Amprobe AM-570 (or something similar) - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / testgear

author: Prof. Sparkles
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: July 06, 2014, 11:49:23 pm
content: I can't seem to find any reviews on this rather new multimeter (Released earlier this year). It seems to have agreat feature setfor a price of ~110$ and has anything I'm especially looking for.Which is:- Accurate (0.5-1%) low voltage measurements(which it does but I'm trying to verify with reviews)- Temperature- A mode to safely discharge high voltage main caps (seems to be possible with the LoZ input according to Dave in his recent TV repair 2 part video.)- uA range (not that important but would be very useful, working a lot with MCUs)Did anyone use this meter so far and can tell if it does what it promises and if it has any major flaws?If the AM-570 is not recommendable, is there any other meter that fulfills the options above in an under 150€price range?I was thinking about the Fluke 116 but it seems like I get the same or even more with the Amprobe.Be aware that I'm a learning noob and this will be my first proper DMM. While I might not need a full blown DMM right now, I definitely will in the future (going to study something very much EE related) and I want something that lasts and doesn't lack futures that I will need later on.And another thing, does anyone know where to get this bloody thing in europe for a price that is atleast close to the 100-130$ on the US market?So far I only found smaller versions of the AM-5x0 range for around 150-160€, I don't even want to know for what price they would have sold the AM-570.

author: Lightages
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 07, 2014, 12:31:30 am
content: I don't think the AM570 is a bad buy, but more made for industrial work than electronics. The accuracy specs are actually pretty bad.At the top of your price limit, probably above with shipping and VAT:http://www.tme.eu/en/details/bm829/portable-digital-multimeters/brymen/#or less pricy but without temperature and low Z input but a really good meter:http://www.tme.eu/en/details/bm867/portable-digital-multimeters/brymen/bm867s/#IMHO you would be better off making a set of leads with a resistor for discharging capacitors instead of looking specifically for a multimeter that has a low Z input. For temperature, buy a cheap temperature meter from our friend Franky (iloveelectronics on the forum) here on his ebay store, and or buy your multimeters from him. He is highly respected here and will take care of you. Better yet, PM him and he will probably give you a better price than you pay on his ebay store.http://stores.ebay.com/99centHobbies?_rdc=1

author: Wytnucls
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 07, 2014, 12:41:36 am
content: AM-570 reported by one owner on this site as being slow on auto-ranging and capacitance measurement.True RMS bandwidth up to 1kHz only.If you don't mind second-hand, Gossen 18s come up regularly on German eBay and sell for about 100 Euros and above.List of features over here:https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/multimeter-spreadsheet/

author: Prof. Sparkles
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: July 07, 2014, 01:23:26 am
content: @LightagesThanks a lot for recommending the Brymen meters, they look like an excellent match for me. The DC accuarcy does indeed look really bad on the Amprobe one in comparison.And thanks a TON for mentioning that store, I've been looking for an ebay store like for ages!That 9$ temp meter looks like it would do an excellent job. The only reason why I liked to have temp in my DMM was that I couldn't find a reasonably priced somewhat accurate temp meter at local stores.Regarding discharging, I just feel really uncomfortable with just using a resistor. I tinker a lot in home electronics and like to repair things. I would like to be absolutely safe about discharging the main caps in electronics with integrated PSUs, I just wouldn't trust a tool that I made myself and doesn't give me any feedback when I'm safe to touch the caps. Getting to see how the voltage is dropping to 0 seems like a really neat thing to have.Though if I'm just being to cautious about this let me know, at the moment I just wait for hours and press the on button of the device a lot while having is disconnected. So pretty much anything is better than that I guess.@Wytnuclsthanks for that suggestion, I will have a look at that meter

author: Lightages
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 07, 2014, 01:38:51 am
content: Yes, over cautious.A 10k 5 watt resistor with some soldered test leads will cost you all of $5. It is not any less safe that with a multimeter. Just make sure you shrink wrap everything and you will be safe. Well you will be safe if you follow safe practices. No multimeter of any type will save an idiot.

author: Prof. Sparkles
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: July 07, 2014, 12:23:57 pm
content: Alright, then I might really overthink my specs.Is there any good built guide and saftey guidelines here for discharging and handling high voltage caps or even PSUs in general? I read quite a bit of material that I found with google but that was eitherextremlyin-depth and several tenth of pages long or extremely brief. I still don't think I know enough about this topic.