Digital Multimeter reccomendation?

[geekybiker]

My POS radio shack DMM appears to be dead. Any reccomendations on a replacement? Hopefully under $50ish? Its mostly just going to be used to check that my cells are balanced, etc.

 

[drewjet]

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_03482369000P?keyword=dc+clamp+multimeter&prdNo=2&blockNo=2&blockType=G2

Slughtly over $50, but if patient they go on sale. Reads dc amps through clamp up to 400. Nice meter for the price.

 

[dak664]

You can't go wrong with a couple of the red $5 Harbor Freight meters. The initial calibration can't be trusted to better than a few tenths of a volt, but there is an obvious adjustment pot to be seen if you take the back off. The accuracy is still not great away from the setpoint so you should calibrate near the balancing voltage. Some options are a fresh CR2032 at 2.95 volts, a 7805 regulator with ~100ma load at 5.00 volts, or http://www.national.com/mpf/LM/LM4040.html. I use two of those in series at 2.5 volts each with 5ma from 12 volt supply, so can calibrate at either 2.50 or 5.00 volts and check how far off it is at the other voltage. So far (4 meters) not more than a tenth of a volt.

 

[grindz145]

You can't go wrong with a couple of the red $5 Harbor Freight meters. The initial calibration can't be trusted to better than a few tenths of a volt, but there is an obvious adjustment pot to be seen if you take the back off. The accuracy is still not great away from the setpoint so you should calibrate near the balancing voltage. Some options are a fresh CR2032 at 2.95 volts, a 7805 regulator with ~100ma load at 5.00 volts, or http://www.national.com/mpf/LM/LM4040.html. I use two of those in series at 2.5 volts each with 5ma from 12 volt supply, so can calibrate at either 2.50 or 5.00 volts and check how far off it is at the other voltage. So far (4 meters) not more than a tenth of a volt.

I picked up a few of these for literally $2.50 at the local HF. Certainly good if you're just checking for voltage / current / continuity but not terribly good if you're digging deeper.

 

[dogman dan]

Yeah, for another pos one, you can't beat the harbor freight one when they have the 2 buck coupon in the paper. Usually you can pick up the coupon at the door. Better than that though, is finding it in the parking lot of radio shack like amberwolf.