5 Oct
2007
5 Oct
'07
2:47 p.m.
From: ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk---snip---
> > myself too badly. I recently bought my first multimeter, as it was> >
very cheap in Lidl and I thought it might come in handy some time,> > There have
been reports of the accuracy -- or lack of it -- of those > cheap meters, Many of them
do odd things if the internal battery is flat > (and don't rely on the 'battery
low' indicator for this), and there have > been problems due to the poor quality
switches used.> > A friend of mine was nearly killed due to this. He tested some
wiring for > voltage-to-earth and the meter said it was essentially dead. SO he >
started workign, alas the meter was malfuctioning, and he got the full > mains volatege
across him. He imediately went and bought an expensive mad > reliable neter.> Hi
I've liked cheap meters for digitals. I do have a 5 digit Fluke and
several analog meters.
I've found that even the leads on a good meter can be broken.
If I'm working on the mains, I always measure it with power
first. I check to make sure that the ground and neutral measure
correctly to the line and then turn the line off.
I've seen some really bad wiring done. I had a case where there
was a line-ground short after someone did some painting.
Instead of fixing, they swapped the line at the box. All the neutrals
were hot to ground by direct connection. Someone even swapped
some of the sockets to look right. Only the neutral return wires
had breakers. Unless all the main were disconnected the wires
were hot to ground with the breakers off.
Dwight
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