Multi meter

[Elliott34]

Hi all thanks for all the help in the past very useful
So here’s another one what is the best and easiest one to use

 

[Mr Plodd]

The OP is asking for advice on what to get, not identifying a particular one

The easiest is the one you are happy/confident with.

Little point in paying vast sums of money if you only want one with basic functions. About a tenner should get you one for volts, amps, resistance etc. Something like this from Screwfix

 

[Hutch]

I agree with Mr Plod , I have three, Basic, Better, and More Expensive. £5, £12, £20.

 

[Anseo]

With respect Elliot, you do not need the best, but feel free to spend many hundreds of pounds on one if you wish.

I have an irrational 'thing' about Multimeters, seven or eight when I last looked.

There are not any that are particularly easy to use but some have features that make them a bit easier and safer to use than others (lots of tutorials on youtube).

For a budget meter I can recommend the Habotest 118A (I know of the 118a being sold under at least seven other brand names, Kaiweets being the most common encountered).

This meter has auto ranging and illuminated probe jack ports to assist you in selecting the correct port to insert a probe into, very helpful actually, it has a decent decibel level for the continuity sounder, non contact voltage and many other features. It can be had for under £30.00 and I don't know of any other DMM that beats it for value for money.

Darren Walker's review regards it highly as do other reviewers, e.g.
Habotest 118A

For something that some would say is the only meter you will need then this is also a meter I can highly recommend, does both AC and DC, the Uni-t 210E.
UNI-T 210E

 

[Martin_E]

I think it’s more about getting a multimeter that is either so simple that anybody can use via the instructions (assuming they have never owned on, and the when you are more confident/have a good idea of what does what is to move onto more complicated models. You could spend £1000 and not be any wiser as to what you are looking for, or £10 that has good instructions and off you go with good results

 

[ProfJohnL]

The first thing I would say based on the OP's post, If you don't know how to SAFELY use a multimeter(MM) beware becasue incorrect use could damage the MM, or damage the circuit or the equipment you are probing or worst injure yourself.

An experienced electrical or electronics engineer will be aware of the dangers and know how to avoid them.

Whilst I in general do agree about going for an inexpensive meter, the biggest problem with them is they often do not come with effective instructions for novices. Generally you only get fully decipherable instructions with better quality/more expensive meters.

 

[Martin_E]

The first thing I would say based on the OP's post, If you don't know how to SAFELY use a multimeter(MM) beware becasue incorrect use could damage the MM, or damage the circuit or the equipment you are probing or worst injure yourself.

An experienced electrical or electronics engineer will be aware of the dangers and know how to avoid them.

Whilst I in general do agree about going for an inexpensive meter, the biggest problem with them is they often do not come with effective instructions for novices. Generally you only get fully decipherable instructions with better quality/more expensive meters.

To be fair the expensive ones don’t as it’s assumed the user knows what they are doing 🤔

 

[Mr Plodd]

I would hazard that most people want a multimeter to just check basic things such as voltage, polarity, circuit continuity and the like, and if on this forum most of them will be on 12v circuits.
Very few understand circuit boards etc, so are unlikely to be playing with them!
So a basic multi meter will supply their needs more than adequately. Anyone needing a more sophisticated meter will know what it needs to do, and how to use it.

 

[Mickyjb]

decipherable instructions

Really, 'decipherable'? Any instructions that need to be decyphered are the kind that Bond movies are based around. A reputable multimeter (Fluke for instance) has downloadable instructions that are in plain English. Most multimeters at the cheaper end of the market may have some 'Chinglish' but, for the most part, no cypher is necessary.

 

[Buckman]

I would hazard that most people want a multimeter to just check basic things such as voltage, polarity, circuit continuity and the like, and if on this forum most of them will be on 12v circuits.
Very few understand circuit boards etc, so are unlikely to be playing with them!
So a basic multi meter will supply their needs more than adequately. Anyone needing a more sophisticated meter will know what it needs to do, and how to use it.

I agree with the Prof as most people would have no idea of polarity etc or what they should be checking. They may not know the difference between 12v or 240v circuit. Whether the meter cost £10 or £1000 it could be history within seconds. They may have no idea how to check for continuity i.e. checking a cable for breaks.

 

[Woodentop]

Look at Screwfix item 95426. It would suit almost any caravanning needs - even to me a retired electronics engineer!

 

[trevormonty]

I'm electronics engineer while professional $$$ Fluke MM are my preferred choice, the cheap ones are perfectly fine for fault finding. Autoranging isn't great on cheap meters, fixed ranges are better or autoranging where you can lock range. Being caravan only voltages you will be interested are 240VAC and 12VDC. Accuracy on cheap meters is better than you will ever need.

Something with 10Amp current range maybe useful for 12V circuits, just make sure you can buy replacement fuses. Better meters will have warning beeper if you have probe in current input and meter not on current setting.

Optional alligator clips that slide over the probes are nice to have and storage case to hold them and meter.