Subject: Re: [Healeys] [Shop-talk] Need a new multimeter

From: Roland Wilhelmy <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 30 Oct 2012 19:39:40 -0700

There are real reasons to have a multimeter (VOM) with a needle
(analog) display.  If you want a needle display, you may have to pay a
lot or look on eBay.  Harbor Freight's $5 digital meters are the most
for the least.  I have a couple lying around.

If it works, it's a Fluke.

-Roland
with a very old Fluke digital meter and an even older Weston needle
meter.

On Tue, 30 Oct 2012 21:39:18 -0400,Scott wrote:

::I suspect my multimeter isn't 100%. The continuity test won't always
::alarm when I touch the probes, the needle doesn't sweep very well, etc.
::,etc. I just put new batteries in it, so I'm thinking it might be the
::meter itself.
::
::So who likes their meter and what kind do you have? I'd like to be using
::this thing tomorrow, so ideally I can get a decent one from Radio Shack,
::Ace, etc., but if I really want a whatever I can only get online, I can
::wait a few days for it to be overnighted. I don't make a living with the
::thing, but I'd like to enjoy using it, as opposed to the one I have now
::which came from Home Depot (or Lowe's) and I always questioned.
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From: Richard Ewald <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 30 Oct 2012 21:46:04 -0700

For the ultimate in auto meters, go with a Fluke 78 or 88. (I refer the 78
myself)
Probably way overkill for the average Healey owner.
Any half way decent digital meter form Harbor Freight/Home Despot/Lowes
will do just fine.
My Fluke has gone missing in action, and I needed a meter to run down some
electrical issues in my son's house.  I went to Lowes and spent maybe $40,
and got an excellent meter.  Works great.

[email-masked]

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From: Bob Spidell <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2012 05:51:20 -0700

On a side note, some automotive diagnostics--checking generator operation, for instance--require the use of 
'old-fashioned' moving coil voltmeters.  As far as I can tell, the cheapos from HF work fine (don't know where you could 
even get a high-quality moving coil VM--eBay, maybe).

Bought a DVM from Radio Shack when I was in school almost 35 years ago.  It cost $80--a princely sum for a poor college 
student--but it helped me learn enough electronics to get my first job after graduation.  Still have it, and it still 
works (a good Fluke, at the time, would have been a couple hundred $ or more).

Bob

-- 
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Bob Spidell           San Jose, CA            [email-masked]

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From: Oudesluys <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2012 15:26:42 +0100

The hobby analogue moving coil automotive testers that were sold in 
abundance in the 1980's will be perfectly all right. Resistance, 
Voltage, Amperage, dwell angle etc. all being catered for. There are 
probably quite a few left in the stores (I came across a Hella set in a 
car parts store, it was exactly the same as the one  I tested way back 
in 1984), other makes are Sun, Equus, Gunsons to name just a few. 
Probably dirt cheap on the internet e.g. Ebay.com. These meters are 
mostly easy to read as the needle is well damped.
Most of the time the digital instruments are good but awkward to read or 
work with and often lack in damping.
Kees Oudesluijs
NL

Op 31-10-2012 13:51, Bob Spidell schreef:
> On a side note, some automotive diagnostics--checking generator 
> operation, for instance--require the use of 'old-fashioned' moving 
> coil voltmeters.  As far as I can tell, the cheapos from HF work fine 
> (don't know where you could even get a high-quality moving coil 
> VM--eBay, maybe).
>
> Bought a DVM from Radio Shack when I was in school almost 35 years 
> ago.  It cost $80--a princely sum for a poor college student--but it 
> helped me learn enough electronics to get my first job after 
> graduation.  Still have it, and it still works (a good Fluke, at the 
> time, would have been a couple hundred $ or more).
>
> Bob
>
>
>

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