hi. multimeter question.

[mmrock]

hi. i am thinking about getting a multimeter on my next purchase of vaping stuff. i was wondering about this one:

http://www.sweet-vapes.com/shop?pag..._color_plus.tpl&product_id=237&category_id=27

is this a good one to get? i want to check for faulty carto's, atty's, clearo's, because i dont want one of those things to kill my batteries. i'm sure it only takes a few seconds to check them and i rather be safe than sorry. will this multimeter do the job, or should i get something else? ..and also, umm, how do you check these things with a multimieter? lol... and how will i know if its faulty. i heard someone mention that if the multimeter reads zero, its faulty. is that true?

 

[LucentShadow]

Hi. It's very cheap, and gets mixed reviews on Amazon:

Amazon.com: Palm-Size Handheld Digital Multimeter, DT830B: Home Improvement

It may not last, but it'd probably be fine for what you need.

I don't think that there is much chance of getting a carto that would mess up your battery, but it's probably possible.

Basically, you'd want to set the meter to read resistance (ohms,) and check the resistance between the center pin and the outside of the connector on the carto. Anything less than 1.5 ohms could be hazardous to a 650mah battery. Anything very close to zero would mean there is a short-circuit in the carto somehow.

Keep in mind that you'd first take a reading with the leads together to get the resistance of the leads, and subtract that from the reading gotten from the carto. Most sets of leads are around 0.2 ohms, in my experience.

 

[DaveP]

I have several of those on different floors of my house, in the basement, and one in the car! They are cheap, adequately reliable, and accurate enough for anything you will do that is ecig related. I think you can buy that one with confidence.

Mine came from Harbor Freight. They put them on sale for $3.99 frequently. Chances are you can go to Walmart and buy the same or similar unit for the online price. They are all relabeled and multi-branded Chinese products, but they are good to have around.

 

[scalewiz]

We got one on the bench at work, they work fine. Just keep the connections where the leads plug into the meter clean. For 5 bucks or so, there's no way you went wrong. That's a cup of coffee some places!

 

[mmrock]

thanks for the info!

 

[Dana A]

I bought the harbor freight one but it never worked right. I ended up going to wal mart and getting one for like 17 bucks.I wish I had seen the one above for 5 bucks LOL

I have several of those on different floors of my house, in the basement, and one in the car! They are cheap, adequately reliable, and accurate enough for anything you will do that is ecig related. I think you can buy that one with confidence.

Mine came from Harbor Freight. They put them on sale for $3.99 frequently. Chances are you can go to Walmart and buy the same or similar unit for the online price. They are all relabeled and multi-branded Chinese products, but they are good to have around.

 

[Winged Orpheus]

Radioshack also has a decent selection of multimeters. They'll have cheapos, as well as more expensive/sturdier models.

 

[spider362]

The ones from Harbor Freight and similar are made in China and are mostly hit and miss for working.
However, when they work, they are fairly accurate, but they won't last long if used daily.

I have 4 or 5 of the ones from Harbor Freight. I pick up a new one whenever they put them on sale for $1.99 - $2.99.
One of them the on/off switch doesn't work, but the others are okay.

 

[Ty89m]

I picked mine up on Amazon, while not as cheap as the one recommended here, it was still less than 20 dollars. Equus 3320 auto ranging multimeter. Works fine for my needs, and seems to match what my Provari reads as for as batt. voltage and resitance on attys/cartos.