Problems with IBM 5150 Power

On 31 Jul 2009 at 17:44, Dave McGuire wrote: And that includes the battery. It depends--I've got a couple of these that I'll toss into a toolbox if I'm looking for a quick reading or continuity test. If it gets dropped or eaten by a dog, no biggie. The Fluke stays home. If someone needed only to take a few readings and didn't have a meter of any kind, I'd have no problem with him using one of these, particularly if he first did a "sanity" check (e.g. check the voltage on a new carbon-zinc cell to see if it was somewhere around 1.5v and perhaps checked a known good resistor or two). On the other hand, if a reliable bench tool was needed for frequent use, the $3 DVM is clearly not up to the job. After the Fluke, my next favorite DVM didn't cost a dime--I received as a promotion with an order. It's a rubber-sheathed, backlit auto- off large-display DVM that will measure temperature, capacitance and frequency in addition to the usual A-V-O. I've dropped it more than a few times, and it still works fine with perfectly acceptable accuracy. Personally, I have a bigger problem with people using cheap pliers, screwdrivers and soldering irons than with cheap DVMs. It's harder to damage something with a DVM. --Chuck