Own A Budget Multimeter? Can You Trust It? These Might Help... - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / beginners

author: Majorassburn
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: February 05, 2024, 04:05:54 pm
content: Owners of commonly available budget digital multimeters from China, Harbor Freight, Craftsman, Lowes, Amazon, AliExpress and many other outlets, may not have gotten meters that are accurate within reason.I know because I have owned many of these "budget" digital multimeters over the years and found huge variances in their accuracy.They aren't worth the cost of lab calibration even if they could be re-calibrated (most are not capable of re-calibration). so, what do you do?Well, I designed and hand-crafted a few testing modules that can affordably verify the accuracy of AC & DC VOLTS & OHMS functions without breaking the bank!I sold a number of them on eBay and have received 100% favorable feedback from all who bought them.They may not win any electronic product packaging beauty contests but they absolutely work and they work well!So, if you have a $50-$100 (or, a much more expensive) Digital Multimeter and just want to check its important functions, take a look at what I have listed at the following links and see if any of these testers could help you to trust your meter.I appreciate feedback, suggestions, criticisms and product advice. Thanks in advance.BASIC OHMS TESTER:https://www.ebay.com/itm/285677471852FLUKE 87 OHMS TESTER:https://www.ebay.com/itm/28567747489410 VOLT REFERENCE:https://www.ebay.com/itm/285677479706AC VOLTAGE REFERENCE:https://www.ebay.com/itm/285677482774TRMS Calibrator:https://www.ebay.com/itm/285689010348DIY CAL LAB:https://www.ebay.com/itm/285677485439Thanks for looking,Major A.

author: Doctorandus_P
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 05, 2024, 05:02:17 pm
content: Some years ago when the craze happened, I bought two AN8009 multimeters. A few months later I bought a bunch of 1k 1% resistors, and wanted to check whether the were within tolerance, and to my surprise they were not. It's unfortunately quite common for the chinese to sell out of tolerance (or mislabeled) resistors (other electronic stuff) so I did some more checks. When measuring the same resistors with my Wavetek Meterman 35XP all the resistors were within tolerance. After a bunch of fiddling I discovered that when fiddling with the dial on the aneng meter, the measured resistance was suddenly within tolerance. Then rotating the dial a bit and turn it back to resistance, and it would be hit or miss whether it measured correctly or not. That was enough for me to throw those meters in the garbage and buy a Brymen.

author: Gyro
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 05, 2024, 08:27:21 pm
content: Effective double post of OP's ebay listings...https://www.eevblog.com/forum/buysellwanted/a-few-cheap-ballpark-testers-i-sell/https://www.eevblog.com/forum/buysellwanted/fs-diy-calibration-devices-(ac-dc-ohms)/This isn't the Buy/Sell/Wanted section, this is for beginners looking for solid advice, not sales pitches - this is feedback.

author: BeBuLamar
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 05, 2024, 08:52:49 pm
content: If I have a $100 multimeter I would be confident that my readings are reasonably accurate and wouldn't need the stuff that the OP sells. If my multimeter is less $50 then I would end up paying more for things to check it.

author: Halcyon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 05, 2024, 10:29:48 pm
content: Quote from: Majorassburn on February 05, 2024, 04:05:54 pmYep. Maybe not double-posting your own ebay store links across multiple areas of the forum, simply for promotion.

author: Majorassburn
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: February 06, 2024, 12:50:11 am
content: I'm new to this forum and didn't realize that my earlier posts were still alive. I tried to remove them but the system doesn't allow me to. If you want to delete all my posts, go ahead. I understand that double posting is frowned upon everywhere. I am not trying to do cheap sales pitches as some have alluded, either. I was only trying to let some less wealthy budget DMM buyers know that there are alternatives to spending thousands on high-end DMM's or hundreds on cal labs. Sorry if I offended anyone in the process of trying to share my own experiences here.

author: Solder_Junkie
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 06, 2024, 10:04:24 am
content: The more important point with all multimeters and especially budget ones, is the safety issue. For a spectacular demonstration of a "reliable" Chinese multimeter, see (at about 1 min 30 seconds onwards):https://youtu.be/OEoazQ1zuUM?feature=sharedSJ