC volts, DC volts, resistance or capacitance and very rarely guesses wrong.

The non contact voltage monitor works well, and is a handy additional safety check when working on stuff that cannot be guaranteed to be dead.

Nigle

[Frank in Woodcote]

Nigle, you've convinced me 👍🏻I'm going to get one of them as a spare. 

Interesting discussion about meters got me thinking- how about a device a bit like a hopi (the one big clive uses), but as a mini rechargable lithium powered block thing, that broadcasts all the data via bluetooth. It could have a couple of 100A stud terminals (for true power metering), along with a standard 4mm voltage sample input (standard 3 terminals). And obviously auto-ranging. And if it were 64 bit, you could get high resolution data all the way from mV-volts (or Amps). And if fast sampling, could use a basic scope function, but only up to a few 10s of kHz. Good enough for mains power spectrum analysis too (power factor). Power meter chip + software defined radio chip + bluetooth module + a micro and a bit of glue logic. Or such a thing may already exist?

[Alex Gibson]

Same here, it looks pretty cool.

Nigles review is a lot more substantial than some of the hilariously paid for sounding reviews of that product on Banggood!

Going to search around to see if anyone has made a pen type meter with Bluetooth out as I feel that could be the best of all worlds, but for my day to day use, it's not necessary.

It's a funny product segment, it's clearly possibly to make a very sophisticated device at a very reasonable price, but very hard to differentiate decent quality examples, hence I'm grateful for all the rLab member experiences.  And the no brand manufacturers are innovating in form factor a lot more than the expensive trusted brands, but there seem to be some very persistent conventions, so every dial looks roughly the same until it's ditched entirely.  I don't get my one button continuity check anywhere - but might get a completely automatic continuity check which also speaks to me!  

Cheers

Alex

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[Nigel Worsley]

I have just realised that Banggood have a referral scheme, which
should benefit both the people that use it and me too, this is the
link:
https://banggood.onelink.me/zMT7/lohoqjgs

Nigle

[Frank in Woodcote]

Just bought the basic LCD version, without phase sequencing for £11 all the way from China. I agree that voice announcing and a colour LCD for a multimeter is a bit uneccessary. The temp probe is inside the case which seems odd- no temp probe.

Here are pics 👍🏻😀

[Frank in Woodcote]

Received my little meter the other day and have been putting it through its paces...

Like: instant readings, stable, good visibility (monochrome display), and it just "knows" what you're trying to measure (although you can select manually), impressive capacitance testing, tough (already dropped it a few times).

Dislike: continuity beeper too quiet, auto switch off too quick, LCD backlight auto off too quick, battery consumption very high (like maybe 2-3h on one alkaline AAA cell- why didn't they bung in a lipo pouch cell with USB charging?), and 0V lead too stiff in cold weather.

Pointless temp measuring, as it just measures the temp inside of the unit- no probe.

But great value and ever so handy. Thanks for the tip Nigle. 👍🏻

[Alex Gibson]

Brilliant, thanks for the review Frank!

Alex

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