Decent digital voltmeter?

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bamberg

New Member
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I want to buy a digital voltmeter but looking at customer reviews, so many of them seem to be crap and fall apart before they’re taken out of the box, or they fail to function. Can anyone recommend a worthwhile one, not too expensive ?
 
Reading user reviews isn't always a good idea.
As far as what you're looking for, I would go to ebay and pick one you like the look of and buy it. If you don't like any of those, look at Maplin or even R-S.
That lot will give you a range in price from a fiver to five hundred quid. You get what you pay for.
Obviously the top named devices; AVO, Fluke and so on will be out of you price range.
I have three DVMs, two cheapy ones which do me fine, if I drop one or break it then OK, just get another one. The third one is an expensive professional one which doesn't go far from my workbench leave alone dangling from an open bonnet.
 
brian47 said:
Reading user reviews isn't always a good idea.
As far as what you're looking for, I would go to ebay and pick one you like the look of and buy it. If you don't like any of those, look at Maplin or even R-S.
That lot will give you a range in price from a fiver to five hundred quid. You get what you pay for.
Obviously the top named devices; AVO, Fluke and so on will be out of you price range.
I have three DVMs, two cheapy ones which do me fine, if I drop one or break it then OK, just get another one. The third one is an expensive professional one which doesn't go far from my workbench leave alone dangling from an open bonnet.
Click to expand...
AVO and Fluke are handy for testing electrically initiated explosive devices, but I have been happy with a cheap maplin multimeter for years now.
 
whats your budget.

cant remember what my cheapy one is (Ill have alook later, but ive had it a while, so its prolly been superceded) but it was £50.
my Fluke one had a 2 on the beginning of it, :)
If you decide to go Fluke, i thinky you can get the base model for just over £100, but please go somehere reputable, there are quite a few fluke knockoffs floating around on the likes of bay-of-E, that vary from innacurate to downright dangerous if you use them on mains.
propper fused test leads cost upwards of £15 (not a feature of many cheap units)
 
had a fluke 73 until it got stolen, was the best meter I ever used. then someone gave me a much higher spec one, does loads of stuff, but would still go back to the 73.

it's a nice simple auto ranging meter, reliable as anything and pretty tough too.
 
I have 2 fluke meters - brilliant bits of kit, highly recommend them :)

And they do volts... if you just want a voltmeter... they just do a hell of a lot more too :p
 
Sorry about my lack of clarity as to what I need. I just want to be able to check my vehicle's batteries, not mount anything on the dash, etc. The simpler the device, the better.
 
I use a Fluke 8508A or actually 2 at work every day, but they are probably out of your price range they are approximately £6250 each, for car work I just use a dmm like the one that is maplin code n58u, £20 ,although mine is much older..
If you can afford it a fluke is much better, but then I'm biased as I calibrate the equipment which calibrates the 8508As
The Q
 
bamberg said:
Sorry about my lack of clarity as to what I need. I just want to be able to check my vehicle's batteries, not mount anything on the dash, etc. The simpler the device, the better.
Click to expand...

if its just for that, spend £50+ you should be ok, if you can,get some benchmarks against a calibrated unit, I know my cheepo is 0.5V up on the actual voltage, which is significant on a 12V system.
 
If I were you I would make sure I buy an auto ranging meter. Much more convenient to use as it selects the correct range which suits the voltage yer measuring. I've got a fluke multimeter too but they're likely to get stolen. Ere's a cheaper one which is just as good. It has a lot more than yer after (I assume a basis volt meter) but things like resistance help with fault finding and ac volts is useful for home electrics.

Uni-Trend UT60A Autoranging with PC Interface Digital Multimeter | Maplin
 
If it's just to check Battery voltage get one pf these. for less than a fiver

Auto Xs Car Maintenance Battery Voltage Tester 12v/24v Dual Voltage NEW | eBay

$_35.JPG
 
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