And free delivery..........

http://electromarket.co.uk/product/DT830B/LCD+Digital+Multimeter+Electric+Voltage+Tester%2C+Batteries+and+Leads

Might be useful for someone.

Cheers

Dave

First questin I'd ask is"what is the voltage rating of the leads". Meter can read up to mains voltages, but will cheap leads ??.Some poor unsuspecting person might have a problem on an appliance ,and decide to check whether mains is present on the appliance. One lead in each hand,both leads not up to mains quality ,and person gets 220 V ac accross heart - cue for ambulance and visit to cardiac ward. AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE. Ok ,for car voltages, but anything more - NO NO NO

Price of a pint!

I like pints but I like multimeters too.

Which ones best?

Only one way to find out!

VWD

I would say looking at the leads, the insulation properties of plastic or rubber or any combination of such are more than sufficient to cope with measuring mains voltages.

Put a megger across the insulation and I bet you get infinity meg ohms. Think the chances of 220 v across the heart is highly remote unless you hold the metal part of the leads- in which case you shouldn't even be using the meter!

Edited 12 April, 201214 yr by dbayman

Bought one Going to be rewiring in a new head unit soon and I suspect all my dash gauges are wired into the current loom. I'm going to have to do the same again with the new loom, so will handy to confirm the switched live. Its usually the red one anyway as it gets swapped with yellow....

And free delivery..........

http://electromarket...eries+and+Leads

Might be useful for someone.

Cheers

Dave

Hi All

Just bought 4 for me and my mates - one thing, dont just put 4 etc in the box as it doesn't give the discount.

Use this page instead (or choose tools on the left hand side).......

http://electromarket.co.uk/category/Tools

You get 4 for £10 inc vat and delivery and they are cheaper for more.

Cheers

Dave

Have had one of these for years and it has been great, no problems at mains voltage and seems very accurate too. Came as part of a tool wallet I think from RS.

Only issue I have had is sometimes when the switch is in the off possition the unit can come on (Slightly dodgy witch) but fair play the unit has been knocked around a bit.

I have to agree with VWD with regarding the leads. The insulation on those leads are not up to the job. Yes it's ok for ELV voltages but no way would I recommend to use it on mains voltage. As dbayman said put a megger across the insulation you would get infinity resistance but you still get infinity resistance if you feed a live bare conductor through a straw but you know that it still not right. Look at electrical tools how they designed and constructed

Look at the pics of the leads and I can tell its only single insulated, the leads are not fused and also the tips of the probes are too exposed so if your hands was to slip testing a live circuit then there is a risk of shock. Also what category rating is the tester? Is it a 1,2,3 or 4? Is there any bs/iec/ce markings? Will you get a calibration certificate with it? Prob not. Probably some cheap Chinese rubbish. I find it amazing how much people on here are willing to spend on their cars, make faster, lighter, improve the brakes, suspension then go out and buy something that's cheaper than a pint and risk their life because they got a bargain. you get what you pay for.

I'm a electrician by trade and work covers from installing new supplies from the network into customer properties , domestic,commercial and industrial, fixed wiring installation to PAT testing equipment and also responsible for organising all our electrical testers(multimeters,phase rotation meters, earth leakage testers,earth loop testers,meggers, rcd testers, PAT testers etc) for calibration by a independent calibration test centre

Have a read on this site. Yes it's Australian but the basics are the same

http://www.electroline.com.au/articles/26521-The-ABCs-of-multimeter-safety

Just bear in mind it only takes around 50 milliamps to kill somebody this is why I always had an issue with 100 milliamps rcd main-switches. You could be dead if the earth fault is less than 100 milliamps which is why I'm glad 17th edition boards are now industry standard

+1 Preston334. As an old instructor of mine used to say "Volts jolts, mills kills".

That said, I think that the little multimeter would be ideal for anyone looking for 12V. Just be sure to keep it away from any high voltage stuff in the car, like the ignition circuits.

Can any of the sparkys recommend an alternative cheap mutlimeter?

Can any of the sparkys recommend an alternative cheap mutlimeter?

Rather than look at a cheap multimeter, look for something by a reputable manufacturer. Fluke, robin, megger, kew techNik

I got a similar looking one as part of a tacky cheap argos wee tool box on offer years ago for £9.99 and had a soldering iron etc in it too....... never been used have no idea how to use it but having read this I doubt I would ever use it on anything more than a car.

I got a similar looking one as part of a tacky cheap argos wee tool box on offer years ago for £9.99 and had a soldering iron etc in it too....... never been used have no idea how to use it but having read this I doubt I would ever use it on anything more than a car.

It be good just for that job checking for switched lives, blown fuses etc but as mention By skodacarman keep it well away from the ignition circuits or anything drawing a high current as the insulation on the leads might not be up to the job.

Can any of the sparkys recommend an alternative cheap mutlimeter?

The meter quoted is probably more than adequate for most peoples needs.

It's very old tech ( it even has a transistor tester) that's why it's cheap. Old tech doesn't necessarily mean no good. I have several old meters that are more than adequate for checking batteries/mains and making resistance/continuity measurements. No multimeter is much use for checking high voltage ignition circuits which are pulsed anyway. You would need to use a special high voltage probe and would be better off using an oscilloscope.

If you are in any doubt about the leads, when checking the mains, you can always wear a pair of rubber gloves ! You'd want a pair of them anyway if you are going to handle HV ignition cicuits - I say this as some-one who used to build my own electronic ignitions in the 70s and fit them to my cars that had an HT coil and contacts. That was the Engine management system in those days!!!!