Looking for a decent digital meter

[HVACRSA]

I am looking at getting a new digtal meter. Can anyone suggest a decent one at a affordable price? If that is possible!

[NoNickName]

you mean digital manifold? I've seen yellow jacket manifolds on the ebay for a good bargain...

[Reefer1]

I would highly recommend Fluke, if it is available. Even the bottom spec meters are excellent and very reliable.
Does depend on the type of equipment you work on, I find it helpfull to try it out especially if you are working on Invertor PCB's or similar.

Gotta love purchasing new tools!, its what gets me up in the morning...

[superswill]

fluke fluke fluke!!!!!!

[chemi-cool]

Fluke is fine but you can also buy TES for the same quality but a smaller price.

I use them for many years.

http://www.tes.com.tw/indexe.htm

[HVACRSA]

Thanks for advice so far. I mainly work on house/office type airconditioning units (Splits, Multi-V's etc). Will mainly use it for testing PC Boards, Compressors and other basic uses.

[dsp]

I would go Fluke!!

[Ferdx]

Flukes are they way to go, any electrician worth his salt in Australia will have one. 1 major advantage of my fluke is that it only has 2 holes for the probes, ensuring that no apprentice will blow it up trying to measure amps(and yes its happened to me).:mad:

[dchappa21]

Yep u can't go wrong with Fluke...

I just found one on a roof last week in it's pouch :DIt was only a 322 amp clamp but it made my week.

[hwebb54]

Fieldpiece has been good so far. I have a sc77 clamp meter. The 76 I had before stopped amping so ill let you know if this 77 has any flaws in the future. LOL

[djbe]

Flukes are they way to go, any electrician worth his salt in Australia will have one. 1 major advantage of my fluke is that it only has 2 holes for the probes, ensuring that no apprentice will blow it up trying to measure amps(and yes its happened to me).:mad:

I bet you were'nt holding the meter in your hand while your boss was metering something out when it blew up though:mad:

Happened to me when I was learning the trade, he laughed, I sh*t myself, the meter exploded!!

[Tesla]

Yes Fluke are the best for safety and accuracy - I have mistakenly had the meter on the ohms and put 240V across the probes, the meter beeps and didn't blow up like when I did it with another brand. The resolution is generally second to none. In writing that I must recomend you look at the KYORITSU Kew Mate Model 2001 - it's even better. It fits in your pocket and has a fork tong (small up to 60A) that fits between all those wires. Just search on google and buy online for the best price. I think I paid about AUS$200 for the last one.

[weagle]

get a Fluke 902 and stop looking

[Sarcasticmaster]

UEI DL389 with the extension hook. True RMS and decent price.

[wooleybull]

Fluke is the only way to go, especially if you work on daikin equipment they make a meter in australia for HVAC

[paul_h]

Fluke.

I went through so many cheap meters before. Yes I sometimes buy cheap gear like some digital/electronic gear like tools or whatever I can buy cheap on ebay, internet, local shops etc. As I constantly lose things, break things anyway.
I got sick of buying new cheap-ish multimeters everytime I dropped them or connected them wrong (ie left on ohms settings and put probes against mains).
In the end I bought an old second hand fluke 87III from USA ebay for $80.
I've had that for 7 years now, always in my tool bag thrown around, dropped, connected to mains while left on ohms or uF occasionally, it's still going fine. Way better than those new $80 multimeters ever faired.
Don't want secondhand or pay the price of a new fluke?
Well fluke make their mulitmeters in china now. I don't know how good they are, but of course it's easy enough to buy direct. www.dealextreme.com sell lots of china gear, and sell the flukes direct. dealextreme is fairly reputable, I buy all my knives, small torches, headlamp torches, solder, heatshrink and other gear from there all the time.
Prices in $USA but postage free. http://www.dealextreme.com/search.dx/search.fluke

[Magoo]

Definitly Fluke catIII, RMS if you can afford it.

[Deniver45]

I am looking at getting a new digtal meter. Can anyone suggest a decent one at a affordable price? If that is possible!
FieldPiece ( www.fieldpiece.com (http://www.fieldpiece.com) ) is the ONLY digital meter that I know of that is made especially for us HVAC tech's = SC77 ( blue colored backlit display for dark spaces ), the SC76 meter does not have a backlit display.

It is accurate and I have never heard of one "blowing" like some flukes I have heard of.

The meter is fused and tells you when the battery is low. They also have a case now with a built in magnet, to hang it around.

You can set the dial at "MFD" to check microfarids for all your capacitors and know if they are good or not in a flash.

It has a clamp on amp meter just like Fluke, and it has VAC, DC and all the goodies Fluke does. It has a built in voltage detector to 1000v.

I have seen them on ebay for under $150 NEW.

What's $150 for something you do every day? SURE FLUKE IS GREAT but OVER PRICED as they get.

Besides, are you an electrician or an HVAC tech?

good luck.......

"never assume it is only one problem"


I bought a set of Fluke clamp on leads for my SC77 and they were $80 at Baker Brothers. They give me a good price.

[Aircondmech]

Fluke 116 has a temperature function, and using a field piece pipe clamp i find it very useful.

But next meter i would go for a field piece hvac meter.

[Start the Bench]

Get the fluke 902. I outfitted mine with the temperature probe adaptor. This tool now replaces three meters. The multimeter, temperature meter and amp clamp. I wish it measured DC amps and had a non contact voltage indicator, but it still the best one I have seen so far. The fieldpieces are nice too, but I didn't like that buzzing sound they make when you are checking voltage.

[MikeHolm]

I still have a Fluke 8020A that I had in electronic school 29 years ago and it works great. Got a newer one with RMS and shows waveforms. Great stuff.

[charlie patt]

if you have not gessed by know stick with a fluke durable splashproof i do find the tongs a bit wide if in a tight board but it just means walking to the van and get another fluke, fluke yellow jacket snap on its worth the money, on a recent kit out of a van be bought javac vac and reclaim reefco gauges and a cheap meature what a bloody waste i should have known better

[marc5180]

I've just bought a fluke 116 but yet to use it.

It's a true RMS meter and with it and can test capacitors, diodes, flame sensors(millivolts) and also has a temperature function.

[mikeref]

I've just bought a fluke 116 but yet to use it.

It's a true RMS meter and with it and can test capacitors, diodes, flame sensors(millivolts) and also has a temperature function.
Yep, old post but it appears we all like Fluke. I use 114 but also have 117.

[Ashwin123]

I've just bought an Amprobe ACD-14 TRMS-PLUS. Really decent price and it gives you two reading at the same time. The only deception so far has been the temperature probe it reads only up to +16C (when minimum is -20C) but so far I am happy with it.

[Bones]

been using fieldpiece meters for a while; currently using http://www.fieldpiece.com.au/view_prod.php?prod_no=HS36 pretty much covers everything you need.

good thing is they are expandable through accessory heads if you like that... i mainly use it as it is to check volts, amps, capacitors and temps with thermocouple.

[frank]

Interesting link below

http://fluke.informationstore.net/efulfillment.asp?publication=10720-eng