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i know nothing. does that thing actually come out to be cheaper than just buying a multimeter?
around 100$ if you build it yourself apparently
but it has some unique features, the display is wirelessly connected to the body and removable
it has serial console so you can connect it to a computer and log the measurements
it has a module bay, so you can make a module with a custom connector to measure its pins
it can measure current and voltage at the same time
nothing else stood out to me
probably not, but it is very neat
I mean that depends a lot on how good of a multimeter it is. If you’re comparing it to a fluke then it’d be hard for it to even remotely occupy the same price bracket
But thats also an incredibly nice professional tool
I wouldn’t mind making my own digital oscilloscope, because those ARE expensive.
Thats gonna depend a lot on how nice of a multimeter you’re comparing it to. Its almost undoubtedly gonna be massively cheaper than like a ‘fluke’, but that’s a really high quality professional tool. They’re kinda the bar for quality in multimeters
Upfront, I don’t even know how to use a multimeter… But aren’t they like less than $20?
Please don’t use a $20 multimeter for anything important.
You can get one for that much, sure. But there’s a lot of variance in terms of features and build quality. You can easily spend $100 or more for a nice professional grade one.
I suspect that, as with most open source projects, the goal here isn’t to make a competitive commercial product, but rather to do something cool and infinitely customizable.
Cool as hell but… this has no utility outside of poops and giggles/memes.
Handheld multimeters are one of those things that were “solved” probably over 20 years ago at this point. Even a crappy local hardware store white label is going to handle all the auto-ranging and safety factors for “Oops, I forgot to change which plugs I was using” things that used to cost a pretty penny.
Also… 99.999999999999% of handheld multimeter use is continuity testing. Yes, I pulled that number out of my ass but I would wager money I am underestimating it, if anything. But for the granularity of voltage and current testing? You don’t actually need anything that fancy for anything you would use a handheld multimeter for.
And as for the cases where specific voltages and currents ARE required? You are almost definitely using a proper bench top power supply and oscilloscope at that point.
I’m just over here using my cheap multimeter to determine if my appliances are trying to cheat me or if the batteries are actually empty
"Is that stripe on this resister red or orange? 120 or 1200 ohms?
I used to work in an electronics repair depot and there were several use cases for the other features.
Current voltage on a line.
Capacitance of a capacitor
Diode testing
Resistive testing on motors and various places on a circuit
Current voltage on a line.
Diode testing
If you are doing “house work” you want that to either be 0 volts or mains voltage… at which point you then go flip the breaker so that it is down to 0.
If you are doing finer grain work on electronics? You want to spend money on a proper power supply LONG before you spend money on a good multimeter.
Capacitance of a capacitor
If it is a loose component, you can literally read that off the cap itself. If it is something you are taking out of an existing device as part of a repair?
You will pretty quickly learn that by the time you care enough to clip a cap and measure it to replace it it is probably already degraded (if not having already popped) and this is a recipe for repeat customers.
Resistive testing on motors and various places on a circuit
And how often are people doing that when it is not literally their job (or hobby)?
Which gets back to: 99.99999999999999999% of handheld multimeter use really is just continuity testing… even if they don’t realize that is actually what they are doing.
Obviously there are niche cases. Those people may have a reason to spend the big bucks (they at least have reason enough to tell them they have a reason…). They are far from the norm.
And, don’t get me wrong: I think anyone who can justify it should, at the very least, get a halfway decent fluke. The handfeel of those are near perfection and I often do use one in conjunction with a power supply or even an oscilloscope. But it very much gets into the realization that, for many tools, the higher end ones are just about hand feel or being a “badge of honor”.
I feel bad that I forgot the name but I was going down a 3d printing rabbit hole a few weeks back and a “maker” did a comparison of digital calipers. And he definitely showed benefits to getting the higher end ones (mostly not having to close them and tare them before using). But he also raised the very good point that even the hardware store chinesium ones weren’t THAT much less precise than his really nice top of the line ones. And at that level of precision, you aren’t using hand calipers anyway.
But also? He is a youtuber and a business owner. People think less of people who use the super dirt cheap tools and that can translate to fewer views and even potentially lost clients who decide he “isn’t serious” because his calipers aren’t the right brand.
There is a lot of residential work thats not just 0V or 110/120V. If you are doing any work on your HVAC system you will see 24V, 0-10V analog signals. And you can’t just turn the furnace or AC off if you want to troubleshoot some electrical issues.
None of which is a particular stress test for even a bargain bin multimeter you got at the kroger.
I’m going to warn anyone reading this thread away from the ones sold by harbor freight. They work okay at first, but they suck for forgetting to power them off. My last one is registering voltage at about 40%.
Professionally, a cheap digital multimeter will be fine in most aspects. I would say $15-20 Is fine. If you are doing deep circuit troubleshooting then you might want to consider something like a fluke.
