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Fluke 179?


GPH

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Hey, I ordered one first. I can't help it if all of you sheep had to do the same thing. :P

Maybe we should buy one and ship it to ipodpj for review. After he states that it's the best DMM in existence, we'll all know we got good shit. ;)

V99? V99? I mean, surely he could offer up some logo or branding design services for one.

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I have similar temptations. The VC99 looks quite nice. Also need an inductance meter (well, want), signal generator, and quite a bit of other test equipment.

What could be better for a DIYer than a DIY LCRZ meter?

M3 Digital LCRZ Meter Features

I put one of these together and it is one of my favorite gadgets. I think the best features are the transformer measurments it can do, and the capacitor measurements (ESR, Q, dissipation factor).

I also put together one of these LC meters:

L/C Meter II, a digital inductance meter / capacitance meter.

This one is cheaper, but has fewer features (the L measurment does not work on transformers, for example). I actually use it more often than the other meter for simple capacitance measurement because it is a two-lead instrument, so it's faster to use.

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I don't know about the 179 specifically, but I have a 189 and absolutely love it. Would've probably gotten the 187, since I don't use the logging, but I found a good deal on a used 189 before I could find one on a 187.

One thing I will suggest is getting a decent set of test leads, you wouldn't believe how much they can come in handy. I have ones that'll clip onto component leads so you can easily adjust trimpots and such, tips with a plastic guard that'll safely measure one pin on a DIP IC (like an opamp) without sliding off and shorting against the adjacent ones, ones with long sheathed extensions to measure in tight spots, etc. I really don't know how I got by with just regular test leads before.

I'd probably rather use a more basic meter with good leads than a fancy meter with only standard leads, but maybe I'm just weird.

Hi,

Do you have a link to the Leads you are referring to here? I'm looking and have some leads similar to what you describe, but my leads are pretty cheap and I have no idea what Voltage they are rated for.

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Hi,

Do you have a link to the Leads you are referring to here? I'm looking and have some leads similar to what you describe, but my leads are pretty cheap and I have no idea what Voltage they are rated for.

Not sure which leads Fitz uses, but I have most of these and they are versatile and high quality:

Probemaster Inc.

Most of the time, I only need one of the weird tips, so I actually bought a smaller set and a single of the less-used tips.

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The first time you take a HV reading with a cheap multimeter set on ohms and blow up 3 days worth of work and components you will buy a Fluke, any serious builder should own one.

Or, perhaps serious builders are careful enough to not take HV measurement with their meter set on ohms?

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I'd stay away from the super cheap meters despite the results of that testing. My own personal experience is that my cheap $5 meter is often off by more than 10V when trying to measure line voltage. Example, LV on my Fluke = 122VAC, on the $5 Harbor Freight = 110VAC. Pretty shitty if you ask me. I use that meter as a fuse now, as in "I wonder if this measurement will blow up my meter".

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I'd stay away from the super cheap meters despite the results of that testing. My own personal experience is that my cheap $5 meter is often off by more than 10V when trying to measure line voltage. Example, LV on my Fluke = 122VAC, on the $5 Harbor Freight = 110VAC. Pretty shitty if you ask me. I use that meter as a fuse now, as in "I wonder if this measurement will blow up my meter".

I don't like the cheap Harbor Freight jobs either. But the Mastech looks like having a couple of those might be doable. One could test them for accuracy. Wish I had a box of Fluke 189s!! One can wish! Since I'm contemplating some HV stuff, I'm eyeing my leads with suspicion. The one's I bought off ebay and MPJA have got me skeered.

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