Is my Multi Meter faulty ?

ShiWarrior · 17 Apr 2018 at 18:04

I dont do electronics very much
i bought a fluke meter many years ago, and i just went to use it , and the resistance is fluctuating
video :

is it supposed to be doing this ?

i know you test the connection with the two leads before switching to voltage/amps etc on what ever you need to test

its on the lowest? setting and its not "zero"

adolf hamster · 17 Apr 2018 at 19:06

do you have a known resistance to test it on?

could just be a little bit of noise when it comes to measuring what is practically 0 resistance.

ShiWarrior · 17 Apr 2018 at 19:09

something like a fuse?

PiKe · 17 Apr 2018 at 19:15

Something like a resistor :rolleyes:

lurkio · 17 Apr 2018 at 19:16

Is it broken, no

0.1 of an ohm ? ..... thats is not an issue dude

Could try changing the batteries, but using meters a lot, I would not see that as an issue at all

Diddums x · 17 Apr 2018 at 19:16

ShiWarrior said:
something like a fuse?

No, a resistor.

//side note: I'm sending all our sparkies' stuff off for calibration tomorrow. If any of them fail I'll drop you a trust. For the price of postage you could bag a nice decent Fluke with probably nothing wrong with it.

PiKe said:
Something like a resistor

Why the rolleyes?

Rroff · 17 Apr 2018 at 19:18

That is normal - even a tiny temperature fluctuation, etc. can change the resistance in a conductor.

ShiWarrior · 17 Apr 2018 at 19:28

PiKe said:
Something like a resistor

Sorry i dont do electronics
only bought it for college years

ShiWarrior · 17 Apr 2018 at 19:29

Diddums said:
No, a resistor.

//side note: I'm sending all our sparkies' stuff off for calibration tomorrow. If any of them fail I'll drop you a trust. For the price of postage you could bag a nice decent Fluke with probably nothing wrong with it.

cool, thanks a lot

Rroff said:
That is normal - even a tiny temperature fluctuation, etc. can change the resistance in a conductor.

oki, thank you

speaking of multi meters and testing,
ive changed the battery in my multi meter, only because the battery is really old (says 2012) and its testing at 8.24v (9V Duracel) im surprised its at least 8v still

Diddums x · 17 Apr 2018 at 19:38

Those 9V Duracells go on forever. If I'm not mistaken the "preppers" seem to think that those are the best for the zombie apocalypse.

Rroff · 17 Apr 2018 at 19:54

ShiWarrior said:
speaking of multi meters and testing,
ive changed the battery in my multi meter, only because the battery is really old (says 2012) and its testing at 8.24v (9V Duracel) im surprised its at least 8v still

I had a 9V in my old fluke or whatever from when I started, then quit - which wasn't the best idea in the long run, electronic engineering back in like 1999-2000 or so still working fine when I replaced the multimeter in mid 2016 (the contacts in the mode selector were going).

EDIT: wow its still reading 9.31v (though not sure how long for if it was put under load heh) - at least a 17 year old battery. IIRC you get 3 different types of 9v battery with slightly different voltages.

EDIT2: Yeah some have a nominal voltage of 8.4 and some 9.6 - so your one is probably nominal 8.4 rather than 9v.

ShiWarrior · 17 Apr 2018 at 20:14

wow
ill keep it as a spare then

Feek · 17 Apr 2018 at 20:29

Diddums said:
No, a resistor.

//side note: I'm sending all our sparkies' stuff off for calibration tomorrow. If any of them fail I'll drop you a trust. For the price of postage you could bag a nice decent Fluke with probably nothing wrong with it.

Nice offer - Can I be number two in line please?

Diddums x · 17 Apr 2018 at 20:30

Feek said:
Nice offer - Can I be number two in line please?

Sure

Agent_Smith357 · 17 Apr 2018 at 20:55

If you do get a new one OP put the old one up on eBay as vintage Fluke gear is very collectable.

cyber69 · 17 Apr 2018 at 21:13

Resistance is futile

Blinkz · 17 Apr 2018 at 21:54

Diddums said:
Sure

Third if there is any chance what-so-ever that three meters come up faulty my current meter is literally the cheapest thing ever.

Rroff · 17 Apr 2018 at 22:06

Blinkz said:
Third if there is any chance what-so-ever that three meters come up faulty my current meter is literally the cheapest thing ever.

My current one is a fairly cheap VC97 clone of a Fluke 15B+ (though I don't think Fluke was the first to make this design) - actually outperforms the Fluke in most cases :|

(Though from a quick google looks like the 15B+ wasn't one of Flukes better offerings being aimed at cheaper markets).

EDIT: Might be wrong about the Fluke model - I binned it 2 years ago so can't check - looks like the 15B+ is a newer variant but model number was something along those lines.

Diddums x · 17 Apr 2018 at 22:09

Rroff said:
My current one is a fairly cheap VC97 clone of a Fluke 15B+ (though I don't think Fluke was the first to make this design) - actually outperforms the Fluke in most cases :|

Is it calibrated? I have very little idea how these things work, I just know that our sparkies use a Fluke which costs just shy of £600. As a mechanical, I could probably fill my entire toolkit for that amount of money :eek:

Rroff · 17 Apr 2018 at 22:10

Not calibrated - both are as they were out the box.