Multimeter question

[Arislan]

I always thought that holding together the tester tips of a multimeter in Ohm mode would read zero. Mine keeps jumping all over the place. Any ideas if that is normal?

[polar bear6]

is it realatively big numbers, it might be that your not holding them totaly together, and it may be touching your finger or something.
i just checked with mine, and it jumps from 6-7 ohms....
maybe you have blown the fuse, i did that once, and the numbers were flying like hippies on crack, it was wierd.

[Arislan]

it still measures voltage from batteries perfectly, just not ohms from anything.

[dunk]

yup, not normal.
i'm not at home just now so i can't check but i'm fairly sure mine reads zero on all settings when you measure resistance and press the probes together.
a multi meter really is one of the components you don't want to economise on when buying.
i ended up buying quite a good one a load of years ago and have never regretted it.

you don't need lots of features (mine is only ever used for measuring voltage, current and resistance) but having a stable meter that you don't have to worry about damaging with excessive current (within reason) is definitely a good thing.

dunk.

[sdk32285]

also i have found that meters that beep when shorted( ie continuity meter) are very usefull.

[Arislan]

Mine was a DT-830B that I bought for $10. Says CE on it, which I guess means Chinese Electronics.. ;-)

Anyway...when I turn the dial to the 200 OHM range....the display shows only the number 1, a few spaces and a dot. I think it should be 0...no?

I place one probe on one end of a 1 megOhm resistor and the other probe on the other end. No change in the numbers displayed. But when I crossed probes it kept flying random numbers.

Does anyone have a better brand/model to recommend?

[polar bear6]

i have a Caltek CM3604, its really good, i bought it on sale for 50 dollars and the only problem i have had with it was when i put 500mA trough the 200mA thing, not hard to change the fuse.
they have really good support service, i sent a mail and asked what was wrong, and i got this fully detailed writing with pictures and everything, and the information on the fuse.
and the multimeter has alot of fetures.