Advice for a budget multimeter

[JohnW2]

Maybe, I should have asked why he has squandered £6 on a meter that was not capable of measuring "mains" voltages.

Maybe you should, but perhaps you were trying to make the point that the OP had the same misunderstanding' about the meaning of 'low voltage' as do the vast majority of the general population

As for the meter, I can't recall having seen a cheap multimeter which is not capable of measuring "mains voltage", and I've certainly never owned a multimeter which couldn't!

Kind Regards, John

 

[Taylortwocities]

What I was really curious about was why he felt that he needed to

look into getting something a bit more substantial (as mentioned above) if I go anywhere near "the mains".

I guess he bought the Rolson meter from Halfords, and that is more than adequate for a bit of basic home electrical work, including "the mains".

 

[JohnW2]

What I was really curious about was why he felt that he needed to

look into getting something a bit more substantial (as mentioned above) if I go anywhere near "the mains".

I guess he bought the Rolson meter from Halfords, and that is more than adequate for a bit of basic home electrical work, including "the mains".

Indeed - but maybe he has been worried by comments suggesting that the cheap meters come with test leads which are not safe to use on "the mains"?

Kind Regards, John

 

[Taylortwocities]

I would hope that a test meter (capable of testing voltages up to 500volts) would have suitable protection for the meter itself, and any accessories that are supplied with it.

 

[JohnW2]

I would hope that a test meter (capable of testing voltages up to 500volts) would have suitable protection for the meter itself, and any accessories that are supplied with it.

I would also hope so (and I have spent many using meters with leads like that on "the mains" {and much higher DC voltages}), but we appear to be in an era of 'evolved concerns'

Kind Regards, John

 

[elsmandino]

What I was really curious about was why he felt that he needed to

look into getting something a bit more substantial (as mentioned above) if I go anywhere near "the mains".

I guess he bought the Rolson meter from Halfords, and that is more than adequate for a bit of basic home electrical work, including "the mains".

Indeed - but maybe he has been worried by comments suggesting that the cheap meters come with test leads which are not safe to use on "the mains"?

Kind Regards, John

Exactly that - I was under the impression that as it was cheaper, I should steer clear of using it for low voltage checking (lower voltage, compared to mains electricity, that is).

I did indeed go for this one.

http://www.halfords.com/workshop-tools/tools/hand-tools/rolson-digital-multimeter

Is the consensus, therefore, that this is a perfectly good multimeter that could be used to test mains electricity?

 

[JohnW2]

Is the consensus, therefore, that this is a perfectly good multimeter that could be used to test mains electricity?

I doubt that you'll get a 'consensus', but I'm sure that countless people (including myself) have used such meters for measuring mains-voltage electricity.

Kind Regards, John

 

[DetlefSchmitz]

It is fine. Take care not to put your fingers on the probes while measuring mains. The other problem to watch out for is that, as the meter has a high input impedance it can give a misleadingly high reading when no mains is actually hard connected. (This might be capacitively coupled from an adjacent cable.)

This is the benefit of 2 terminal voltage testers. These include an internal resistor across the terminals which prevent these misleading readings.

 

[eveares]

Mains voltage is low voltage!!

True for an electrician, but to a electrical engineer who normally works at extra low voltages; low voltage may be considered by them as voltages in the range of a few to several volts.

 

[Spark123]

The other thing to look out for is when you have the probes connected to the wrong terminals in the meter, they can go with a bang! I can't see a cheap meter having any sort of HBC fusing in it.

I think the fuse in my fluke costs more than one of those cheap multimeters!