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Digi Multimeter for testing.

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adambomb View Drop Down
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    Posted: 04 September 2007 at 1:01pm

Also realised I need a multimeter... I can use this for work and write it off as expensis soo... might as well get a good (ish) one (no more than £120).

I think Fluke is a good brand???
 
 
I know I am only going to be finding 1w at the amp outputs... so I guess a cheapo will do it.. but I like good tools.
 
Cheers guys,
 
Adam.
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markie View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote markie Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 September 2007 at 3:38pm
I recently bought this one. It's a UNI-T UT70A. It's quite a lump, about 200mm x 100mm x 50mm but it does capacitance and inductance as well as the usual. They are about £70.00 from Maplins but I got it on E-bay for £30.00. I can't really recommend it as I'm new to them as well, but I guess I'll find out if it's any good from any follow-up comments on here.
 

 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote godathunder Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 September 2007 at 7:18pm
fluke and robin make very good quality meters and for my sparky work I use a fluke 1652 but thats possibly not worth buying at rrp £885 unless you really need to have an "approved instrument".
 
for the rig I tend to carry the little brother of the one markie is suggesting, the UT30B, basically because its cheap (£10 or thereabouts) and I wont cry if it gets stolen, lost or mashed, all of which are pretty likely under disco circumstances. I also carry one of the plug in socket testers that confirms earthing, polarity etc (best to get one with a sounder too - invaluable for confirming which sockets are controlled by which breaker in a venue - should be about £10) and also a magic wand detector that lights up if you wave it near live cables.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote ceharden Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 September 2007 at 10:11am
As Godathunder says you don't really need an expensive meter unless you're using it for your full-time job and even then you can probably get away with a cheaper one.  I used to buy expensive multimeters but since I kept breaking them I just use cheap ones now and haven't noticed a lot of difference!

My latest one is an unbranded Chinese one from ebay but it works fine, nice large display, all the functions you need etc.  Cost was about £30.

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Peter Moller View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Peter Moller Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08 September 2007 at 9:11pm
Fluke makes some nice products, but it might be a bit much for what you are doing ?
 
If you are doing component level electronic repairs etc. you need to spend some more money if you want Fluke, but for the general purpose PA toolkit you might want to look at the Fluke 322 clamp meter.. It will measure voltage, continuity and current draw..
 
You just need to make an adaptor cable so you can measure the current draw though your mains feed - a clamp meter needs to have *just* the hot wire conming through the clamp, so just build a short extension cable using single conductors..
 
/peter
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adambomb View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote adambomb Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 September 2007 at 8:18pm

All I need to do is measure 1w at the amp outputs... and maybe full power at the amp outputs.. can I do this with a cheapo multi meter?

Is it a simple case of sticking the probes into the outlets and measuring the voltage?

Cheers,

Adam

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Peter Moller View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Peter Moller Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 September 2007 at 9:04pm
You cant measure power ( watts ) directly with a multimeter..
 
If you want to measure output power on an amp, you need a pretty accurate 4 or 8 ohm load and measure the voltage across the load instead.. Check the recent thread on dummy loads..
 
If you want full power measurements, you really need a signal generator and an oscilloscope..
 
/peter
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adambomb View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote adambomb Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 September 2007 at 9:27am
hmmmm...
 
Well.. when testing at the mid top shoot out we needed to find 1w (to set the levels)... all Rog used was a digital multi meter... so it must be possible???
 
I have not searched the forum for this yet... will probably find the answer somewhere..
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godathunder View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote godathunder Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 September 2007 at 12:30pm

if you know the impedence of the load you only have to measure the voltage or current to calculate the power (or at least the VA, if you want to forget about the phase angle)

peter, I have seen meters that display power/VA/phase angle from simultaneous current and voltage readings but, like yourself,  I dont recall ever seeing a multimeter that does this
 
adambomb, I still stick with my initial statement, just buy a cheap one and consider it disposable. peter's clamp meter call is probably the only worthwhile addition, although, as he says, you will need to mod a cable to use it.


Edited by godathunder - 10 September 2007 at 12:34pm
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Phil B View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Phil B Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 September 2007 at 8:34pm
I`ve got a fluke which has withstood being rattled in my tool box for over a year.

Good points...clamp section for amp readings, big display, probes fixed to body ( many times have the probes not been pushed in properly on other meters and given me false readings). Self timed turn-off....the MUST for any meter.

Bad Points... clamp section only takes up to 6mm cable , so not too good for those important generator readings and won`t adapt to Peter`s mod ( I have a different model). Probes were too well protected so I stripped the insulation back a few mm to allow for "side" readings.

Also I`ve written my name all over it in the hope that when it`s left somewhere it might just return!!

.p.

Edited by Phil Boutle - 12 September 2007 at 8:34pm
Mostly harmless.... except if catering is shut.

Solar Sound System Shennanigans..http://diyhifi.biz/
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