I am a student at a technical school and hope to eventually become an apprentice and obtain an E2. I need to purchase a multimeter for school and don't know the first thing about them. I would like to purchase a unit that will be useful to me in the future, one that I will not outgrow. Can anyone please give me some recommendations on units that are reasonably priced, but have the kind of quality that I won't outgrow. I am not going to put down a price range because I really don't have one. I don't want to go overboard with this, but I want to be happy in the future. Thanks.
buy a fluke nobout the best
i have a fluke 87 III, it has about everything you will ever need, they cost between $350 to $400
i also have a greenlee voltage and continuity tester and a amp probe that has voltage, ohms and a clamp on amp meter i think it was a little over a $100 it would also suit you for a while i used mine for yrs before i got the fluke
i also have a fluke clamp on ampmeter that i paid about a $150 for and it comes in handy alot of times,
there are alot of meters on the market i always try to buy a fluke and remember if you are going to be doing this for a long time you might as well spend the money in the begining. look it up on the web you will find alot of sites and check around on prices sears also carries fluke and GB now along with craftsmen meters that aren't that expensive and look similar to flukes
[This message has been edited by jlhmaint (edited 09-18-2002).]
Depends on the use.My first meter was a fluke 12 with the V check option a great bench meter that has a clamp on attachment.I have three meters a fluke 36 clamp on good to 600 amps but only 200 ohm so its no good for coils or resistors but great for motors and switch gear.A t5 reads up to 200amps and 1000 ohms but again not enough for some coils,resistors.If your still new the fluke 12 will cover your butt in a 600v panel because of the Volt Check option and is good to 10,000 ohms.The only PITA is the clamp on part and the fact that it can pick ip induced voltages in long runs and lock you out of the OHMS scale.Cant win i guess?
Yep, get fluke. I have a T5-600(600 volts).
I like it because its small, and it holds one lead out for you so you can check with other lead. you can changeleads to alligator clips. its also auto ranging for AC/DC. not good for megging. I just scored a 1000V/10megohm crank type megger for $50 on D-bay (:O) ( hey, Im not advertising), I would check there for a good deal. I got a brand new fluke T5 for about $50
fibes,
The Fluke 111 or 112. About $150. All the meter you'll need for a long time, and Fluke quality.
Cliff
Must endorse Sean's comments about the Fluke T5-600, I own one myself and I would not go to any job without it.
The current 'fork', makes all the difference and with it being a Fluke instrument, it has got to be good, with regard to safety.
But, what you should check when purchasing any test equipment, especially if you are using it to measure mains voltages, is the safety category, this is referenced to
IEC 1010 and is normally given as Cat I, Cat II or Cat III, the higher the better.
Also, the higher the input resistance of the meter, the better, as it will not "load" the circuit under test and give misleading results.
What is it that you want to use your meter for now(at the moment) and in the future?.
http://www.fluke.com/products/sections.asp?AGID=6&SID=9 here is flukes web page if you click on model and specs for individual models it will give you a price if you don't see a model go to search and model you will find the T-5 that way also
Looks like the Flukes have it here but I use a Greenlee with the anolog display on top,catches quick events a DMM normally misses. Got it at Lowes for around $100 and it is Cat 2&3 rated. Can't remember the model number.
http://www.greenlee.textron.com/products/testcat.html here is greenlee's site, spkjpr they do have some nice stuff one of my meters is a greenlee and i have the greenlee slug buster set also.
It is the same with Fluke and handheld multimeters. I've had one of the original 8020A models since 1979, and it still works fine, but have graduated to more sophisticated versions. Like Greenlee punches, they too are the absolute best hands down—end of story.
For use on power circuits, cheap imitations can be death traps. The intallation/overvoltage categrories in the IEC EN61010-1 standard are very serious business—to the point of saving tradesfolk from grisly deaths and injuries using portable electrical-measuring instruments around AC-power systems.
As many of the others have said, you won't go far wrong with Fluke. A high-impedance input doesn't load the circuit, but the only thing to watch is that in some cases the high-Z input can result in some head-scratching due to capacitive coupling, e.g. reading a considerable voltage on a wire which isn't actually connected to anything!
Although digital seems to reign supreme for many people these days, I still like a good analog meter for much basic electrical work. I have a trusty Simpson 260 which I would heartily recommend.
I agree with the crowd here about getting a Fluke but coming from a different perspective. I bought a Tektronix TX1 and was satisfied at first. I chose it because I liked their o'scopes and figured the DMM would be just as good. Then the darn thing started 'crashing' on me when using the backlight. Now I am just kind of waiting for the final crash and I am not too inclined to send it in for repair vs. just doing what I should of done at first which was to buy a Fluke.
It's fluke for me! I have one (87) that survived falling off the bosses truck doing 65 MPH over 7 years ago. Fortunately it was stored in their high impact case. The display went out sometime after and he gave it to me I ordered a new display from fluke took it to the local meter shop and had it calibrated and had the display installed. It has been working great ever since.
Wirewiz
Fluke T-5-1000...
I woulda got a T-5-600, but the supplier didn't have any! I've never worked on anything above 480V!
My two gripes are lack of resolution (no tenths of a volt or autoranging in scale) and limited to #2 wire in the current slot (I'd like to be able to measure 200A and up to 250KCM wire...).
I love the auto-off feature and the instant-beep for continuity.