Electrical tester

[Welderpaul]

I'm after a basic electrical tester which will test voltage, current and possibly resistance. Needs to have seperate probes and don't necessarily need a clamp meter type.
Can't think of anything else I would need to test.

There's tonnes of different ones about but i fancy a Fluke one. Any reccomendations?

 

[Bullet2012]

Can not recommend a particular model but make sure it measures Hz as not all fluke do.

 

[gaz1]

just to point out most are the same weather you buy the aldi one or buy the expensive one like a fluke

its mostly down to its features on these multi meters do they have a hold function or direct read on there dials

 

[mtt.tr]

What sort of current do you intend to measure?

 

[Welderpaul]

What sort of current do you intend to measure?

30A max.

 

[mtt.tr]

I would say at that current you will better with a clamp meter, otherwise you'll have to set up a shunt.

What's your budget i have a higher end uni-t its no fluke but its proved itself reliable it will take a clamp but only ac

But i also have a uni-t clamp meter that's also been reliable an had a dc clamp scale of 1ma

 

[daleyd]

Look at RS pro range - I’ve had some of their own brand gear and it’s always been good - I confess to not having used the multimeters but I have used their previous iso tech range multimeters (which RS pro replaced to an extent) and they were excellent value. You could buy a bargain basement one, and while I’m sure it would do the job, I’m never sure about poking around at mains voltages with one. Having said that I do have a super cheap Draper one o bought years ago on the garage which I do still occasionally use just because most of my others live in the house or car, and it does a job but it feels a bit Mickey Mouse after using decent brands - usually just used for checking fuses etc, not sure how I’d feel about sticking it into a 3 phase board.

You may struggle to get a multimeter to read 30 amps - most will have a max Amps range of 10, for anything more I’d look at getting a cheap clamp meter to go with it.

 

[Fazerruss]

To be honest any cheap meter will do what you require. You only need to spend fluke money when using it as a daily built to last tool. I have had cheap meters and top end and used to have them calibrated yearly. Even the cheap ones were as accurate as the top end calibrated ones.
You only need to spend 20 to 30 quid really but bear in mind if you are measuring high current this goes through the meter as you break the circuit and put the probes in line not like measuring voltage across terminals.

Whatever you choose try to get silicone leads as it will make life much easier when taking measurements in awkward places and then you fart and twitch causing your meter to fall over so you cant see the screen!
Oh and go for auto ranging.

 

[Robotstar5]

Here you go Fluke T5-600 does voltage, current and resistance, also an approved voltage indicator for safe isolation purposes.

I have a couple of it's bigger brother, the T5-1000, one for work and one at home

 

[Anguz]

measuring current direct is suicidal to multimeters...
better off with either a shunt or clamp

 

[WorkshopChris]

just to point out most are the same weather you buy the aldi one or buy the expensive one like a fluke

its mostly down to its features on these multi meters do they have a hold function or direct read on there dials

It's not just the features they are most definitely not all the same, it's the build quality and safety features built into a quality meter.
The basic meter you find in a supermarket or builders suppliers are fine for playing with low voltage but not many are rated and verified for electrical work.
You won't get me using a meter that is not a CAT III-600 V rated meter as a minimum standard.
For example if you inadvertently put mains across the resistance range they will warn you and that's it, do the same with a basic meter and you get a big blue flash accompanied with a bang and a broken meter.
https://content.fluke.com/promotion...dmm/fluke_dmm-chfr/files/safetyguidelines.pdf

 

[Welderpaul]

Thanks all plenty to look up.

I'm a proper tool tart when it comes to my own stuff.

 

[MetalMonkey]

Will you be using it to measure mains voltage? If so then you will want to get something with a decent safety rating (CAT rating), if not you can get away with something far less expensive.
You could look at good but not well known brands such as Brymen or uni-t. I like Brymen, equally good as fluke but without the brand tax IMO.