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Member's Forum What was your first multimeter?
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  • Replies 15 replies
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  • what was your
  • first multimeter
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What was your first multimeter?

cstanton
cstanton over 3 years ago

It doesn't matter if it was bought within the last year, or the last 70 years, you probably remember the first multimeter that you used.

My dad worked as an electrical shift engineer at British Steel / Corus / Tata Steel in the northeast of England, and at home, we of course had all sorts of equipment as I grew up.

He still has this multimeter, and it's the first one I used, I don't remember the exact model, but a trip home would quickly find out. It was a Fluke 8020b type of series, it looks something like this:

image

The photo is from this ebay listing, I am quite surprised at the second-hand price.

But I'll always remember the distinctive clunks as you pressed each button/switch to make your selections. I mainly used it to verify if the batteries for my toys were fully discharged or not, and if the rechargeable batteries needed more power.

So, do share your photos and anecdotes, what was your first multimeter?

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  • ralphjy
    ralphjy over 3 years ago in reply to shabaz +6
    My first was similar - a Radio Shack Knight Kit that I built back in the 70s. The plastic case has a small crack in the back, but it still works fine. I like the large meter, 125mmx95mm. You have to remove…
  • baldengineer
    baldengineer over 3 years ago +6
    Technically, this was not my first DMM. However, my first was something that cost less than $20 and was unremarkable in every way. I got it when I was about 12 years old. A few years later, when I was…
  • rsjawale24
    rsjawale24 over 3 years ago +4
    My first DMM was inexpensive but does its job kinda. I bought this one for about Rs.120 ~ 1.4 USD in 2011 for hobby projects, and it lasted for about 3-4 weeks before I fried the internal circuit accidentally…
Parents
  • shabaz
    shabaz over 3 years ago

    I remember seeing those! 

    My first multimeter was something like this.. probably Altai or Radio Shack. It was purely passive, no battery compartment : ) 

    image

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  • ralphjy
    ralphjy over 3 years ago in reply to shabaz

    My first was similar - a Radio Shack Knight Kit that I built back in the 70s.  The plastic case has a small crack in the back, but it still works fine.  I like the large meter, 125mmx95mm.  You have to remove the entire back cover to access the battery which is required for the ohmmeter.

    image

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  • ralphjy
    ralphjy over 3 years ago in reply to shabaz

    My first was similar - a Radio Shack Knight Kit that I built back in the 70s.  The plastic case has a small crack in the back, but it still works fine.  I like the large meter, 125mmx95mm.  You have to remove the entire back cover to access the battery which is required for the ohmmeter.

    image

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