Favorite Meter?

Steve Ebels_3

Anything made by Fluke for digital stuff and my analog Simpson 260. Love that big mirrored scale for checking flame sensors and setting up burners.

Al K._2

What's Yours?

So which meter do you reach for first for your electrical testing tasks?
I'm in the process of replacing my tried and true Amprobe digital clamp/multimeter. I'm looking seriously at the Fieldpiece as the successor.
Any praise or horror stories for Fieldpiece? (Email if you must!)
What's 'True RMS', why would I want it?
Do you carry more than one meter on your service truck, what types do you carry?
Thanks, in advance,
Al K.

Firedragon_4

I've used my Carlin U

multimeter a lot more than I thought mostly for capacitance and milliamps testing.

Believe it or not my two 'pals' are a Simpson 260 that was made in a special case to be waterproof (ex USAF issue, thanks to e-Bay) and an Amprobe RS-3. Still can't be beat old reliable.

True RMS is Root Mean Squared and you can read this:

link

Marty

Anything but Unreliabe Electrical Instruments (hint they are yellow) Still have my old simpson but it sits in the basement. Might want to look at fluke I have more than one and have had no complaints at all. Not sure if the model numbers are current but the first 2 I always use are a 12 series for voltage and I think its a fluke 99 for amps.

Chuck Shaw_4

With true RMS

you would be able to read the output going to a Pulse Width Modulated signal. These could go to a variable speed blower on a modulating boiler (Munchkin, Ultra and I am sure others) and also I believe some VSIM controllers use it as well. It gives you the true voltage going to the appliance instead of the DC average.

The Munchkin Blower uses a 24VAC, PWM signal for its blower, (since the Ultra uses the same blower, it would also use the same type of signal) this would read anywhere from 3-11 VDC on a conventional multimeter. With the RMS, you would know, that the signal was at proper strength (24 VAC), even if it did not tell you the pulse width. This is the first example that springs to mind.

Hope this helps,

Chuck Shaw

pitman9

Fluke 16

It does it all directly except higher than milli-amps and good temp readings

bill_51

my favorite

is fieldpeice.....the basic meter gives you plenty and it comes with temperature scale and a k-thermocouple plug that can read up to 1000 degrees. also has capacitance up to 400 mfd and you can even read flame signals on circuit boards that are equipped with test pins. aside from all that good stuff there are a slew of attachment heads. relative humidity, micron guage, millivolt head(plug right inline with flame sensor)....the list goes on and on, the heads range in price from 35 to 400 bucks. i've been using nothing but fieldpiece for 10 years now and no gripes out of me. i've even left one meter out on a heatpump over the winter and happened across it during the spring thaw............cleaned it up, changed the battery and it worked!!!


well,,, one gripe,the only thing i don't like are the k couples that come with it, very thin and before ya know it you can't read temps because there is a break in the wire but the response time on the readings are almost worth the trouble

BigRed

Fieldpiece

I have a fieldpiece and it works great! There are so many options for one meter it is stagering. The key being ONE meter thats it thats all you need.

Glenn Harrison_2

I've got to go with my Fluke's

I've been using Fluke meters for almost my entire 14 year HVAC carier. I curently use a Fluke 337 for basic volt and amp testing, and have my 89-IV (Now 189) for Serious volt testing, capacitance, high (MEGOHM) and low resistance, thermostat anticipators, and microamps. I've also still got my old 87 mutimeter and 33 amp clamp for backup.

Some of my co-techs have fieldpiece meters and seem to like them, although I know one co-worker has one that is having problems that is only a few years old.

Weezbo

Simpson,Amprobe, fluke, and an old hioki

Kal Row

check out extech EX-830 ...

has clamp-on, freq, capacitance, and built in IR temprature lazer

Todd_9

meter and a question

I have the Fieldpiece meter which I am very happy with. There are a ton of accesories for the HVAC industry.

My question is this: I tested two capacitors with the microfarad scale. I got readings that were very close to what the capacitor rating was. Someone told me that a capacitor could give proper readings and still be faulty, is this correct?

Al Corelli

Can't agree more.

I have a 189, an 87V for everyday stuff, a 1520 megohmmeter, a few different 30 series clamp ons, and a couple of the CO meters from Fluke.

Never gave me a lick of trouble. I am a Fluke customer for life.