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Volt Meters... What to Buy Today

H

hkrick

Member
I can splurge on a good top quality volt meter for general purpose audio equipment repairs and restorations. Must be capable of testing capacitors and have assortment of leads or be able to purchase separately.

Looking for suggestions.
 
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A paragraph about meters is in this opening post of a thread.

EchoWars

Thread 'So You Want To Repair Audio gear, Eh? Here's the tools you need...'

Got some downtime while waiting for some parts, and since I had made this list for a friend after giving it all a lot of thought, I figured that I might share with you my findings...

In general, the focus here was to get the best bang for the buck. There are more expensive options, and less expensive options, but I wanted a good balance while keeping a close eye on the total expenditure.

The raw list consists of (and I will go into detail for each in the next section):
1. Oscilloscope
2. Audio Signal Generator (10Hz~100KHz)
3. Solder station or solder iron
4. Digital Multimeter(s) and...
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There are numerous discussions about meters here on ak. A quick search should bring you some good info.

Welcome to ak.
 
hkrick said:
Thanks, and yes about Fluke. I have one from my factory maintenance days. The one I have is great but limited functionality.
Click to expand...
May end up needing a separate cap tester as multimeters I've seen tend not to have a large capacitance range or additional capacitance test measurements.

There is a test equipment thread or two and maybe a couple stickies if you poke around the forum a bit more.
 
Blue Shadow said:
.......

There are numerous discussions about meters here on ak. A quick search should bring you some good info.

Welcome to ak.
Click to expand...
Yes, I know. I saw some old threads with 'some' info I'm looking for, but didn't want to boot an old thread.

I'm "specifically" looking for 'suggestions' about what to buy today. As in what's available new and would suit my purpose. And yes, I should have said "multi-purpose volt meter".
 
whoaru99 said:
May end up needing a separate cap tester as multimeters I've seen tend not to have a large capacitance range or additional capacitance test measurements.

There is a test equipment thread or two and maybe a couple stickies if you poke around the forum a bit more.
Click to expand...
Thanks!

I didn't see a test equipment thread. I also like the idea of a separate cap tester! Suggestions are welcome for those, too.
 
Route 66 said:
Another vote for Fluke.

I've had my Fluke 77 for 40 years.
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Mine's a Fluke 323

Cost over $200 new about 10 years ago. I might be wrong but I think part of the high price tag is for the certification.

EDIT: You all can please excuse me if I'm a bit chatty. But... it's my thread. :banana:
Mods are welcome to edit or remove, or just move to another thread. I'll understand.
 
hkrick said:
Mine's a Fluke 323

Cost over $200 new about 10 years ago. I might be wrong but I think part of the high price tag is for the certification.

EDIT: You all can please excuse me if I'm a bit chatty. But... it's my thread. :banana:
Mods are welcome to edit or remove, or just move to another thread. I'll understand.
Click to expand...
Surprisingly, you can get a 323 for less than that now.
 
hkrick said:
EDIT: You all can please excuse me if I'm a bit chatty. But... it's my thread. :banana:
Mods are welcome to edit or remove, or just move to another thread. I'll understand
Click to expand...
You are doing fine. Filling in more info, staying on topic and not violating rules. Chat away. There will be more suggestions coming in.
 
Thanks @Blue Shadow

I'll hang-tight. But, also add that a lead kit with various contact ends would be helpful for upcoming repairs. And yes - top quality. Also - I'm guessing there's a common size or standard output connector (for lack of better words) on top quality volt meters. I will need those.

Edit: I'll also need oscilloscope and RF frequency generator leads/connectors. Another kit... ? Maybe connection adapters??
 
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For the price of a low cost Chinese market Fluke, one can buy approx 4 Aneng AN870, and they are fine with 19999 count and I find them to be reliable.

Nothing bad to say against Fluke, except the prices for the low counts.

Also have a few Aneng AN8009, hand size 9999 count DMM, not as robust as the Aneng AN870 or Fluke 18B+ I own, but small and lightweight.
 
I bought an Extech lead set and like the way the probe unplugs from the cable allowing other ends to be used. Switching from alligator to minigrabber or sharp point probe. The latter will slip off where you are holding it and cause a small spark and lots more work when you should be using minigrabbers. Somehow the meter leads know! Most that have and use meters can confirm this.

Meters can have male or female connections for the leads.
 
More than anyone would want to know here- Multimeter spreadsheet (80 manufacturers and over 400 meters listed) - Page 1
Depending on what you want, Fluke is no longer the right answer for everybody. You probably don't need true RMS, though it's more common and less expensive than it used to be. Cap and component measurement is nice, but there are much better tools for that than any DVM. You may find it's also nicer to have several decent meters than a single top-of-the-line model. I could also make the case for a handheld DVM plus a good bench meter.
 
I have three Fluke meters and tried a Tenma. Gave the Tenma to my son-in-law.

@avionic I thought the military used Simpson analog meters? Guess they upgraded. : )

Rob
 
Well, now I'm doing my own research. Looked at Klein multimeters really hard. Passed on those... Now looking at Fluke 17B+

For capacitance testing, here's the specs:

40.00 nF
400.0 nF
4.000 μF
40.00 μF
400.0 μF
1000 μF		0.01 nF
0.1 nF
0.001 μF
0.01 μF
0.1 μF
1 μF		2% + 5
2% + 5
5% + 5
5% + 5
5% + 5
5% + 5

Good enough?
 
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