On 1 Aug 2009 at 18:08, Chris M wrote:
Ick. That pooch you have be real scary.
Actually, he's a sweetheart, a Golden Retreiver. But he's a big boy
(70 lean pounds with more growing to do) and only 13 months old.
He'll chew on anything if he likes the look of it. The latest was an
IDE-CF adapter completely destroyed. It's just the nature of young
dogs.
WONDERFUL. Where the dog has free access!
Ah, but the dog doesn't--my shop has a self-closing fire door with a
lock on it. He doesn't go there and he knows it. Maybe when he's
about 4, but not now.
I do. I most certainly do. You can get a decent meter
for 20$.
Most probably made in China by some outfit that also turns out all
manner of unrelated items.
Okay, I've got one of the HF ones in front of me. Cen-Tech 7
function digital multimeter; your basic 3 1/2 digit model. Bright
yello case, probes have shrouded plugs; no exposed metal--the two
screws holding the case together in the rear are recessed about half
a cm. I'd prefer tha the holes be plugged or covered, but a little
silicone putty will take care of that. Opening it up, very basic;
single IC embedded in an epoxy blob; various resistors (some SMT 5%,
others 1%. A 500 ma fuse (the normal current readings max out at 199
ma). What looks to be a length of 14 AWG copper wire serving as the
10A shunt. There's a spring extending from the PCB that contacts a
small foil shield attached to the inside of the rear case half. Said
case is ABS.
The battery is a "Li Feng Heavy Duty" and came with the meter,
pruchased about 9 months ago for $2.99..
So, is this a terrible meter? No, it's pretty accurate, at least
doing an A-B comparison using my bench sources. In fact, it's
probably no worse than any of the Radio Shack "Micronta" DMMs that
cost 5-10 times as much and probably better than the RS DMMs offered
20 years ago.
As a diagnostic tool, it'll probably tell me with little danger that
a 5150 has +5, +12, -12 and -5 voltages coming out of the power
supply with sufficient accuracy.
And if Marley gets his chompers on it, I won't get too upset.
--Chuck