A bit of insight please :)

[76nemo]

If you are under 600V, Fluke's T5-600 is all you'll need, and for $120, you can't beat it with a stick. It's CAT IV rated. What are your old "Wiggy's" rated at??????? I guess a low impedance tester would be fine in residential work. I'd rather have a dual impedance DMM like Fluke's 116, but your asking about a tester, capable of current measurement.

Fluke T5-600:


http://www.testequipmentdepot.com/fluke/electricaltesters/tseries.htm

 

[LarryFine]

I wouldn't leave home without the Wiggy too.

Same here, although my wiggies are Knopp K-60's.

 

[LarryFine]

What are your old "Wiggy's" rated at???????

Well, my new wiggy is CAT III, which is good enough for what I do now. If I need something better, the job that needs it will pay for it.

 

[Lcdrwalker]

I too have a Fluke 87 MarkIV with a 400A clamp attachment with a few others that normally stays in the truck. I have an inexpensive Ideal true RMS 100A clampon that does most of the work.

 

[Karl H]

I've been using the Fluke T-5 for ten years. The Fluke T-5 has
proven to be the best everyday use meter I've ever owned.
Granted you'll need an amprobe with larger jaws if your doing
Com/Indust. work.

 

[Fulthrotl]

Hello everyone, I hope it's ok that i ask this question here. Don't mean to steal any valuable time away from anyone but just curious what some of your suggestions are for a new Multimeter. I carry a FLUKE and i've been quite happy with it but i'd like to see about getting one with the AMP clamp and I figured that why not use all of your input to help guide my decision. I was looking at the 336 but please give me your reviews etc. All your input is greatly appreciated!

for most stuff, i use a fluke 12. it has been discontinued, but it has features
i like, so i still use one, and have a new one in the box in the garage for when
this one dies. all around bestest meter i've used.

i also have a fluke 87, but it sits in the garage, as the megger has rendered
it unnecessary.

amps? i use a fluke 337

megger? fluke 1587.

had a fluke dual trace o-scope, but that got stolen.

 

[richxtlc]

if you do any work where there is the possibility of harmonics, then you need a true RMS meter as it is the only meter that measures the entire sine wave, and will give you an accurate reading when there are harmonics involved, especially the third harmonic.
another consideration is the category rating of the meter, CAT I,.CAT II, CAT III or CAT IV. each of these meters has a different impulse rating and depending on where in the circuit you may be working the CAT rating is important. The closer you are working to the source (utility) the higher the category you should be using. you can check out fluke.com if you need more info on the CAT rating system.

 

[awc]

Wow, thanks guys for all your input. I've got to process all this for now but honestly the Fluke T5-600 I believe may be the best fit for me. I appreciate all the feedback, you guys are very kind and helpful but of course that's the kind of stuff that really pulled me into this forum. Thanks again and all of you have a Safe and Happy Holiday!

 

[Besoeker]

Change to what? Rolls-Royce? I hear they have more space in the boot.

Nah, altogether too ostentatious.
I have driven one on a number of occasions and, although it's a nice car, I wouldn't want one myself. Compared to the Jaguar, it was surprisingly noisy and not as quick. And, with the price of fuel these days......

 

[360Youth]

I did not read all of the posts, so if I repeat, sorry. For our work, frequency and phase rotation is a must. Not in the same meter necessarily.

 

[eric9822]

The Fluke T-5 has
proven to be the best everyday use meter I've ever owned.

I agree. I work in a large industrial facility and this meter meets my needs 95% of the time, it's relatively inexpensive as well.

 

[robh]

Meters...

Meters...

I work in an industrial facility and I have 4 meters...
Carry everywhere, Fluke T5-1000, favorite meter ever.
When the jaws of my T5 are to small for amp readings I have a Fluke 33 clamp meter.
In my box I have a Fluke 112, good small bench meter.
And the newest member is a Fluke 771 process clamp meter. No more unhooking wires to get a 4-20 mA measurement.

 

[LarryFine]

Instead of looking for clamp-on ammeters with ever-increasing jaw capacity, why not get the cable-loop type of current sensor?

They're great for us on parallel-conductor installations, especially if you want to compare current distribution within one phase.

 

[glene77is]

AWC,
I use a volcon type, a wiggy, and a ClampOn Amp with an analog (needle) display.
I find that the old-fashioned 1970's analog (needle) display will show startup-surges and current fluctuations in almost real time. This second-by-second display can help resolve problems when a (Fluke style) Peak Hold will only show show a single captured reading.

So, I like the Running Continuous (mechanical needle) display.

For example, you can eye-ball the start-up surge of a motor and estimate the quickness or length of the start. If starting under load you can see that the peaking curve lingers for so-many seconds, and if starting under No load you can see that the peaking curve drops down in a half-second, maybe.

I was checking a house for possible neutral open conditions. The HO went inside and turned on the equipment, and then turned on the stereo (way up). I could read his equipment startup, and then saw where the boomy stereo bass bounced the current five amps in rythm!

Hope you find this forum useful.
...

 

[glene77is]

IAOV,

I like the wiggy type.

Mine is a ??? (tool bag not here) and has a 3Kohm load, which pulls about 40mA from the circuit. This slight load will kill most phantom voltages. Most of the time, the phantom voltage is considered an Error Voltage, and I try to kill it with some kind of load.

I used a 100 Watt incandescant light bulb (in a festoon holder with legs) for years. Then I realized that the wiggy thing would do about the same job and was a lot more durable. The Flukes (and other standard Hi-Impedance meters) will pull a microAmp, which will allow phantom voltages to show.

 

[glene77is]

BryanMD,

Speaking of 'old school', I have a Tripolett 660 which is occasionally useful for indicating the Wattage (up to 800) of the device under test (DUT).

Of course,
most people don't know what to do with a pair of analog mechanical needles
in a display! It is fun to use it around a young electrician
and hear him say 'what the...' !

 

[Doug S.]

+1 for the analog clamps and motor work. Love'm

 

[76nemo]

I can agree with the liking to analog meters on work with high inrush, but there are higher end meters with Peak min/max and Inrush features that have sampling rates as fast as 100-250 mS, such as the 87V or the 335+ with the Inrush feature. I used to have an old Simpson, but I got rid of her a couple years back. Here I buy all the latest equipment when most of the older stuff still works fine. Guess I am a geek


Ooohhhhhh, forgot to add,...the T5 is not RMS as already mentioned and has no backlight. Just wanted to give you the con's.

 

[SPARKS40]

I have two meters i primarily use. An Ideal 61-361, and 61-736.