Recommend me a multimeter \ VOGONS

Recommend me a multimeter

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First post, by debs3759

Posted on 2021-03-15, 15:10

debs3759 Offline

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Location: Northampton, United Kingdom

So, I dug out my old multimeter. Battery is flat, and without usable batteries it won't even measure voltages. Of course, it's a sealed unit, so I can't replace the batteries.

I want to start repairing old motherboards and graphics cards, and need to be able to measure, at a bare minimum, resistance, capacitance, voltage and current. Not sure whether I need to measure ESR when testing caps, so not sure whether I need that. I want a meter which I can change the batteries in when it becomes necessary.

What can you recommend? My budget is tight, but functionality and reliability are more important than price.

TIA

See my graphics card database at www.gpuzoo.com
Constantly being worked on. Feel free to message me with any corrections or details of cards you would like me to research and add.

Reply 1 of 4, by theoryboy

Posted on 2021-03-15, 15:34

theoryboy Offline

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No expert here, but I just bought a meter to replace my old one and I went with the UNI-T UT61E.
My reasons were : Fast Autorange , Fast continuity and because of PC connection does not go to sleep. Auto off meters have their place but my old one was pissing me off.

The Brymen BM235 or eevblogs version is probably the best meter for the money but I didn't want/need to go that high.

Reply 2 of 4, by dionb

Posted on 2021-03-15, 16:02

dionb Offline

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If budget is tight, I'd say take a look at Conrad's Voltcraft range. Their VC175 is the cheapest that does capacitance, it cost me EUR 37, and they still ship to UK. Oh, and it has a continuity beeper 😀
(add true RMS to that and you end up with the VC185 for about EUR 55)

Last edited by dionb on 2021-03-15, 16:12. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 3 of 4, by Errius

Posted on 2021-03-15, 16:09

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If your budget is tight I'd see about cracking open that 'sealed unit' and seeing if the battery can be replaced.

Is this too much voodoo?

Reply 4 of 4, by debs3759

Posted on 2021-03-15, 16:38

debs3759 Offline

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Posts: 1768
Joined: 2016-08-22, 00:07
Location: Northampton, United Kingdom

Thanks for the replies. UNI-T UT61E looks best for my needs out of those mentioned, especially seeing it can connect to my main PC via USB when I am testing working parts in other systems.

See my graphics card database at www.gpuzoo.com
Constantly being worked on. Feel free to message me with any corrections or details of cards you would like me to research and add.

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