I echo what Eike has said. I own and use an older 85 (also gave one to
a son to take to University). It works in all conditions including,
something especially important one would think to this group, in the
presence of a lot of RF.
The low resistance range has been invaluable. The sensitive AC
range allowed me with ease to tell if 240 VAC water heating elements
were operating by measuring the voltage across the straps going to the
elements. (Not between!) Recently, I used the capacitance feature to
verify that a control line was almost certainly open at its far end
(that was a long way up a hot tower).
Good tools pay! I can raise penny pinching to an art form, but I
use Klein safety harnesses, HP calculator, and Fluke meter. 73 Mac
N8TT
P.S. My answer to the question is to buy something in the 80 series.
--
J. Mc Laughlin - Michigan USA
Home:


"Eike Lantzsch, ZP6CGE" wrote in message
...
Kyle2 wrote:
A cheap digital one from Maplin or RS will be just as accurate,
save loads
by not paying for a name.

"CLinT" wrote in message
...
I am considering purchasing a Fluke meter to do some
alignments & repairs here.
Can anyone reccomend a Fluke meter model or anothere brand model?

73 &
thanks for all replies,
CLinT

remove ... "SO" to reply


I prefer a Fluke anyway. This is why:
When measuring resistances in a cabinet with a running Variable
Frequency Drive I got nothing but house numbers with the feature
rich no-name-multimeter, that I was using by then. When using
a Fluke I got correct readings. The reason: The cheap MM was
sensitive to the RFI, which the VFD generated - the Fluke was
undisturbed by the massive RFI. That was the model 77 which
is old now. But you may find a used one as a bargain.
If you want to measure with strong RF-fields present then there
is a difference and you get what you pay for. TANSTAAFL.
If you go for bench meters also konsider used Keithleys and
BBC Metrawatt.

Kind regards, Eike

Doug McLaren wrote:

In article FQ7vc.259$vK4.176@newsfe5-win, Kyle2 wrote:

| A cheap digital one from Maplin or RS will be just as accurate, save loads
| by not paying for a name.

If you're on a tight budget, these things are hard to beat --

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...70&pricetype=S

Yes, three bucks. They won't hold a candle to a Fluke, but for doing
simple voltages or resistances, they're hard to beat. They're
accurate (at least the ones I've tested) within 1 or 2%, at least for
DC and AC voltage (I don't expect them to do accurate RMS readings on
non sinusoidal signals, however) and resistances.

They're cheap enough that you can dedicate them to a given operation
-- you need to know the voltage on your power battery all the time?
No problem -- just slap one of these on it.

Personally, I own like ten of these things, scattered throughout the
house and car, and a few better multi-meters for when I need them.



Right! They even come with the 9v battery included and they have a
transistor
test function, to boot. When you spend 3 dollars on a DMM, you're not
looking
for precision results. And you don't need a precision meter for most
measurements.
As a secondary meter, these 3 dollar things cannot be beat. When I
needed to
do 6 simultaneous measurements ( a DC-DC converter I made with dual
outputs -
I needed to measure voltage and current on the input, and voltage and
current on
both outputs) I bought 4 of them. They were more accurate than I
thought they
would be - and more accurate than I needed.

Doug McLaren wrote:

In article FQ7vc.259$vK4.176@newsfe5-win, Kyle2 wrote:

| A cheap digital one from Maplin or RS will be just as accurate, save loads
| by not paying for a name.

If you're on a tight budget, these things are hard to beat --

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...70&pricetype=S

Yes, three bucks. They won't hold a candle to a Fluke, but for doing
simple voltages or resistances, they're hard to beat. They're
accurate (at least the ones I've tested) within 1 or 2%, at least for
DC and AC voltage (I don't expect them to do accurate RMS readings on
non sinusoidal signals, however) and resistances.

They're cheap enough that you can dedicate them to a given operation
-- you need to know the voltage on your power battery all the time?
No problem -- just slap one of these on it.

Personally, I own like ten of these things, scattered throughout the
house and car, and a few better multi-meters for when I need them.



Right! They even come with the 9v battery included and they have a
transistor
test function, to boot. When you spend 3 dollars on a DMM, you're not
looking
for precision results. And you don't need a precision meter for most
measurements.
As a secondary meter, these 3 dollar things cannot be beat. When I
needed to
do 6 simultaneous measurements ( a DC-DC converter I made with dual
outputs -
I needed to measure voltage and current on the input, and voltage and
current on
both outputs) I bought 4 of them. They were more accurate than I
thought they
would be - and more accurate than I needed.

Hi Jim

Yes, I also prefer the Fluke meters. I own a bench and handheld model.

They have a lifetime warranty and are a good investment new or used.

Many good models available on ebay from the big tech sellers at a good price.

judy


James wrote:

Fluke's DMMs do cost much more than generic ones. They guarantee accuracy
that the others can't touch. I've always been amused that Radio Shack and
many other inexpensive DMMs don't publish accuracy specifications.

If you want something for relative measurements (peaking, etc) and hobby
use, you have a wider field available. If you use it for a living and it
*has* to work - well, my Fluke 87 has served *me* wonderfully well. But
modern IC technology has certainly made a lot of capability available for
little cost elsewhere!

Jim WB9SYN/6 (Not affiliated with Fluke)

Hi Jim

Yes, I also prefer the Fluke meters. I own a bench and handheld model.

They have a lifetime warranty and are a good investment new or used.

Many good models available on ebay from the big tech sellers at a good price.

judy


James wrote:

Fluke's DMMs do cost much more than generic ones. They guarantee accuracy
that the others can't touch. I've always been amused that Radio Shack and
many other inexpensive DMMs don't publish accuracy specifications.

If you want something for relative measurements (peaking, etc) and hobby
use, you have a wider field available. If you use it for a living and it
*has* to work - well, my Fluke 87 has served *me* wonderfully well. But
modern IC technology has certainly made a lot of capability available for
little cost elsewhere!

Jim WB9SYN/6 (Not affiliated with Fluke)

I am considering purchasing a Fluke meter to do some
alignments & repairs here.
Can anyone reccomend a Fluke meter model or anothere brand model?

Clint-

I like the idea of having a couple of those cheap meters. I keep one in my
brief case and one I take with me on trips.

For the shop, I wanted something I could depend on, so back in about 1980 I
purchased a Fluke 8020A handheld digital multimeter. Soon after that the
display darkened. I purchased an upgraded display, installed it myself, and
have had no other problems since then.

Three years ago I bought a Fluke 8012A bench model digital multimeter at a
Hamfest for $40. It looked rough and was missing its power cord and probes.
With just probes and a new cord, it appears to be working perfectly. Comparing
it with the old 8020A, readings of various voltages and precision resistors
were identical, except for a 0.01 volt difference when reading a 13.8 volt
power supply. I know that the 8020A has never been calibrated since leaving
the factory.

About a year later I bought a Fluke 8050A bench model digital multimeter in
non-working condition, for $35. This model has one more digit of resolution
than the other two meters, and has true RMS on AC. The problem turned out to
be that it had dead internal batteries, and required the batteries to act as a
voltage regulator when operated on AC. Some slightly smaller batteries from
Radio Shack made it work. Again, it appears to be working perfectly. Voltage
and resistance readings agree with both other meters. (I forget which one of
the three was 0.01 volt off on 13.8!)

The moral of the story is that here are three meters approaching 25 years of
age, that have maintained their accuracy in spite of rough handling over the
years.

I would recommend any of the three models if you can find a used one. Of
course, you may find that someone has mis-calibrated it, so you need some
assurance it is still accurate. Perhaps you can scrape together a handful of
precision resistors and use them as a "standard".

If you want a more modern meter, the latest Flukes offer auto-ranging. The
early versions sacrificed some accuracy and were slow, but I understand more
recent models are better. However, I'm not willing to spend the money for
auto-ranging when my old fixed-range meters are so good!

73, Fred, K4DII

I am considering purchasing a Fluke meter to do some
alignments & repairs here.
Can anyone reccomend a Fluke meter model or anothere brand model?

Clint-

I like the idea of having a couple of those cheap meters. I keep one in my
brief case and one I take with me on trips.

For the shop, I wanted something I could depend on, so back in about 1980 I
purchased a Fluke 8020A handheld digital multimeter. Soon after that the
display darkened. I purchased an upgraded display, installed it myself, and
have had no other problems since then.

Three years ago I bought a Fluke 8012A bench model digital multimeter at a
Hamfest for $40. It looked rough and was missing its power cord and probes.
With just probes and a new cord, it appears to be working perfectly. Comparing
it with the old 8020A, readings of various voltages and precision resistors
were identical, except for a 0.01 volt difference when reading a 13.8 volt
power supply. I know that the 8020A has never been calibrated since leaving
the factory.

About a year later I bought a Fluke 8050A bench model digital multimeter in
non-working condition, for $35. This model has one more digit of resolution
than the other two meters, and has true RMS on AC. The problem turned out to
be that it had dead internal batteries, and required the batteries to act as a
voltage regulator when operated on AC. Some slightly smaller batteries from
Radio Shack made it work. Again, it appears to be working perfectly. Voltage
and resistance readings agree with both other meters. (I forget which one of
the three was 0.01 volt off on 13.8!)

The moral of the story is that here are three meters approaching 25 years of
age, that have maintained their accuracy in spite of rough handling over the
years.

I would recommend any of the three models if you can find a used one. Of
course, you may find that someone has mis-calibrated it, so you need some
assurance it is still accurate. Perhaps you can scrape together a handful of
precision resistors and use them as a "standard".

If you want a more modern meter, the latest Flukes offer auto-ranging. The
early versions sacrificed some accuracy and were slow, but I understand more
recent models are better. However, I'm not willing to spend the money for
auto-ranging when my old fixed-range meters are so good!

73, Fred, K4DII

On 05 Jun 2004 13:50:36 GMT, (Fred McKenzie) wrote:

I am considering purchasing a Fluke meter to do some
alignments & repairs here.
Can anyone reccomend a Fluke meter model or anothere brand model?

Clint-

I like the idea of having a couple of those cheap meters. I keep one in my
brief case and one I take with me on trips.

For the shop, I wanted something I could depend on, so back in about 1980 I
purchased a Fluke 8020A handheld digital multimeter. Soon after that the
display darkened. I purchased an upgraded display, installed it myself, and
have had no other problems since then.

strange... believe I bought the 8020B already in 1980, but after a
while I had to put some paper under the pcb to push the contact harder
against the display to obtain proper reading. Still have some 8020B's
but they usually don't work properly too often.

One strange fault occurred when I tried to measure the booster voltage
in a tv set, the varistor for input protection blow, and I had to look
for some resistor-looking type. The resistance measurement wouldn't go
higher than 100-150k until the varistor was replaced

73
Jan-Martin
LA8AK

On 05 Jun 2004 13:50:36 GMT, (Fred McKenzie) wrote:

I am considering purchasing a Fluke meter to do some
alignments & repairs here.
Can anyone reccomend a Fluke meter model or anothere brand model?

Clint-

I like the idea of having a couple of those cheap meters. I keep one in my
brief case and one I take with me on trips.

For the shop, I wanted something I could depend on, so back in about 1980 I
purchased a Fluke 8020A handheld digital multimeter. Soon after that the
display darkened. I purchased an upgraded display, installed it myself, and
have had no other problems since then.

strange... believe I bought the 8020B already in 1980, but after a
while I had to put some paper under the pcb to push the contact harder
against the display to obtain proper reading. Still have some 8020B's
but they usually don't work properly too often.

One strange fault occurred when I tried to measure the booster voltage
in a tv set, the varistor for input protection blow, and I had to look
for some resistor-looking type. The resistance measurement wouldn't go
higher than 100-150k until the varistor was replaced

73
Jan-Martin
LA8AK

On Wed, 2 Jun 2004 11:15:29 -0400, "Eike Lantzsch, ZP6CGE"
wrote:

I prefer a Fluke anyway. This is why:
[snip]

They are good.

For what it is worth, I bought a big Fluke 5 1/2 digit 8520A ten or
more years back used. It is still going strong. I hardly ever use some
of its fancy features, but I do use 4-wire resistance sometimes. It is
hardly portable (rack mount size) but great on the bench.

Here's a story about its resistance to abuse:

At some flea market I once acquired some strange glass encapsulated
resistors. They were at least an inch long and very high resistance
(100Mohm or more as I recall). It occured to me I could use one or two
to make a nice HV probe. So I built a divider inside a plastic tube. I
found a HV dc/dc supply in my junk that I think was in the 1-2 kv
range. I turned it on, and tried measuring with my new probe plugged
into my Fluke. The plastic tube was clear, and to by horror, when I
touched the probe on the HV the glass resistor lit up. (I'm guessing
they were gas filled to do this on purpose, but I really have no clue
why it happened -- the voltage should not have jumped the gap in air.)

So as I see this happening in the probe, I hear the Fluke make strange
unpleasant clicking noises. I look over at my favorite meter and the
display is now in Klingon. With great sadness I power cycle the meter
and to my amazement the meter looks fine. I have never seen any
indication that anything was permanently injured. Try that with a
cheapo meter.

Not that I have anything against the cheap ones -- I have several.