XPost: sci.electronics.equipment   
   From: CFKinsey@military.org.jp   
      
   On Thu, 02 Jul 2020 15:41:19 +0100, Ralph Mowery    
   wrote:   
      
   > In article , presence@MUNGEpanix.com   
   > says...   
   >>   
   >> Have you run this test with AC? That seems to be where the wheels come   
   >> off. I brought up this thread to a friend and he mentioned his quest to   
   >> repair some sort of HP true RMS meter that uses a thermocouple and heater   
   >> to properly measure complex waveforms. I can't even guess how slow such a   
   >> meter might be.   
   >>   
   >> > I had 3 or 4 of the Harbor Freight 'free' multimeters.  The ones that   
   >> > usually sell for around $ 5.  They seem to be reasonable accurate for   
   >> > the money.  Plenty accurate for the home user to test things around the   
   >> > house.  I do admit that the safety issue of putting them across the 120   
   >> > or 240 volt power wires is somewhat doubtful.  I sure would not use one   
   >> > where I worked to put across the 480 volt 3 phase system that is  fused   
   >> > with 200 amps.   
   >>   
   >> I'm pretty timid with anything upstream from a plain outlet. I had an   
   >> edison base fuse burst in my hand once. Never seen one come apart before.   
   >> It was just a 120v lighting circuit, but right off the service panel.   
   >> There's way more excitement near those things.   
   >>   
   >>   
   >   
   > I have not ran any tests for AC . The things I work with don't care   
   > about very much about being accurate to more than around 5 %.  Usually   
   > it is more of do I have a voltage/current or not.   
   >   
   > When I work on most anything other than low voltage (below 100 volts) I   
   > ues either my Simpson 260 analog meter  or a Fluke meter that is rated   
   > for cat 3 and 4.  If you have not heard of the Cat numbers, they are for   
   > devices used in different power circuits.   
      
   Yes I've heard of them, they're a measurement scale for pansies.   
      
   > I don't know the numbers off   
   > hand, but it goes something like this, Cat 1 is for low voltage items,   
   > Cat 2 for things like stoves and refrigerators, Cat 3 for homw   
   > wiring,and Cat 4 for the very high power circuits like I often worked on   
   > like the 480 volt AC and 300 amps.   
   >   
   > For a real scare you should see some of the safety movies that Fluke put   
   > out.  They show under test conditions what can hapen to inexpensive   
   > meters and their meters under different conditions  like having the   
   > meter set for amps and putting across a 480 volt circuit that has plenty   
   > of amps .   
      
   Safety movies designed to sell Fluke meters, and you fell for them hook line   
   and sinker.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)