A Low Cost (and possibly free) Digital Multimeter from Harbor Freight
As you get more comfortable with doing your own repairs and working with tools, at some point you'll start to try and tackle basic electrical tasks and one of the basic tools that is nice to have is a digital multimeter.
A digital multimeter is just that, a digital meter that can read several different things that would be important to working on an electrical issue. A multimeter can read voltage that is direct current (DC) like what you would get from a battery or alternating current (AC) like what you have in the outlets in your wall. In addition to voltage, a multimeter can read resistance, current (direct and alternating) and usually do checks on diodes and or transistors. Once you get into working on electrical items you'll find that you can't live without a digital multimeter.
A good quality multimeter can be a costly item and it may be something you'll want to spend money on at some point in the future if you do a lot of electrical work, but for just starting out all you need is a simple low cost digital multimeter and one of the easiest to get a hold of is a basic one from Harbor Freight.
Here is a link to the page at the Harbor Freight website where they sell a very basic multimeter for $4.49. The neat thing about this multimeter is that Harbor Freight also includes this multimeter as one of the free items in their weekly ads when you purchase another item which is a pretty good deal.
Here is a picture of the meter and it comes with a basic set of instructions along with a set of probes/leads so you are ready to go once you get it home.
I have one of these setting on the bench at each of the two shops that I have and the really nice thing about these multimeters are that they work of the majority of tasks that I do and that they are cheap/free so I am never that concerned if the multimeter gets damaged.
If your thinking about getting into working on electrical tasks, go ahead and pick one of these digital multimeters up and start getting up to speed on how to use it and before long you be wondering how you ever lived without one in the past.
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A digital multimeter is just that, a digital meter that can read several different things that would be important to working on an electrical issue. A multimeter can read voltage that is direct current (DC) like what you would get from a battery or alternating current (AC) like what you have in the outlets in your wall. In addition to voltage, a multimeter can read resistance, current (direct and alternating) and usually do checks on diodes and or transistors. Once you get into working on electrical items you'll find that you can't live without a digital multimeter.
A good quality multimeter can be a costly item and it may be something you'll want to spend money on at some point in the future if you do a lot of electrical work, but for just starting out all you need is a simple low cost digital multimeter and one of the easiest to get a hold of is a basic one from Harbor Freight.
Here is a link to the page at the Harbor Freight website where they sell a very basic multimeter for $4.49. The neat thing about this multimeter is that Harbor Freight also includes this multimeter as one of the free items in their weekly ads when you purchase another item which is a pretty good deal.
Here is a picture of the meter and it comes with a basic set of instructions along with a set of probes/leads so you are ready to go once you get it home.
I have one of these setting on the bench at each of the two shops that I have and the really nice thing about these multimeters are that they work of the majority of tasks that I do and that they are cheap/free so I am never that concerned if the multimeter gets damaged.
If your thinking about getting into working on electrical tasks, go ahead and pick one of these digital multimeters up and start getting up to speed on how to use it and before long you be wondering how you ever lived without one in the past.
Helpful Links ()
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