Oooh, 3 of 4! - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: ecowarrior
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: February 16, 2011, 08:14:00 pm
content: If 4 is the 'ideal' number of multimeters, I may just have acquired my 3rd. My father-in-law is an electrician and was round tonight, spotted my new Amprobe and said 'why did you buy it, I've got one knocking around in the van you can have, it's in a case and everything'.Who knows what it is..... (fingers crossed it's a Fluke)

author: FreeThinker
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 16, 2011, 10:39:59 pm
content: If he is an Electrician it's very unlikely.Probably a isotech or metrix or some other mid to low range meter, all you need after all is 'hot or not' but goodluck!

author: PetrosA
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 17, 2011, 03:33:47 am
content: Quote from: FreeThinker on February 16, 2011, 10:39:59 pmI beg to differJust yesterday I tried measuring output from a 250W 12V electronic lighting transformer at 25 kHz to measure voltage drop in a row of halogen recessed lights. I'm not even sure my new U1272A was giving me a decent reading.

author: FreeThinker
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 17, 2011, 08:20:59 pm
content: Quote from: PetrosA on February 17, 2011, 03:33:47 amI have to agree, those bloody things are a menace, your normal meter just isn't fast enough, and they do the weirdest things under no load.Think an oscope is a bit over kill though

author: ecowarrior
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: February 19, 2011, 04:45:13 pm
content: Well, I've no idea what 3 of 4 will be but 4 of 4 is apparently sitting in my dad's garage (as it has done for years), and is one of these:http://www.richardsradios.co.uk/avo7.htmlMy wife WILL be pleased when I bring that home

author: FreeThinker
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 19, 2011, 05:14:35 pm
content: We had one of those when I was an apprentice, was kept in a tan leather case and only brought out when needed. Main fault finding tools were1) A bell boxas the name suggests it was a bell on a box that held the batteries and a long pair of wires2) A test lampa lamp holder with a lamp in it and short pair of wiresMost of the fault finding was carried out live and low voltage control circuits were very rare. Ever wondered why we were called 'sparkies'?Theses are quite collectible now if in good nick might make a bob or two towards a newfangled one

author: ecowarrior
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: February 19, 2011, 05:25:54 pm
content: Must find out what other electrical goodies my dad has in his garage from the days when he was a spark.....!He helped me rewire my first house many years back and true-to-form electrocuted himself on a dodgy wall socket :O) (so yeh, sparks are aptly named!!)

author: ecowarrior
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: February 27, 2011, 10:28:04 pm
content: Well, I got 3 of 4 AND 4 of 4 today - the AVO 8 is in another thread. My father-in-law gave me a Wavetek 85XT. Seems pretty good, built well, took it apart (as you do) to check the battery and so on. It doesn't appear to auto-range but it does do true RMS. Which will be useful.... when I've found out what True RMS really means

author: williefleete
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: February 28, 2011, 03:50:55 am
content: RMS is the averaged out voltage in an AC circuit and showing the voltage as if it was a DC voltagetrue RMS meters will be doing some maths before it shows on the display