I have a Craftsman 82022 DMM that I bought back in 2003. I use it for hobbies and working on bikes and cars at home. I have noticed that it is giving reading when I turn it on. For example, if I turn it to VDC, before I touch the probes I get various readings like -0.070 then it will roll up and down.. -0.069, -0.068 etc. It slowly bleeds off or in the case since it's a negative value I guess it's actually going up. If I go to VAC I am getting reading like 0.030, 0.029 it sits there and climbs as high as 0.031 then back to 0.029. On CAP i get a reading of 00.09.. Hopefully you get the picture. I have tried several new batteries in the meter and get the same results. I have looked at some videos online and most meters are reading 0.000 as they idle with maybe very very small changes. What caught my attention was I have a battery load tester and I am getting .200 and .300 volt variations between that and my DMM. The load tester is new but not a professional high dollar tool. I know the old saying about the man with one watch and the man with two.. but I was just wondering if it was normal for my meter to have these types of readings at idle?

 

My Fluke meter displays all kind of error readings when the battery goes low, before the Low Battery symbol appears.
Max.

 

Welcome to AAC!

You should use paragraphs to organize your thoughts and make your posts easier to read.

I was just wondering if it was normal for my meter to have these types of readings at idle?

It's not normal. Is the meter in the presence of high electric fields?

 

No it's not around high electric fields.

 

No it's not around high electric fields.

A CRT monitor or similar? Power transmission lines near by? Motors?

 

What does it do when the leads are connected together (shorted together) as this is where it should Zero for Volts, Ohms and Current functions. Well a stable close to zero for Ohms. Unless the leads are shorted then the meter will pick up stray noise.

Ron

 

Ohms is the only reading that appears to do right. It goes from OL to 000.0 when I put the leads together. If I go to DC V, I immediately get a reading of -0.261 v (without the leads together) which then slowly moves towards 0.000 DC V. At -0.226 DC V, I put the leads together and it jumped to -0.201 and continues to very slowly one digit (.001) at time move towards 0 v. In the time it took me to type this it has moved to -0.180 with the leads still together and still going. AC V reacts the same as the DC test but starts out much closer to 0.000 V on the pos side. It is fluctuating between 0.015 and 0.002 at the moment with the leads together.

 

That does sound a little peculiar. All of my handheld DMMs from cheap to expensive behave the same, leads shorted and they zero right out. If this is an inexpensive I would likely trash it and move along. Then too if it is an expensive hand held and is failing there is not much you have that is user repairable.

Ron

 

I have a Craftsman 82022 DMM that I bought back in 2003. I use it for hobbies and working on bikes and cars at home. I have noticed that it is giving reading when I turn it on. For example, if I turn it to VDC, before I touch the probes I get various readings like -0.070 then it will roll up and down.. -0.069, -0.068 etc. It slowly bleeds off or in the case since it's a negative value I guess it's actually going up. If I go to VAC I am getting reading like 0.030, 0.029 it sits there and climbs as high as 0.031 then back to 0.029. On CAP i get a reading of 00.09.. Hopefully you get the picture. I have tried several new batteries in the meter and get the same results. I have looked at some videos online and most meters are reading 0.000 as they idle with maybe very very small changes. What caught my attention was I have a battery load tester and I am getting .200 and .300 volt variations between that and my DMM. The load tester is new but not a professional high dollar tool. I know the old saying about the man with one watch and the man with two.. but I was just wondering if it was normal for my meter to have these types of readings at idle?

Are you certain it is not auto ranging into the milli volt range? Or you havr it set to milli volts? I would think a few hundredths of a milli volt is no big deal for a cheap meter.

But it should zero out when you touch the leads. Are you certain you have good leads and good connection to the meter?

 

Change the battery.

 

This was a not an expensive meter, around $70.00 when I bought it. But at the moment, that is expensive to me or I'd just toss it out and buy a new one.

A CRT monitor or similar? Power transmission lines near by? Motors?

None of those are nearby. I am usually in the garage and no other electronics are around. Today I did the test on my desk which was near my monitor but I just tried again across the room and get the same results.

re you certain it is not auto ranging into the milli volt range? Or you havr it set to milli volts? I would think a few hundredths of a milli volt is no big deal for a cheap meter.

But it should zero out when you touch the leads. Are you certain you have good leads and good connection to the meter?

It is in auto ranging mode but its not reading in milli volts.

I have another older set of leads so I checked the resistance (good) on them and tried them and the same thing happens. So i plugged those in and checked the resistance on the wires I have been using and they check out fine. All seems plugged in tight. Touching leads together has no zeroing affect with either set. I just ran through every setting on the meter and the only ones that are giving me these idle reading are CAP, ACV, and DCV. The voltage reading are side by side on the switch and the CAP is separated by OFF from those 2 for what that's worth.

I appreciate all the feedback. I use this a lot around the house and would like to know I am getting accurate readings..

 

Change the battery.

I have, 3 times. I suppose I should try a set from a different lot. (the meter reads my AA's at 1.5 volts so yea on that.... )

 

Is this an extech meter? I have had similar problems with extech meters. My theory about it is a crappy averaging algorithm with exponential decay

 

Is this an extech meter? I have had similar problems with extech meters. My theory about it is a crappy averaging algorithm with exponential decay

Craftsman