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  • Thought for the day...

    Why do they make "hand held" multimeters?
    Since they have two probes that you hold...how do you hold the freakin meter?

  • #2
    Originally posted by blearyeyes View Post
    Why do they make "hand held" multimeters?
    Since they have two probes that you hold...how do you hold the freakin meter?
    Hold the probes like chopsticks and then you can hold the meter in your other hand.

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    • #3
      Originally posted by JHow View Post
      Hold the probes like chopsticks...
      Or like this..

      Seriously, I understand your point. The descriptions of many things are pure nonsense when you think about the literal meaning.
      Like the "convenience charge" for concert tickets.

      Cheers,
      Tom
      Attached Files

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      • #4
        What really confounds things is, for safety, you're supposed to keep one hand in your pocket or behind your back .
        I use a "mouth-held" type, but I just end up cross-eyed trying to read the display.
        Originally posted by Enzo
        I have a sign in my shop that says, "Never think up reasons not to check something."


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        • #5
          The negative lead of my meter lives life stuffed inside a gator or hook clip adapter. The positive lead occasionally allowed to roam free, depends on how saucy I feel that day.
          -Mike

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          • #6
            "Hand Held" means you can hold it in your hand *if* you need to (as shown above), plus it's battery powered (or needs no power, such as in "needle" meters).

            And the word started to be used (*many* years ago) to mark a difference with then standard *Bench* meters.





            If you want modern:



            If you want digital (this was my first digital one):



            Well, the last one *may* be handheld if needed.

            Although its NiCad batteries and high consumption LED display gave it less than 2 hours working life, so I kept switching it OFF between readings.

            Oh the good old times.

            By the way , I still have an analog passive multimeter and use it at least once a month.

            But the Vacuum Tube Voltmeter gets used only when I want to make fun of some annoying Tube Snob customer, to justify doubling the bill.
            Juan Manuel Fahey

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            • #7
              Originally posted by g-one View Post
              What really confounds things is, for safety, you're supposed to keep one hand in your pocket or behind your back .
              I use a "mouth-held" type, but I just end up cross-eyed trying to read the display.
              Yea I've tried those but couldn't figure out how to pat my head and rub my tummy at the same time.
              Last edited by blearyeyes; 06-25-2013, 02:23 AM.

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              • #8
                I have been known to hold the black probe against the side of the meter sticking past the top, then hold the meter up against chassis to ground the black probe. My other hand free to wave the red one around.

                Some of those rubber things you stick your meter in to protect it even have probe holders on the side.

                And I do the things the guys described too, chopsticks and other one handed grips.

                If you have ever spent time in field service, you quickly learn life is not about politely sitting the meter on the bench in front of you.


                I got into using one of those handheld probe type meters for a while, the ones with a display on the side, and a ground lead trails out the back. I kinda liked it. It was like using a logic probe.
                Education is what you're left with after you have forgotten what you have learned.

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                • #9
                  What's a decent meter that will sit while you work?

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                  • #10
                    Sit? Why I expect it to work right along with me.

                    Some of those meter cozies have a tilt-back bail, but I just lean my meter on something. Often as not, sitting on the underside of a transformer. (Chassis is open side up.) A lot of times it leans against my computer monitor. Sideways, leaning against the handle on top of a combo.
                    Education is what you're left with after you have forgotten what you have learned.

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                    • #11
                      I just use a clip lead to chassis off the negative probe for many tube amp jobs. One less probe to slip and short out. I need to keep one hand free to stop my cat from poking his nose in - he can smell B+. Never bothers with transistor amps.

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                      • #12
                        Originally posted by Mick Bailey View Post
                        I need to keep one hand free to stop my cat from poking his nose in - he can smell B+. Never bothers with transistor amps.
                        Don't worry about your cat, he's 1000 times more intelligent than a human (and 1000000 times more intelligent than a dog).
                        He's there just to have fun at you after *you* touch 400V or something.

                        Rats are intelligent too.
                        I once made a rat trap in an infested building , made out of parallel strips of aluminum, alternatively connected to an 800V secondary tube PT.
                        No, 220V was not enough , they jumped, looked dead for 4 or 5 minutes, started breathing again and run away.

                        Dogs sometimes stepped on the "grill", getting nasty burns in a paw; rats avoided it (although it was "floating", not ground referenced) so I had to add an IR barrier and a relay to turn it on when the rat was well over the grill .... or they run away.
                        Juan Manuel Fahey

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                        • #13
                          This used to be considered "portable": Osborne 1 computer Having lugged one around back in '82, I can confirm that it was liftable, and could be moved - with some back strain - from one location to another. If that's your definition of "portable", so be it.

                          To be fair, "handheld" meters can become so if the ground lead is clamped to a reliable connection, one hand holds the meter so as to be maximally viewable, and the other holds the probe to test out values at various points.

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                          • #14
                            J M Fahey - You don't need a better mousetrap, you need better bait. Most people automatically grab cheese for some reason...I've seen it sit there untouched for weeks...Use peanut butter. They can't resist it. All it takes is a dab of peanut butter the size of a pencil eraser. 1st time I used it a rat grabbed it in 20 minutes or less...after cheese sat there for 3 weeks. We caught 17 rats that night alone. Serious rat problem...

                            Smooth or chunky, makes no difference...
                            Why do I drive way out here to view the wildlife when all the animals live in town?

                            My Photography - http://billy-griffis-jr.artistwebsites.com/

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                            • #15
                              Yes, I know

                              Big problem is that in Argentina, peanut butter is "something Elvis used to eat" and known only thanks to films, not available anywhere.

                              It's easier to get rice vinegar or sake (for sushi) than it, go figure.

                              But sometimes I used a friend's grandfather tip: put a thumbnail sized piece of bacon and heated it with a lighter, so it half melted and started spreading fumes (and smell); it seemed to attract all big rats in the building.
                              Juan Manuel Fahey

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