I am a true DIY guy. Tonight I was trying to learn more about Arduino's (built a small circuit that flashed leds) .... yesterday I repaired a mig/tig welder for a neighbor (found a bad ground) ... the week before I rewired and helped install a 3 phase water heater for (amazing it draws 136 Amps! .. had to install a 200 amp feed) ... the week before I was tracing down a short in the neighbors truck ...
You get the idea ... a bit of everything ... even keep some old tube radios going and last week rebuilt a 100 year old phone ... it works!
Unfortunately, none of these jobs pay so my budget is not huge.
I had a Fluke 189. Great meter. Got it for cost about 25 years ago (did a job for the local electronics supplier). It is dying quick. Lead errors .... just goes out once in a while ... battery terminals are broken ....
So I looked at Fluke ... OUCH! Way out of my budget/
I looked at Amazon ... way toooooo many chooses. They all look the same ... same specs (or close).
I really would like an "all in one" meter.
True RMS (I have some 3 phase machines ... I use an old drive as an inverter to run them on single phase).
I do some equipment with 4-20 mA controls.
I check caps and such every so often (motor starters and such).
... I see Klein ... Kaiweets ... Venlab ... Crenova ... Astro ... Greenlee ... Ames ... literally dozens and dozens of "no name" meters ... and dozens of models.
Is any one better than another?
I am thinking $50 - $100 range. ... heck, I see AstrolAI has a true RMS meter for $17.59 and one that looks like a phone for $36.54 (both got 4.6/5 on Amazon).
Just looking to see if anyone has used some of these or can tell me if one is better than the rest.
Thanks guys! Maybe I need to rethink this. I am 60. I had a Beckman for years and years ... then this Fluke lasted about 25. Maybe I should think about investing in another Fluke .... might outlast me
That said, thanks for pointing me to the list ... I missed that one in my search.
I have a Simpson that I bought years ago. I use it when I need precise measurements. I also have a couple of cheap Harbor Freight ones for day to day use and when someone wants to borrow a meter. The cheap one is fine for general use and is not a big loss if a mistake is made. I get out the Simpson if I need to check a reference voltage, but the cheap one is fine to see if things are reasonable values.
I wouldn't recommend the cheap one as your only meter.
My advice: Fix the Fluke you have. The 187/189 model is one of the best Fluke ever made.
Spurious lead alarms are very likely due to dirty "A" and "mA" input jacks. The circuit that detects the presence of a plug in the jack is very high impedance, meaning that a small amount of contamination can trigger it. Use a cotton bud moistened with isopropyl alcohol to clean the two current jacks. Repeat until the buds come out clean. Then use a clean dry one to absorb excess alcohol. A blast or two of compressed air is good as well.
New battery contact sets for Fluke 187/189 can be had from eBay for $20.
I've been using this one at work for about a year and a half I think, and bought another for home. It's the CL101C with AC/DC amp clamp. Not the one in the bottom preview. The Amp clamp works okay but you want at least 50mA of current so you won't be using it to test individual LED's.
You might be right. I love this meter ... it has never let me down till now (20 plus years). I will try cleaning the leads and look at replacing the battery terminal.
