I'm still very fresh into electronics and circuits so I havnt learned all there is to know as of this moment and at the rate technology advances I doubt I ever will, mayby I'll get close one day. Anyways I have a multimeter ... that's pretty cheap for simple stuff were precise or exact measurements are not critical, but I would like to have an upgrade of sorts. I would like to find a multimeter.. preferably hand held that has auto ranging as well as the other standard measurements. I'm looking for it to be blutooth and have clamp current meter attachment either through an adapter or built in. Woupd also like to see the wave form as well so and osciliscope capability. True rms I think is good and I would like to be able to data log with it . Be able to measure amps, voltage and temperature all at once if possible . Possibly show it in a graph so I could better understand the relationship to each. The blutooth is just so i can remotely monitor the multimeter and possibly save the data with a screenshot or sonething on some tine if memory like a thumb drive or sd card.

I've found a few multimeter that do this but they are typically lacking one feature or another. If there is a device that can accomplish I'd like to know. if there are suggestions on how to achieve this then I would also like to know. Im at a loss sbd would like to be able to have data and information be logged easily and possibly Be put on a display like a graph. I've been using pen and paper ever 10 minutes to record data.. and that gets old real fast. Please and thank you.

 

You are asking too much of one instrument. You need to adjust your expectations and either buy more than one now, or buy something you need now and more later.

Measurements of voltage and current need to be made on two different meters. Even good bench meters that offer options of measuring both do it by switching between the two, and it’s not very useful for most things.

You need to decide what is most important to you in a meter. You say you want logging, and that seems important to you, so I’d start with that as a requirement.

You should consider what you intend to do most with the meter. Will you be measuring AC mains with it? If so, something with a good and reliable safety rating is critical. Will you be measure very small currents or small resistances? If so, you need to choose something with a range that is appropriate.

Do you need a portable meter, or is a bench meter a better idea. Do you need a clamp on this meter, or would you be better off buying a separate inexpensive clamp meter that includes DC current. There are several similar and affordable meters that fit the bill.

I don’t think you will be happy with any sort of oscilloscope function in a DMM, you should stay away from it, it is a gimmick and probably means compromising other functions.

So, if I were you, I’d work out the requirements more clearly, leaving out things that should be separated. Plan on keeping your current meter to do voltage when you need voltage and current. And, look for something well reviewed that does the connectivity and logging you are prioritizing.

There are quite a few good products on the market but no good value ones that do everything you are asking well.

 

Hmm good points ive seeb some smsll devices that are the size if multimeter but are very expensive sadly. I think of be willing to buy more then one device as long as they can both connect to one device via blutooth and and one single app. I've Seen meters by a company called "owon" that I'm really liking because the meters can all connect to one device like a rapper or phone and display the information all at once in one place.

I've thought about getting a cheap clamp meter that has blutooth . I've Seen another device "Tredeca" tuat can do what I want all at once but I think it's a kickstand device and I can't find much on it price wise.
I may just have to buy 3 meters that are all blutooth to measure the three things I need that will automatically log data.. but that sounds rediculous .

 

Oh it would also be dc power I'm measuring

 

Owon has a spotty reputation, so do your research.

Having multiple instruments is normal and expected. It is the way things are done. Integrating them all into one application for logging sounds nice, but so long as they can all produce timestamped CSV files, you can use a spreadsheet to correlate the data after the fact.

Pay attention to accuracy and resolution. Do you want a 6000 count instrument? Probably for the main one. Do you need it for the smaller clamp? Probably not. You can always rig the larger one with a shunt or its internal shunt for critical things.

Just be sure you research anything well for safety and functionality. I have five meters and often use two or three at once when testing things. I have a Siglent bench meter, a Fluke logging portable, a Fluke logging clamp (low resolution, high capacity, for big stuff), a Voltcraft clamp that I like a lot, and a smaller fluke that gets used when I need something quick and easy.

 

Oh it would also be dc power I'm measuring

You should have at least one meter rated for safe high AC voltage use. Something you don’t need to worry about being connected to the mains. You are almost certainly going to find a need to do that, and some cheap meters are not very safe.

 

Ah ok thank you very very much for the advise yeah I've heard owon isn't so great. I figured they could be ok for simple stuff like measure the voltage coming out if solar panel as well as current just to get the idea. I'd rather not break the wire so it looks like a clamp meter will have to be the choice.. I do have a couple cheep meters from harbor freight which I figure arnt great or accurate. One I got for free lol. Not sure the rating on them. You are right though about using it for a.c. and bedding a meter that can handle it. I don't date use the harbor freight ones. I have a simple device that has a.c. plugs that's much safer lol. I think I more so want to automation th ctiomalit of recording the data because I don't know how to do a spread sheet but mayby it's high time I learn. I guess I would like some form of data logging so that way I don't need to set an alarm for every ten or 5 minutes or less. Is there other devices perhaps that can help simplify and mayby are more modular?

 

Ah ok thank you very very much for the advise yeah I've heard owon isn't so great. I figured they could be ok for simple stuff like measure the voltage coming out if solar panel as well as current just to get the idea.

Do you have a budget in mind?

 

Yeah . Money is tight for me but once in a while I get good amount of money. But I'm trying to not drain my account to empty in one purchase I'm willing to spend about 45 dollars mayby a little more for a single meter . If I need to get two then sure 100 dollars I can do and then mayby more later down the road. Flukes are not needed for me. I'm not screwing eith anything tgat sensative currently or that high in voltage. In the future I may be but if I am I better be making the money lol us there such thing as a accessory amp clamp that can be plugged into like com and amp port cause I could do that to to mayby cut down on initial costs if the build in clamps are expensive .

 

Clamp accessories are generally pretty expensive. But, with that budget I suppose I would look for a clamp meter with your Bluetooth connectivity for logging that doesn’t have too many extraneous features.

I might have a look around and see what I would buy in your case.

 

As Yaakov mentioned, the whole set of features will be very difficult to find in a single instrument.

Taking some of the inputs above into consideration but not budget, you could have the following combination of tools:

EEVBlog 121GW multimeter: simultaneous VA (power) measurements, Bluetooth and SD Card data logging. Very decent input protection. That, together with a simple bluetooth thermometer (depending on the range and accuracy you need), could give some reasonable solution in only two instruments.

If you really need a clamp meter due to the magnitude of current involved, you can use a clamp accessory. Current clamp accessories such as Fluke i410 or (if you can get it used) Y8100 are attached to the V range of a Bluetooth meter such as the Owon BT35T - it does not have much input protection, but behind a clamp accessory this does not matter. However, this scenario still leaves you with two more instruments to buy: another meter for the Volts (which could be the same Owon, if you are using it in low voltage) and a Thermometer (which could be the same as I mentioned above).

Apart from this, you would need a more complete data acquisition system with the accessories attached to its inputs. These would not be cheap nor easy to implement.

 

Wow thank you. Those look awesome. I am wanting the clamp for the simple reason I don't want to break wire to get a reading. Plus it is safer o think and I'm more unlikely to get a multimeter with high amps there is none running through from outside sources. Thank you very very much for the info

 

As Yaakov mentioned, the whole set of features will be very difficult to find in a single instrument.

Taking some of the inputs above into consideration but not budget, you could have the following combination of tools:

EEVBlog 121GW multimeter: simultaneous VA (power) measurements, Bluetooth and SD Card data logging. Very decent input protection. That, together with a simple bluetooth thermometer (depending on the range and accuracy you need), could give some reasonable solution in only two instruments.

If you really need a clamp meter due to the magnitude of current involved, you can use a clamp accessory. Current clamp accessories such as Fluke i410 or (if you can get it used) Y8100 are attached to the V range of a Bluetooth meter such as the Owon BT35T - it does not have much input protection, but behind a clamp accessory this does not matter. However, this scenario still leaves you with two more instruments to buy: another meter for the Volts (which could be the same Owon, if you are using it in low voltage) and a Thermometer (which could be the same as I mentioned above).

Apart from this, you would need a more complete data acquisition system with the accessories attached to its inputs. These would not be cheap nor easy to implement.

Can the accessory Clamp only plug it weblog meter or can it go into the owon as well?

 

Can the accessory Clamp only plug it weblog meter or can it go into the owon as well?

The clamp accessory can be plugged into any multimeter/voltmeter - even the one you already have. Just be sure to read its manual to find out what is the voltage range translated by the clamp. For example, the Y8100 which I have has two ranges: 20A and 200A, which is translated into a range of 0~2V - this means that, when measuring a current of 5A in the 20A range, the voltmeter would read 0.5V.

I listed two Fluke clamp adapters, but there are many others available in the marketplace.

One detail to consider is that current measurements with a clamp tend to be less accurate than with a shunt resistor. This is more tricky with DC, where the relative orientation of the earth's magnetic field can influence the result and therefore the clamp needs to be zeroed before any measurement. Check the User's manual of the clamp for details.For the Y8100:
http://assets.fluke.com/manuals/Y8100___imeng0200.pdf

 

The clamp accessory can be plugged into any multimeter/voltmeter - even the one you already have. Just be sure to read its manual to find out what is the voltage range translated by the clamp. For example, the Y8100 which I have has two ranges: 20A and 200A, which is translated into a range of 0~2V - this means that, when measuring a current of 5A in the 20A range, the voltmeter would read 0.5V.

I listed two Fluke clamp adapters, but there are many others available in the marketplace.

One detail to consider is that current measurements with a clamp tend to be less accurate than with a shunt resistor. This is more tricky with DC, where the relative orientation of the earth's magnetic field can influence the result and therefore the clamp needs to be zeroed before any measurement. Check the User's manual of the clamp for details.For the Y8100:
http://assets.fluke.com/manuals/Y8100___imeng0200.pdf

Amazon has one of the cheapest clamp probes I’ve seen, and it looks decent. Most are quite costly but this one is affordable.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07G3ZJ2J7

I was thinking of picking one up to see how it is.

 

I'm still very fresh into electronics and circuits so I havnt learned all there is to know as of this moment and at the rate technology advances I doubt I ever will, mayby I'll get close one day. Anyways I have a multimeter ... that's pretty cheap for simple stuff were precise or exact measurements are not critical, but I would like to have an upgrade of sorts. I would like to find a multimeter.. preferably hand held that has auto ranging as well as the other standard measurements. I'm looking for it to be blutooth and have clamp current meter attachment either through an adapter or built in. Woupd also like to see the wave form as well so and osciliscope capability. True rms I think is good and I would like to be able to data log with it . Be able to measure amps, voltage and temperature all at once if possible . Possibly show it in a graph so I could better understand the relationship to each. The blutooth is just so i can remotely monitor the multimeter and possibly save the data with a screenshot or sonething on some tine if memory like a thumb drive or sd card.

I've found a few multimeter that do this but they are typically lacking one feature or another. If there is a device that can accomplish I'd like to know. if there are suggestions on how to achieve this then I would also like to know. Im at a loss sbd would like to be able to have data and information be logged easily and possibly Be put on a display like a graph. I've been using pen and paper ever 10 minutes to record data.. and that gets old real fast. Please and thank you.

If you know electronics is going to be your 'thing' for a long time:

A DMM isn't made to do everything- it can do a lot. Ideally, you need a good DMM (like a fluke 289- spendy, but worthy it), and 2Gs/s dual-trace (or more) oscilloscope. Those two items will let you diagnose almost any problem, and are one-time purchases if you take care of them.

Never buy a DMM online unless it's a fluke or similarly reputable, warranted instrument. For any 'cheapo' DMM, ake someone with you that has a known good DMM, and a working circuit, and verify the DMM you are looking at in the store is good. I found out the hard way before I had enough and bought my fluke 289.

 

As Yaakov mentioned, the whole set of features will be very difficult to find in a single instrument.

Taking some of the inputs above into consideration but not budget, you could have the following combination of tools:

EEVBlog 121GW multimeter: simultaneous VA (power) measurements, Bluetooth and SD Card data logging. Very decent input protection. That, together with a simple bluetooth thermometer (depending on the range and accuracy you need), could give some reasonable solution in only two instruments.

The EEVBlog meter is a Bryman, quite a nice meter, really. Dave Jones, the person behind the blog and YouTube channel is quite particular about meters, so it has to be good.

I think he wants a clamp so he doesn't have to put the meter in series interrupting the wiring, not so much a matter of magnitude.

 

Amazon has one of the cheapest clamp probes I’ve seen, and it looks decent. Most are quite costly but this one is affordable.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07G3ZJ2J7

I was thinking of picking one up to see how it is.

Just beware. Holdpeak seems to have quality control problems. It is discussed at this thread.

At that thread they also throw the Hantek CC-65 and the Prova CM-05 into the mix, which seem to have better support.

 

The EEVBlog meter is a Bryman, quite a nice meter, really. Dave Jones, the person behind the blog and YouTube channel is quite particular about meters, so it has to be good.

The EEVBlog BM235 is, in fact a Brymen (excellent quality). However, the one I suggested before (121GW) is manufactured by UEi. It has its minor flaws (nothing is perfect) but it is a very decent piece of gear as well.

 

Just beware. Holdpeak seems to have quality control problems. It is discussed at this thread.

At that thread they also throw the Hantek CC-65 and the Prova CM-05 into the mix, which seem to have better support.

The reviews indicated the QC was a little dodgy, but it seemed the working product was decent. When buying very low budget, I expect I might have to return (or possibly repair) items. Buying through Amazon usually protects me fairly well.

I have a Fluke 376FC with the iFlex probe, so I wouldn't be depending on it.

For people less able to lose money or fix things, your advice is important.