Question about multimeters and false readings

I always thought the $15 multimeters from Harbor Freight were good enough for basic checks. But after chasing a ghost voltage issue on a Whirlpool washer for 3 hours last Tuesday, I borrowed a Fluke from a buddy and found the real problem in 5 minutes. Anyone else find cheap meters lead you down the wrong path?

2 comments

2 Comments

milap3519d ago

My buddy had a similar thing happen with his dryer, kept testing continuity and getting weird results that made no sense. Turns out that cheap meter was picking up random stray voltage from his phone charger sitting right next to it on the workbench. The Fluke he borrowed just completely ignored that noise and gave him a clean reading. Sometimes you don't realize how much those cheap meters are LYING to you until you see what a proper one can do.

taylor17419d ago

oh man, that's exactly what happened to me. @milap35 your phone charger story is crazy, but it makes total sense now. i was troubleshooting a dishwasher that kept throwing a drain error and the cheap meter was showing 12 volts on a wire that should have been dead. spent three hours replacing perfectly good parts. borrowed a buddy's Fluke and it showed 0.01 volts immediately. the cheap ones will just pick up any random electrical noise in the air and show it like it's real. it's like they're not even trying to filter anything out. i ended up buying my own Fluke just to save future headaches.