Multimeter resistance question

[anumber1]

$30, are you kidding?

Fluke 1587 Insulation Multimeter - Fluke Corporation

And don't forget the NIST calibration $145 add on

That is a damn fine meter tho

 

[Confuzzled1969]

First, I hope this is an OK place for this thread. I have no idea why, but I am unable to post in the New members forum, which is where I originally intended to put this. I seem to be able to post in any other forum but there. So, anyone have ideas on that?


I bought a cheap Digital Multimeter at Harbor Freight. (I know, buy cheap...get cheap results). My thought process was that I could use a digital multimeter anyway, and it would be a good "double check" of ohm resistance if I ever step up to a regulated mod that has the resistance tester on it. I plan to do some coil building soon. So, I wanted the baseline resistance and touched the lead tips together and it was all over the place. I tried it a dozen times, and was very careful to hold them steady. It finally settled on 1.2 ohms. Is that crazy? I thought the typical baseline resistance of the leads was usually in the .02 to .05 ohms range.

I think the thing is just junk and should be returned...which I am going to do. But, do I need to spend $30 to get a decent one that will be accurate on resistance testing, or have others been using cheap multimeters with good results? Am I just unlucky?

Thanks.

You bought the wrong tool, either get a meter made for this or get a milliohm meter.

It sounds like you bought a digital multi-meter or DMM. It is a piece of test equipment used for troubleshooting. The readings will always have a margin of error that is probably wider than the range of coils most are building. Even a Fluke DMM, which is probably one of the best, has a margin of error in the sub-ohm range that renders it useless for coil building.

I have a milliohm meter and finally broke down and bought one of the cheapo ones for the attys, I only spent 13 bucks and it is actually pretty darn accurate according to the $400 plus Fluke milliohm meter I have.

Right tool for the job always works better than a tool for a lot of jobs...