Multimeter help.

[Bantam59]

So my co- worker got a free multimeter from harbor freight and gave it to me today.. How do i use it to check ohms?

any assistance would be appreciated.


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[State O' Flux]

Switch to the 200 Ω (Ohms) scale (180° opposite 0f where it is now), Black test lead to COM. Red test lead to "VΩmA".

Red test terminal to positive, Black test terminal to ground.

Don't trust it for anything less than one Ohm.

 

[somdcomputerguy]

He gave you the meter, but not the docs? Turn the dial counterclockwise to maybe the 20k mark. I'm not sure of the exact mark there you would use, better to wait for more replies..

 

[Bantam59]

Switch to the 200 Ω (Ohms) scale (180° opposite 0f where it is now), Black test lead to COM. Red test lead to "VΩmA".

Red test terminal to positive, Black test terminal to ground.

Don't trust it for anything less than one Ohm.

Ok, thanks. So it's not good for sub ohms?


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[somdcomputerguy]

He gave you the meter, but not the docs? Turn the dial counterclockwise to maybe the 20k mark. I'm not sure of the exact mark there you would use, better to wait for more replies..

Ah. Yeah 200 seems righter.

 

[State O' Flux]

Ok, thanks. So it's not good for sub ohms?


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No. At sub-ohm, they're not accurate. buy a known good quality, accurate (accuracy and resolution are not the same thing) build box/ohm meter.

 

[oplholik]

I have had a couple of these, and they can be very inaccurate.

 

[gpjoe]

Listen to State O' Flux.

This meter is not going to be accurate at or near 1 ohm or below. A digital multimeter with that resolution would cost hundreds or thousands of dollars. Even an entry level Fluke meter costing over a hundred bucks doesn't have the required resolution for reading sub-ohm resistance accurately - no way a $2 give-away meter can.

buy a $15 black box made for vaping. It will be much more accurate and safer.

 

[93gc40]

I have never seen one of those meters read accurately.... Even for volts. I have several of the free ones. There great for tossing in a tool box for emergency use. But not much value for Vape work except to check the battery. nd even then I've known them to be 1/2 a volt off.

 

[edyle]

Ok, thanks. So it's not good for sub ohms?


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there isn't much that is good for 'subohm'.

anyway you also need to check your zero offset when measuring low ohms.
By low ohms I mean less than 10 ohms.

hold the leads together so that you have 'no' ohms.
you might get anything from 0.1 to 2 ohms.
when you measure a coil, you subtract that offset.
you can think of that offset as the ohms of the red and black wire leads plus contact resistance; it will vary from day to day, hour to hour.

 

[mightymen]

I had one of these and used it for testing the batteries worked good for that.

 

[WharfRat1976]

This meter works just fine. Plug your black probe into the COM port and your red probe into the VmA port. Do not use the 10A port. Flip it to 200DCV to check your Batts and to 200 at 6 O'Clock and check your coil builds. Check and double check your coil reads and you will be just fine. Keep the probe tips clean.

 

[Two_Bears]

Ok, thanks. So it's not good for sub ohms?


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No most multimeter's get flaky down around 1.2 ohms

 

[Nuggit]

I use mne for checking attys when I build em, so I don't have to take a tank apart, check for shorts and so forth. If I get 1.2 ohms, I usually get .6. Works good for aprox readings.

 

[Nuggit]

Yea, usually, with mine when I get in the sub ohm range I can divide the readding in half and be pretty close.
I meant to put that in...
Just went to the dentist and the pain meds are working.... lol
I do have a vape ohm meter to get final spec, but I use my HF meter ro check for shorts and make sure I'm close.

 

[WharfRat1976]

No most multimeter's get flaky down around 1.2 ohms

It's fine for sub ohms. I have a Klein MM 100 and it's usually spot on with any of my regulated mods or ohm readers....it's dead nuts down to .2 for me.

 

[bwh79]

No. At sub-ohm, they're not accurate. Buy a known good quality, accurate (accuracy and resolution are not the same thing) build box/ohm meter.

That's fine for 510's, but what about a hybrid mod? I have one of these on the way from a contest, and I don't know how else I'm supposed to check it.

 

[Nuggit]

Use the meter at the posts, above an ohm is gonna be real close, below, divide by half. Not spot on unfortunately, but close enough to vape. I wouldn't go very far below a half ohm on that thing given your situation.
Or trade it for a decent regulated mod. It'll read out for ya. The Xbox mini kit comes with a subtank mini, couple of heads, rba head, nice setup. And the .5 horizontal heads are EZ to build kickin verts in, I just whipped out 2 a minute ago. I run my mutation x on it too.
Just food for thought, vape on man!

 

[State O' Flux]

That's fine for 510's, but what about a hybrid mod? I have one of these on the way from a contest, and I don't know how else I'm supposed to check it.

Above about 0.30Ω, you can use a decent DMM alone... preferably one with a min/max feature* so you can make an educated estimate of true resistance from the range provided. Make sure you discount the test lead resistance.

If below 0.30Ω... you need a greater level of accuracy. Perhaps the least expensive method... at least cheaper than a true 4-wire milliohm meter, is with a decent DMM and a Tech-Thing "half ohm" milliohm adaptor. A decent $70 meter and a $20 tech thing, and you get accuracy on par with a decent $400 milliohm meter.

(*The Kline MM1000 (with the very handy "min/max" feature) comes to mind (as I've had to research this before). It's a decent DMM for around $65, and can be found on Amazon, Home Depot and eBay for $60~$65.)