What multimeter should i wish for?
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Today i have this cheap multimeter
Birthday is coming up... which much better should i wish for?
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@magpern maybe the discussions in https://forum.mysensors.org/topic/3581/multimeter-recommendation and https://forum.mysensors.org/topic/174/multimeter-recommendations can give some ideas?
Another way to look at it: what would you like to do, that you can't do with the multimeter you have?
Maybe the answer is that you want to measure how low power your nodes consume. Then you don't need a multimeter, you need an ucurrent gold or a currentRanger.
Maybe the answer is that you want to debug rs232, i2c or SPI signals. Then you don't need a multimeter, you need a logic analyzer. Example: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32892618785.html
Maybe you want to check how stable signals are. Then you don't need a multimeter, you need an oscilloscope. Example: https://www.conrad.se/p/rigol-ds1054z-digitalt-oscilloskop-50-mhz-1392205
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@mfalkvidd Thank you for you detailed reply. The question actually arose spontaneously. I said to my wife.. I know what I want as a present, a new better multimeter. Then she saw me write here, and started asking questions about what forum I wrote in (= she will look here to find the answer and buy it for me)
But, as you state.. what do I need it for? Measuring some kind of micro current is one thought. And measuring capacitors.
Will my current one work for me, most likely, it has for many years and 95% of the time it is to look for shorts. Do I need a new one..no.
I looked in your thread about the multimeters and I think the VC99 seams to be a good one. Price of 28 USD is very good too.
I'll look into the uCurrent too, that looks cool!
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Maybe you want to check how stable signals are. Then you don't need a multimeter, you need an oscilloscope. Example: https://www.conrad.se/p/rigol-ds1054z-digitalt-oscilloskop-50-mhz-1392205
I have one... just don't know how to use it... too many buttons.... but I'll look in to that one snowy day
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@magpern totally agree. Myplan is to work through this playlist so I learn how to use mine. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwOVNTOStjiCmxCFX91MZYP7wL8dfy1tB
Today Iearned to save screen shots and csv files to a usb stick. No snow, but lots of rain today
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@mfalkvidd said in What multimeter should i wish for?:
@magpern totally agree. Myplan is to work through this playlist so I learn how to use mine. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwOVNTOStjiCmxCFX91MZYP7wL8dfy1tB
Today Iearned to save screen shots and csv files to a usb stick. No snow, but lots of rain today
Nice.. "a snowy day" is more realistic then a "rainy day", but I guess, a snowy day means playing with the kids in the snow.. rain they don't care for.. so I guess "a rainy day" is more realistic after all.
It was indeed a rainy day, so I got 3 of my sonoff up and running with mqtt and domoticz. Next is to try with home assistant. Still waiting for some aliexpress stuff to continue with my MySensors devices, but I guess that will be "some snowy day"
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btw, two multimeters instead of one makes it possible to measure voltage and current at the same time, which can be handy. So another multimeter can be useful, regardless of how advanced it is. Eevblog recommends to get one with auto ranging support.
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I bought this one:
US $24 47%OFF | RM109 Palm-size True-RMS Digital Multimeter 9999 counts Square Wave Backlight AC DC Voltage Ammeter Current Ohm Auto/Manual
AliExpressIt is Dave Jones approved and served me very well.
Here is his review:
Youtube, Dave jones, review
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I have upgraded to a Fluke 87 and super happy a while ago. It is overkill for a hobby but most likely the last one I’ve bought.
Highly recommended
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@parachutesj I agree - my Fluke is over 30 year old and still going well!
For those thinking of buying one could consider looking at the following videos first....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gh1n_ELmpFI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZoeUgMFLyAw
EEVblog #853 - How A Multimeter Works – 31:48
— EEVblogAll good stuff to know.
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I have $15 Chinese one that is fully automatic - I don't have to set anything. I love it.
The downside is it can only tell Voltage and continuity, but in 99% of cases that's what I want to know.
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And now we have opened the discussion, does any of you know of a current clamp as add-on to use with a regular multimeter? or must I purchase a dedicated multimeter with current clamp?
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@bjacobse
answer to myself, it appears that the chep multimeter types with Current clamp, is only capable of measure AC current, I need also to measure DC current (Then I can measure if my my diesel glowplugs are working, without removing anything), so I bought this fairly cheap add on.
It provides 1mV/A
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/33028995595.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.115a4c4dFflk4AHow to measure with current clamp your glowplugs: (Not my video, but it gave me some knowledge):
VW T4 Transporter -- Startprobleme: Vorglühanlage überprüfen – 11:40
— Sascha Supertramp
