Is a multimeter/voltmeter absolutely essential for modding?

[dydst]

Hello everyone,
I want to pick up a nemesis clone. Do I need to have a multimeter or voltmeter to check the volts remaining on a battery? Can I just get a charger with a built-in voltmeter?
Thanks!

 

[doctadrea]

I don't know your life, but I'd say get a multimeter. It's a good thing to have if you're using electronics.

 

[MandM78]

It's a very good idea. Especially if you're using mechs and planning on rebuilding.

 

[^Top-Shelf^]

Highly recommended. Better to have one then to ruin your batteries or even coils if doing rebuildables. Plus if building your own coils you can check the resistance. IMO everyone that has a mechanical should have one. You can get on pretty cheap, if your not looking to spend very much just go to your local Harbor Freight and pick one up. Here ya go
http://t.harborfreight.com/7-functi...Fwww.google.com%2F&utm_medium=mobile_redirect

 

[PhatRon]

I have This One and it gets the job done. $3.99 for an ensured safety is a no brainer in my book. It's always good to check the remaining charge on your batteries when you feel it getting weak so you don't overdischarge it. That will significantly decrease the lifespan of the battery and you will have to buy them a lot more often which equals more $$$ spent over time... As said before it is also a good idea for testing the resistance of your rebuilt coils. Better to check than to make a bad mistake and overtax your battery = thermal runaway= health concerns...

 

[zoiDman]

Hello everyone,
I want to pick up a nemesis clone. Do I need to have a multimeter or voltmeter to check the volts remaining on a battery? Can I just get a charger with a built-in voltmeter?
Thanks!

I don't know if Anything is Absolutely Essential for Modding. But if there is, it would be a Multimeter.

 

[certus11]

I have a volt, ohm meter coming. I bought it because I don't want to short my battery and lose a few bucks when I install my tank onto my mech. An ohm meter to me is a preventive measure.

 

[Ed_C]

Would a 4 buck MM be accurate enough in the sub-ohm resistance range to be useful (or even LR, but above one ohm)? I've never owned a MM that was so cheap, so I can't say for sure. I would want to check it against something better. I pretty sure you would need to subtract out the resistance of the leads, as I can't imagine at that price it would have the option to zero it out.


PS I'm referring to the use in building coils and not for checking battery voltage.

 

[^Top-Shelf^]

Would a 4 buck MM be accurate enough in the sub-ohm resistance range to be useful (or even LR, but above one ohm)? I've never owned a MM that was so cheap, so I can't say for sure. I would want to check it against something better. I pretty sure you would need to subtract out the resistance of the leads, as I can't imagine at that price it would have the option to zero it out.


PS I'm referring to the use in building coils and not for checking battery voltage.

Good question, I use my $90 MM for everything, but I have a cheapy in the garage I'll pull out tomorrow and compare them on a coil. Think I got it on sale for $3.50 when I ordered all my stereo/speakers building stuff.
3-1/2 Digit 19 Range Digital Multimeter with Transistor Test | 390-500

 

[Rickajho]

If you want to know what your battery voltage is, if your charger is working correctly, if you built a shorted coil or one that is so low it's beyond the reasonable discharge rate of your batteries, then yeah a good meter is absolutely essential. But if you don't think it's relevant to expose batteries to dead shorts, don't care if a 0.2 ohm build is more than your battery of choice an handle, and think you can tell if you are running your batteries under voltage by feeling them - then no, you really don't need one.

Get a meter and get a good one. I've tried three of those crap meters from Harbor Freight Tools and none of them can give an accurate resistance reading below 20 ohms. That's 20 ohms - not 2.0 ohms. If you want to build sub ohm coils - hell anything lower than 2.0 ohms even - you can't use a $5.00 meter that may be off by as much as 40% high in that resistance range. Not one of the three I tried was even close to correct resistance readings.

 

[Dampmaskin]

A good meter is an investment. Don't buy a cheap one if you can buy a good one.

But if you can only afford a cheap one, then well yeah, buy a cheap one.

 

[jwag1973]

I've got a couple Fluke MM's, worth every penny IMO! I believe Sears sells a decent Craftsman meter at a good price. If your modding anything concerning electronic equipment...get a good meter.

 

[Tbev]

Yes

Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk

 

[WattWick]

Besides telling you your resistance and battery voltage... most importantly a multi-meter will tell you if you have a short or not.

Besides... every household needs a few basic tools. A multi-meter is one of them, imho.

 

[DreamPipe]

there's a pretty decent digital multimeter that you can get at wally world for about $20. It's completely worth it. Seems both reliable and accurate, it's made by the GE corporation. I have used it so many times, not just for e cigs. You'll thank yourself if you buy one, seriously. And super expensive isn't necessary, but don't go super cheap either. Just my 2 cents

 

[dripdaze]

In my experience cheap tools are worth almost 10% of what they cost. Get the best you can afford. You only buy it once.

 

[mattybenzo]

An ohm reader or multi meter is essential to building sub ohm, don't cheap out on safety.

 

[Froth]

In my experience cheap tools are worth almost 10% of what they cost. Get the best you can afford. You only buy it once.

Excellent advice, as a "retired" industry mechanic I can very easily agree with that. Very very few cheap tools end up actually panning out.

This is what I use, I've had it for going on four years and have never had a single issue with it. - http://www.esitest.com/597.html

I use it to test all of my batteries, all of my coils, pretty much everything. I think a DMM is more useful than a simple black box OHM checker as with a DMM you can check the ohms of the length of wire you're working with and get a pretty decent idea of what your wrapped coil will ohm out to.

 

[bcameron]

Especially when dealing with sub-ohms you want a very good MM. If in doubt get a Fluke. $50 and under MM will not cut it. Because my ohm builds are usually between 1.2-1.6 I just use my SVD or iTaste v3 to check ohm and test fire coil. I have a cheaper MM that I use to check battery voltage. But if I were doing sub-ohm I wouldn't check it with a cheap MM, I would make sure I buy the best MM I could because unlike a higher ohm coil getting a reading that could be up to .2 off could be very bad.

 

[BillyHill]

I have This One and it gets the job done. $3.99 for an ensured safety is a no brainer in my book. It's always good to check the remaining charge on your batteries when you feel it getting weak so you don't overdischarge it. That will significantly decrease the lifespan of the battery and you will have to buy them a lot more often which equals more $$$ spent over time... As said before it is also a good idea for testing the resistance of your rebuilt coils. Better to check than to make a bad mistake and overtax your battery = thermal runaway= health concerns...

Thanks for the heads up on this meter. I own a more expense one but the ohms scale is restricted to a higher scale so I ordered one of these.