~$50 DMM...

[John S]

On 11/19/2022 6:06 PM, George Herold wrote:

Hi guys! Long time no smell.* I miss you guys, but I\'ve been doing almost zero electronics. (I lurk every now and then) So my son wants a cheapish DMM for Xmas. What brand should I look at? Extech? Searching this Klein tool one looks nice.
Klein Tools MM400 Multimeter, Digital Auto Ranging, AC/DC Voltage, Current, Capacitance, Frequency, Duty-Cycle, Diode, Continuity, Temp 600V
~$50 on amazon

George H.

*Did I recommend \"Emperor of Scent\" as a good read?

And it does not come with a way to drive the sockets. The extension does
not fit the sockets. The bottom line: **Don\'t Waste Your Money**

--
Dogs make me happy. Humans make my head hurt.
So does cheap Chinese junk.

 

[John S]

On 11/21/2022 12:57 PM, John S wrote:

On 11/19/2022 6:06 PM, George Herold wrote:
Hi guys!  Long time no smell.*  I miss you guys, but I\'ve been doing
almost zero electronics.  (I lurk every now and then)  So my son wants
a cheapish DMM for Xmas.  What brand should I look at?  Extech?
Searching this Klein tool one looks nice.
  Klein Tools MM400 Multimeter, Digital Auto Ranging, AC/DC Voltage,
Current, Capacitance, Frequency, Duty-Cycle, Diode, Continuity, Temp 600V
~$50 on amazon

George H.

*Did I recommend \"Emperor of Scent\" as a good read?


Got one. If that folded piece of paper is what they call a manual, it\'s
a stretch of the imagination.

It has a 1500mAh battery. Curious things about charging are:
* After normal use it will require 1 hour of charging.
* After it\'s fully run down it will 1 hour of charging.
* The wall wart charger capacity is 800mA.

Errr... Sorry, wrong thread. Sorry about my one below this one, too.

--
Dogs make me happy. Humans make my head hurt.

 

[Joe Gwinn]

On Mon, 21 Nov 2022 21:48:53 +0000, piglet <erichpwagner@hotmail.com>
wrote:

On 20/11/2022 22:10, Joe Gwinn wrote:
On Sat, 19 Nov 2022 17:42:39 -0800, John Larkin
jlarkin@highlandSNIPMEtechnology.com> wrote:

On Sat, 19 Nov 2022 17:39:41 -0800 (PST), George Herold
ggherold@gmail.com> wrote:

On Saturday, November 19, 2022 at 7:14:13 PM UTC-5, John Larkin wrote:
On Sat, 19 Nov 2022 15:06:09 -0800 (PST), George Herold
gghe...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi guys! Long time no smell.* I miss you guys, but I\'ve been doing almost zero electronics. (I lurk every now and then) So my son wants a cheapish DMM for Xmas. What brand should I look at? Extech? Searching this Klein tool one looks nice.
Klein Tools MM400 Multimeter, Digital Auto Ranging, AC/DC Voltage, Current, Capacitance, Frequency, Duty-Cycle, Diode, Continuity, Temp 600V
~$50 on amazon

George H.

*Did I recommend \"Emperor of Scent\" as a good read?
I\'ve been happy with extechs, for home use and teaching.

Thanks, Extech it is then... One with a TC probe would be nice.

Definitely get the TC. It\'s good for cooking too.

Yes. I do that too. Particularly useful for determining the
temperature of cast iron skillets, especially with a puddle of oil in
them. Also used to measure the air temperature inside the oven. Not
useful for broilers.

What I have been using since 2007 is an Extech model 421501, which is
a \"Type K Thermometer\". No problems so far. I bought it with a
penetration probe, but it has standard thermocouple sockets, and so
can be used with all manner of purchased or made probes. What I use
for the skillets et al is a homemade Teflon-insulated type K wire
probe about 2 meters long.

While one is supposed to weld the two wires together to take the TC,
it also works to twist them tightly and soft-solder them together.

One can weld the wires together using a 100-watt incandescent lamp and
a lump of carbon, drawing an arc between twisted wires (fluxed with
borax) and the carbon lump. The 100-watt lamp will pass ten amps, and
then drop to one amp.

Joe Gwinn

Yep, I very successfully welded TC junctions using a carbon rod (from a
old dry cell) and capacitor discharge arc. Cannot recall details, but
something like 200uF charged to 50V.

That would work too, and is how commercial TC welders work. I\'m
surprised that 50 V worked, though.

Joe Gwinn

 

[George Herold]

On Monday, November 21, 2022 at 11:33:13 AM UTC-5, Joe Gwinn wrote:

On Sun, 20 Nov 2022 20:45:08 -0500, Phil Hobbs
pcdhSpamM...@electrooptical.net> wrote:

George Herold wrote:
On Sunday, November 20, 2022 at 5:10:59 PM UTC-5, Joe Gwinn wrote:
On Sat, 19 Nov 2022 17:42:39 -0800, John Larkin
jla...@highlandSNIPMEtechnology.com> wrote:

On Sat, 19 Nov 2022 17:39:41 -0800 (PST), George Herold
gghe...@gmail.com> wrote:

On Saturday, November 19, 2022 at 7:14:13 PM UTC-5, John Larkin
wrote:
On Sat, 19 Nov 2022 15:06:09 -0800 (PST), George Herold
gghe...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi guys! Long time no smell.* I miss you guys, but I\'ve
been doing almost zero electronics. (I lurk every now and
then) So my son wants a cheapish DMM for Xmas. What brand
should I look at? Extech? Searching this Klein tool one
looks nice. Klein Tools MM400 Multimeter, Digital Auto
Ranging, AC/DC Voltage, Current, Capacitance, Frequency,
Duty-Cycle, Diode, Continuity, Temp 600V ~$50 on amazon

George H.

*Did I recommend \"Emperor of Scent\" as a good read?
I\'ve been happy with extechs, for home use and teaching.

Thanks, Extech it is then... One with a TC probe would be
nice.

Definitely get the TC. It\'s good for cooking too.
Yes. I do that too. Particularly useful for determining the
temperature of cast iron skillets, especially with a puddle of oil
in them. Also used to measure the air temperature inside the oven.
Not useful for broilers.

What I have been using since 2007 is an Extech model 421501, which
is a \"Type K Thermometer\". No problems so far. I bought it with a
penetration probe, but it has standard thermocouple sockets, and
so can be used with all manner of purchased or made probes. What I
use for the skillets et al is a homemade Teflon-insulated type K
wire probe about 2 meters long.

While one is supposed to weld the two wires together to take the
TC, it also works to twist them tightly and soft-solder them
together.

One can weld the wires together using a 100-watt incandescent lamp
and a lump of carbon, drawing an arc between twisted wires (fluxed
with borax) and the carbon lump. The 100-watt lamp will pass ten
amps, and then drop to one amp.

Joe Gwinn
Thanks, yeah totally getting the TC. Can you soft solder a type K
TC? I use to use type T, easy to solder and not very magnetic. (Hmm
maybe one for me and one for my son?) George H.


Nope, chromel and alumel don\'t solder. Type T (copper/constantan) is a
good solderable system.
I\'d bet that tinners flux (HCL plus Zn) would work. Failing that,
stainless-steel (phosphoric acid) flux. Haven\'t needed to solder
Chromel-Alumel so far, but have soldered lots of stainless steel
hardware.

What also can help is to mechanically clean the surfaces under oil, to
keep oxygen away from the freshly cleaned surface to be soldered. This
also works on aluminum.

Joe Gwinn

Hmm I\'ve got some Stainless steel flux, I can give that a try. It\'s too bad there aren\'t some DMM\'s that use copper Constantan.
George H.

 

[George Herold]

On Monday, November 21, 2022 at 4:44:24 PM UTC-5, erichp...@hotmail.com wrote:

On 20/11/2022 23:54, George Herold wrote:
On Sunday, November 20, 2022 at 7:53:00 AM UTC-5, erichp...@hotmail.com wrote:
On 19/11/2022 23:06, George Herold wrote:
Hi guys! Long time no smell.* I miss you guys, but I\'ve been doing almost zero electronics. (I lurk every now and then) So my son wants a cheapish DMM for Xmas. What brand should I look at? Extech? Searching this Klein tool one looks nice.
Klein Tools MM400 Multimeter, Digital Auto Ranging, AC/DC Voltage, Current, Capacitance, Frequency, Duty-Cycle, Diode, Continuity, Temp 600V
~$50 on amazon

George H.

*Did I recommend \"Emperor of Scent\" as a good read?
Nice to hear from you again! My experience is that auto ranging can be
painfully slow and does not make it to my list of desirable features.
Neither is frequency nor duty cycle. Capacitance can be handy but DMMs
tend to have rather limited ranges. Many low end units only have DC
current but AC current (even if only LF) is a nice to have. Personally I
like to have more than one DMM to hand, the second unit can be very
low-end but seeing (for example) voltage and current simultaneously
without swapping probes etc is great. A clamp meter with AC/DC hall
effect current sensor is always in my toolbag, not much use at mA levels
but very handy for general troubleshooting.

piglet

Thanks piglet, If there is a range button so you can turn off the autorange and just select one, then that works.
I think mostly my son will want to check continuity/ resistance and low DC voltages and maybe currents.
Nothing fancy just simple trouble shooting stuff.
I trust you have plenty of haycorns packed away for the winter. :^)
(2-3 feet of snow here and 5-6 just a few miles north of me. Lake effect in Buffalo, is fun and challenging.)

Thanks, yes foggy and cold here!

piglet
There\'s no such thing as fog here in the winter... we do get all these lovely ice crystals drifting down.

George H.