Digital Multimeter Recommendation Required

[Bristol_Rob]

Hi all,

Does anyone have a recommendation on a fairly simple digital multimeter for around £50 or under? (Happy to flex a bit)

I've owned an appliance tester that had served me well for over 10 years but has given up the will to live.

I'm testing batteries, fuses, appliances, continuity, lamps (Lamps glow, bulbs grow simple domestic stuff.

I've never owned a multimeter but I'm willing to learn - I just want a good quality reliable machine that is fairly simple to use and understand.

Any recommendations?

TIA

 

[Spectric]

The obvious choice is Fluke but not for £50, ideally you want an RMS meter for Ac but the DVM is not the ideal tool if looking to prove dead. Look at this site as they do a range https://www.tester.co.uk/electrical-electronic/multimeters/digital-multimeters?p=2

 

[PerryGunn]

I bought the one below a few years ago and I've been very happy with it. I use it for similar things to you along with car electrics and a bit of circuit board fault-finding.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B071JL6LLL
I got a hard case to protect it as it's in a drawer with lots of sharp/pointy things

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B082KF7WBR
I also got a set of additional leads, not strictly necessary but they do come in useful occasionally (especially the crocodile clip leads) and they all fit in the case with the meter

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B06XYNF47M

 

[Dibs-h]

Had replace my old one as it was dying. After looking into reviews etc - I settled on

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/283947582485
Very happy with it.

HIH

Dibs

 

[Robbo3]

I have had 2 of the cheapest analogue meters that you can buy for over 10 years. One for the workshop & one for indoors.
Missing a continuity buzzer & some will say the DC current range is a bit lacking but they are more than adequate for domestic use.
£6.19 - Analogue Multimeter AC DC Volt Ohm Voltmeter Ammeter Electrical Circuit Tester | eBay

 

[Gerry]

A Kaiweets KM601 fits your requirements. A very large easy to read display and it can automatically select the measurement type required as well as autorange. https://www.amazon.co.uk/KAIWEETS-M...01&qid=1670657376&sprefix=kaiwe,aps,94&sr=8-5
Plenty of reviews on Youtube. It's been my main meter for the last year, My fluke is collecting dust at the moment.

Gerry

 

[pe2dave]

RS have a good name, how about this one? £30

 

[Bingy man]

Your post says you’re” willing to learn “ make sure you understand what you are testing and the machine you purchase. I’m sure the electricians and electrical engineers will agree that just because the meter gives a 0 read when measuring ac current does not mean it’s not live . A friend of mine was trying to repair a washing machine and used a multi meter to fault find - he was live testing and was testing between two 240 vac connections and as the meter read 0 in went his fingers and of course bang ️ he was lucky to get away with a burnt hand and damaged finger tips. But he couldn’t understand why he got a belt - the meter is faulty he claimed - explained to him that he was between 2 lives of 240v and the meter measures the potential difference of the 2 values. I showed him using his own meter that each probe is reading 240 then the difference is 0 . Safety 1st and don’t pay with your life ..

 

[Sideways]

Amen to the above.

DMM's are super handy but also a bit hazardous because it's easy to put them on the wrong setting and blow them up.
Amp or resistance measurement range straight across the mains when you think you are measuring voltage ....
It's an inherent risk with any meter designed to do everything. It has no way of knowing what you are trying to do so it's all down to you.

So:
It's not something to really cheap out on.
Brand matters because you don't have any other way really to know if a meter is designed well enough to protect you if you do something stupid. All the normal user can assess is does it look good ? does it creak ? does the switch work ? do the leads feel OK ? That's just picking a book because you like the cover illustration.

Expensive meters have things in them like high energy fuses filled with sand, so if you dead short the mains on the amp range a replaceable fuse blows and the sand melts absorbing the energy of the molten fuse wire and extinguishing any electric arc without melting the meter.
Components inside protect you from high voltage spikes that would otherwise fry the meter

I would NOT buy Uni-T having read about dangerous designs they have made in the past. Mastech, Extech, etc etc are maybe better but all these brands sell on low price, high feature count and bling.

I'd pick a basic meter from a reputable brand - in random order :
Megger - UK brand who make some really good kit including the best electricians installation testers on the market. Their cheap models should be trustworthy.
Martfindale - UK maker of testers where safety matters. They did a massive recall and replacement of testers some years ago. It must have cost them a bundle so they are serious about keeping their good reputation.
Beha-Amprobe - A cheaper range now owned by Fluke. Fluke make huge margins on their gear but they are very well regarded and I'd trust them to make a safe meter even in their budget brand.
Kewtech - by Kyoritsu Japan - they make electrical installation testers that cost a few hundreds and are widely used by electricians. They are a trustworthy brand and good value.
Brymen - Taiwanese / Australian. Reputable gear. A value for money winner according to one of the most well informed blogs on the internet. You can see these being taken apart and the circuit design analysed in detail.

I haven't mentioned Gossen, Fluke and Keysight. You simply can't buy them within your budget, even used.

 

[Bingy man]

Hi all,

Does anyone have a recommendation on a fairly simple digital multimeter for around £50 or under? (Happy to flex a bit)

I've owned an appliance tester that had served me well for over 10 years but has given up the will to live.

I'm testing batteries, fuses, appliances, continuity, lamps (Lamps glow, bulbs grow simple domestic stuff.

I've never owned a multimeter but I'm willing to learn - I just want a good quality reliable machine that is fairly simple to use and understand.

Any recommendations?

TIA

Just checked my kit and I have a uei kane d m 393c that I don’t use ( prefer fluke ) no leads as yet but may have a spare set somewhere, it’s fully protected via internal fuses and if you have a set of fused leads then you have additional protection. Drop me a message if interested ( I’m in Wolverhampton) so collection or could arrange postage ..it’s probably more than you need but I’m thinking of the safety side and you can probably get an instruction manual online .

 

[Dibs-h]

I would NOT buy Uni-T having read about dangerous designs they have made in the past. Mastech, Extech, etc etc are maybe better but all these brands sell on low price, high feature count and bling.

Nowadays a quick Google and check on YouTube will pull you up a detailed review and a breakdown on the internals (and commentary on whether it is good\bad\insane\etc) in a few mins - perhaps "the past is no predictor of the future" (although it should make you pay attention).

If my budget had been higher - I would have bought something else, but my usage is very little 240V and mainly automotive and hobby electronics (lower power DC).

 

[Chris70]

Up your budget and buy a second-hand Fluke, because you’re worth it. Think safety. I’ve not heard of Beha Amprobe, but a subsidiary of Fluke must be good?

 

[deema]

@Sideways advice is spot on. Twenty years or so ago, I ran one of the ‘good brands’ of electrical instrument manufacturers. It was so good Fluke bought it out for an insane amount of money just to stop us taking their market share. Anyway, one of the things I had setup was a small team to tear down the competitors products, backward engineer them and come up far superior products. in summary, anything outside the main brands in most cases was just dangerous or a fire hazard.

Would you risk your life (because that’s what you’re doing) on a ‘cheap’ meter if you’re probing life threatening systems? Well, if you would you must enjoy Russian Roulette. If you can’t afford the price of a branded multimeter leave it to an electrician. If you messing around with low voltage stuff, you can blow up the circuit due to bad design of some of the meters I saw (now, that was twenty years ago!)

 

[ajs]

I do understand where many of the other respondents are coming from and I'm sure I'm going to take flak, but my attitude is largely the reverse for most use cases. 99% of the use cases for a multimeter are pretty basic stuff - AC and DC voltage, resistance and continuity covers it. I use DC current occasionally but that tends to be more for own design/constructed stuff than routine maintenance or installation. AC current - if I'm curious at all it's probably a mains appliance where a plug in power meter is quicker and safer.

The only features I would ask for that are not completely universal are an audible continuity indicator and test leads on 4mm plugs - built in test leads sound nice but you lose flexibility to swap leads if you want to clip one in place, or plug in directly to a 0V point. Once those are covered I go for something near the bottom of the market, albeit from a reputable supplier - not Amazon Marketplace straight from China stuff. The everyday meter that has just come to hand is probably a couple of years old now and is working well, still available as part no IN07220 IN08360 from CPC for the princely sum of £4.50 inc VAT. That one has a built in network/telephone lead tester - I have separate tools for that but a basic tester on the meter is convenient for me at least.

Yes, I do have a high precision 5 digit bench meter, specialist LCR and frequency meters etc but it's the cheap meters that get used unless I need the expensive stuff. The reason is simply that multimeters are simply too easy to kill, especially when there's a variety in the measurements to be taken. No, I'm not particularly careless (I know plenty of other that have reached the same conclusion) - it is simply if you e.g. try to read the voltage from a supply with the meter still in a resistance range the result is a dead meter, or at least one that is now hopelessly out of calibration. It's a lot less annoying with a £5-10 meter than a £100+ type.

 

[Sideways]

I do have a high precision 5 digit bench meter, specialist LCR and frequency meters etc but it's the cheap meters that get used unless I need the expensive stuff. The reason is simply that multimeters are simply too easy to kill, especially when there's a variety in the measurements to be taken.

It sounds like maybe you are a ham radio guy. Expensive specialist gear on the one hand and seriously budget on the other
While I don't recommend your approach of super cheap DMMs I do agree that 4mm plug in test leads are a minimum. Uninsulated 2mm plugs used on some old cheap kit tend to fall out and can leave you with an exposed 240V contact flopping about. Captive lead meters are typically so cheap that they shouldn't be used on anything more dangerous than torch batteries.

Test leads are a consumable. If you damage them, you need to be able to replace them. There are also many clips, grippers, probes and reliable insulated croc clips that improve safety and convenience for measuring different contacts. It is a big convenience not to have both hands tied up holding the probes on what you want to measure.
One of the best manufacturers is Staubli, now renamed "Multicontact". The top brands buy own labelled accessories from Staubli. A browse here will show the variety of accessories that are available:
https://www.staubli.com/hu/en/elect...est-accessories/test-clips-2-mm-and-4-mm.html
Working on low voltages isn't always a guarantee of safety. 12V car batteries have low internal resistance and are designed to deliver hundreds of amps. That accidental error of leaving a DMM on amps when you are trying to measure your car battery voltage could fry a meter and literally melt the insulation off the test leads quite easily.

Spend as much as the OPs budget wisely and you can get a meter that is much harder to kill

 

[Bingy man]

Just checked my kit and I have a uei kane d m 393c that I don’t use ( prefer fluke ) no leads as yet but may have a spare set somewhere, it’s fully protected via internal fuses and if you have a set of fused leads then you have additional protection. Drop me a message if interested ( I’m in Wolverhampton) so collection or could arrange postage ..it’s probably more than you need but I’m thinking of the safety side and you can probably get an instruction manual online .

So I’ve changed the dmm internal battery and it’s ready to go , haven’t used it for a few years but I’ve found you a set fused leads ( 500ma) in each lead and the meter is protected by it’s own internal fuses. It could be worth you having it calibrated ( if reqd ) you then have a decent but safe meter .

 

[Spectric]

Test leads are a consumable

Not when your test lead set cost nearly three hundred pounds, ok it does cover three phase and has some extras like trigger button but I like to look after them and keep them in the cases, don't want to give Metrel anymore cash !

 

[Mooose]

Brymen - Taiwanese / Australian. Reputable gear. A value for money winner according to one of the most well informed blogs on the internet. You can see these being taken apart and the circuit design analysed in detail.

I have been using Brymen for the past 7 years and it is great. Well made, accurate, and the safety features are about the best without having to spend insane money. Loads of teardowns and reviews on Utube

 

[Bristol_Rob]

So I’ve changed the dmm internal battery and it’s ready to go , haven’t used it for a few years but I’ve found you a set fused leads ( 500ma) in each lead and the meter is protected by it’s own internal fuses. It could be worth you having it calibrated ( if reqd ) you then have a decent but safe meter .

Thank you so much - I'd love to take you up on your offer

PM Sent

 

[pe2dave]

So I’ve changed the dmm internal battery and it’s ready to go , haven’t used it for a few years but I’ve found you a set fused leads ( 500ma) in each lead and the meter is protected by it’s own internal fuses. It could be worth you having it calibrated ( if reqd ) you then have a decent but safe meter .

IMHO.
For home use, (mine), I only want to know...
Mains present - ~240
Fuse good (beeper / <3 ohms)
Continuity - 'low' resistance
Battery usable / fair (approx stated voltage).
Not sure I'd even consider calibration for such use, unless readings were getting silly out of range?
Wondering whether a new dmm cheaper than calibration cost? I've no idea.