I need some advice.

I am a true DIY guy. Tonight I was trying to learn more about Arduino's (built a small circuit that flashed leds) .... yesterday I repaired a mig/tig welder for a neighbor (found a bad ground) ... the week before I rewired and helped install a 3 phase water heater for (amazing it draws 136 Amps! .. had to install a 200 amp feed) ... the week before I was tracing down a short in the neighbors truck ...

You get the idea ... a bit of everything ... even keep some old tube radios going and last week rebuilt a 100 year old phone ... it works!

Unfortunately, none of these jobs pay so my budget is not huge.

I had a Fluke 189. Great meter. Got it for cost about 25 years ago (did a job for the local electronics supplier). It is dying quick. Lead errors .... just goes out once in a while ... battery terminals are broken ....

So I looked at Fluke ... OUCH! Way out of my budget/

I looked at Amazon ... way toooooo many chooses. They all look the same ... same specs (or close).

I really would like an "all in one" meter.

True RMS (I have some 3 phase machines ... I use an old drive as an inverter to run them on single phase).

I do some equipment with 4-20 mA controls.

I check caps and such every so often (motor starters and such).

... I see Klein ... Kaiweets ... Venlab ... Crenova ... Astro ... Greenlee ... Ames ... literally dozens and dozens of "no name" meters ... and dozens of models.

Is any one better than another?

I am thinking $50 - $100 range. ... heck, I see AstrolAI has a true RMS meter for $17.59 and one that looks like a phone for $36.54 (both got 4.6/5 on Amazon).

Just looking to see if anyone has used some of these or can tell me if one is better than the rest.

Thanks!!!!!!!!!

Mike

 

Contact Fluke to see what the repair/replacement cost of your meter is?
https://docs.rs-online.com/971a/0900766b800306ab.pdf

 

Buy a cheaper Fluke. Do you ever use the current ranges? If not there are cheaper FLukes with no current ranges. (It also stops you blowing it up by accidentally measuring the current available from the mains when you have the probes in the wrong sockets)
Then get a cheap current clamp meter. They are not that accurate at the best of times, and clamp meters are so much more convenient than having to break the circuit to connect in the current meter.

 

I have been using cheap DVMs since 2000, and checked them against my Fluke and even at, say 10 volts the cheap meters agreed with the Fluke within a few millivolts

On a couple of the cheap ($10 or under) the rotary switches wore out.

About 10 years ago I did a lot of power supply work and bought a few UNI-T meters. They were in the $15 range and had a variety of features. No problems all these years and they still check out as being very accurate.

Cheap meters are ok, just avoid the real cheapies with a 1 megohm input resistance. I really hate while using a meter like that to pause and consider how much my meter is loading a particular part of a circuit.

Changing the fuse in series with the current shunts in the meter is a real pain, so these days I just measure the IR drop across precision resistors I keep around.

 

I believe Fluke has a lifetime warranty, check into that for your meter. Also if you're doing high voltage and 3 phase stuff, safety is a big issue, be sure whatever you choose is truly safe and doesn't just pretend to be safe.

You might find this interesting regarding why Fluke is so expensive, and he also links to a competing meter that is less expensive:

 

I am actually going to suggest two meters, because they each do different things, and because there are so many times when two meters make certain tasks possible that one meter couldn’t. It’s still within your budget, and I can highly recommend the company and products.

The company is UNI-T. They manufacture high value, high utility products which get almost universally positive reviews from knowledgable folks. While I own Fluke meters, I also own two UNI-T specialist meters: a clamp meter (recommended for you below) and an SMD component tester that has a tweezer like probe.

The two meters are:

UNI-T UT89-XD​

The UT89-XD is a full function multimeter with voltage, resistance, and current ranges of course but it also has capacitance, a diode test as well as a dedicated LED test range, temperature (with a thermocouple), NCV (Non-Contact Voltage) and a CAT III rating at 600V I actually believe. It’s not auto ranging which saves you a few dollars and makes this one $36.99 at Amazon (link below photo)

UNI-T UT210E​

The UT3210E is a small AC/DC autoranging current clamp meter. The DC part is important because it greatly increases the utility of this meter. The low amperage range is 2A allowing for reasonably accurate measurements of small current without interrupting the circuit. This has been incredibly handy of many occasions for me.

The AC range includes VFC (Variable Frequency Conversion) which mean you can use this for situations where the AC frequency is not fixed at 50 or 60Hz, such as motor controllers.

It has ranges for AC/DC voltage to 600V with a low pass filter to eliminate ghost readings, resistance, and capacitance as well as NCV. The build quality is excellent. At $49.99, it’s a bargain. (Amazon link under the photo)

 

I keep several of these on hand for generall use.
Harbor Freight $6.99

 

WOW ... some interesting info in that video.

My "life time warranty" has expired. Since they no longer produce this meter they offer a "trad in" instead.

It was a bit of a joke ... I think it was $50 (maybe $100) off a $1400 meter. I think the issue was as the 189 was the top of the line back int he day, they want you to buy the top of the line now to replace it.

The video is interesting ...

A 600 volt rating is fine. I only have 120/220 here. When going through my VFD to get 3 phase, it is 208 /220 (depending on the unit .. I have a few) 3 phase. I keep thinking it would be "nice" to come across a transformer cheap ... then I could run 480 and use much smaller wire in the shop to keep the cost down ... but so far the cost of even a used transformer has been more than the cost I would save in wire.

The amp clamp is nice. I do have a "plug in fluke" for my meter. ac/dc ... and I do use it once in a while to check things like a starter motor draw on a car.

Maybe some thinking to do. I had a Beckman that lasted forever. Then my last Fluke lasted 25 plus years. I guess I should not fee bad about buying another say $250 fluke (like the 117). At 60 years old, it might outlast me. Still I hate spending money if I don't need to.

Thanks for the advice!

 

Something like this for US$8.39.
https://www.amazon.com/WeePro-Vpro8...T8XT12/ref=sxin_16_pa_sp_search_thematic_sspa

 

By the way, the little clamp meter is a perfect toolbox meter. It’s small and does everything you could want.

 

I've often wondered why we can't get meters that have a more "traditional" case, I can see the value in all these moulded plastic curvy cases but why no options for a more regular shaped case? why the assumption that I'm always going to want to hold it in my hand?

Now I do have two bench multimeters, very good ones too, but I'd love a more general portable meter that didn't also expect me to hand hold it.

 

Clamp meters are tricky, or at least finding a good one for reasonable price is tricky. I bought an Extech 800A clamp meter and it's really not usable for low currents. Even on the lowest setting (40A), the reading bounces around 0.5-ish amp even when there is no current flowing. If current is flowing, if you flip the meter around 180 degrees it gives a different reading. Which reading is correct? Who knows, not very confidence inspiring. Anyway I do NOT recommend the Extech brand.

 

Any large reputable supplier will have a range of meters and I find the cheaper ones are accurate enough for knock-around use. The extreme prices of high-end brands deliver long term reliability and accuracy that is inappropriate for most uses. The cheaper ones are very good these days.

https://au.element14.com/tenma/72-10410/digital-multimeter-handheld-3/dp/2450663

 

Clamp meters are tricky, or at least finding a good one for reasonable price is tricky. I bought an Extech 800A clamp meter and it's really not usable for low currents. Even on the lowest setting (40A), the reading bounces around 0.5-ish amp even when there is no current flowing. If current is flowing, if you flip the meter around 180 degrees it gives a different reading. Which reading is correct? Who knows, not very confidence inspiring. Anyway I do NOT recommend the Extech brand.

The UNI-T meter I recommended is stable and accurate, even in the 2A range. It uses a Hall effect sensor so can do DC as well. I find this very useful.