[sdiy]dmm question

[Steve Ridley]

> what multi meter should i buy for around 30-50 bucks, there are so many 
> of them i have no idea. i want to do general trouble shooting and construction 
> with it . thanks

Get one that takes normal batteries and that automatically
powers down if you leave it switched on.  I had a small cheap 
DVM and often forgot to switch it off - it ate it's own value in 
button cells in a year!  (Now it lives in the car for emergencies).

If you get an auto-ranging meter, see how long it takes to
take a measurement.  Some meters take several seconds to 
work through the ranges and take a measurement, and will 
really irritate you after a while.

If you don't know what you want and can't make an informed 
choice, a good approach would be to get a really cheap basic 
meter and learn from it. I don't know what the cheapest ones are 
like where you are - in the UK they start around £5 ($8?).  

Any DMM should will give you AC and DC volts and resistance
ranges, and these are the ones you'll use 90% of the time.  
Many cheap meters also include transistor test, capacitance
measurement and even frequency measurement.  These features
might work until you find something better, but don't bet on them 
for accuracy.

If you have a choice of cheap meters, look for one with decent
quality plug in test probes.  Some meters save money by providing
cheap, brittle blunt probes, and if they're hard wired into the meter, 
it's a pain to change them when they break.

You'll soon find what features you really need and will be in a good 
position to spend some money on a DMM that's really what you want.  
As a bonus, you'll have a spare DMM...

Just my 2p worth...

Steve





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