any multimeter you recommend getting ...... or avoiding?

for car and home use. thx.

Most of the ones I've purchased in the past were from Radio Shack. I've got about 3 multimeters floating around my house. They work just as good, and cost less.

A lot of people buy Flukes, and they are pretty reliable. Some of the guys around me in Ford use Flukes. They are a tad expensive, though.

thx, maybe I will just buy a RadioShacker. If is breaks, I can always go up the quality curve from there.

If it's just for home use a simple voltage tester will work but it depends how deep you want to get into the electronics on your car. If you are just checking which wires are hot go with the less expensive meter.

Mike

Seems to be a useful item for checking into why my car aircon compressor is not engaging when I turn the switch on.

I own probably a dozen digital multi-meters, with various function sets, capabilities, and price tags, and for most automotive use, my $25 AW Sperry generic digital multi meter doesn't do any better or worse than my $400 Fluke 87TrueRMS, or any of the others in between.

Yeah, the higher end DMMs are more durable, have back lighted screens, come with better probes and more features, and blah-blah-blah-blah, most of which aren't mandatory for working on auto electronics.

The only exception is that if you need tach & dwell readings, then you are going to need an automotive specific meter. I have a TIF with an inductive pickup for doing those readings, but aside from the tach and dwell readings, it's no different than any of the others.

Two recommendations, regardless of what brand you buy, one- pick up a spare set of probes with the longest cords you can find so you can work more comfortably in confined spaces and sometimes, there just isn't a safe place to set the meter close by. Two - pick up some alligator clip attachments for the probes or a set of alligator clip probes or some alligator clip jumpers, because sometimes, you just need 4 hands in a very confined space to test stuff in cars.

I used to use these for a living, and the best bang for the buck IMHO are the Wavetek Meters.

Flukes are great; but very pricey. I used Waveteks on the test bench and in the field and they had great reliability, battery life, ease of use, etc. When I needed a meter that I knew would WORK, I'd grab one of these out of my test cabinet.

The one I use at home is a Wavetek HD110B, which is a sort of big "yellow" very durable meter with some nice features for home use.

I have an extremely favorable opinion of this meter.

for the car I just use a simple ice-pick looking thing with a ground clip and light in it... for the house really depends on what you are doing. if you're trouble shooting an AC or somethin you'll need a decent amp meter but a simple tester is all you need for changing out a receptacle and stuff... mmake sure whatever you buy has an ohm meter tho.. you may need to test for continuity on a fixture or trace a wire...

.....elaborating on TG's suggestion to buy a good probe assortment......

one of my favorite tools were "needle probes". They are expensive/hard to find so I used to my own by soldering a probe lead to a long straight pin.....then building up around the connection with heat shrink.

with these, you can easily pierce insulation.......so if you were, for example, trying to identify a wire in a tangled mess of a bundle.......you could stab through the insulation and check it electrically.

Also, the needle sharp tips are great for checking oxidized connections, connections that have been coated, circuit board conductors that have been coated, etc..........and they will fit inside tiny connectors as well.

Now.......obviously when you pierce a wire's insulation you mess with the voltage rating, etc........but it saves time and if it is a critical wire, you can replace it, tape it over, etc.

also........I bought Wavetek 15XL meters for our floor people; they are easy to use and there were different configurations with a lot of features (capacitance, temperature, etc),

Andy, for needle probes we just use "toad stickers", or those wooden dowels with a sharp pointed metal end. Clip the lead to the metal part and start stabbing away. Cheap and easy needle probe!

My stuff at work is all Agilent, but I have a Fluke meter at home. For auto work, any basic volt meter will work just fine.

Thx guys, I appreciate the ideas/opinions.