Harbor Freight Freebie DMM

Take it apart and look at the cheap circuit board and you will see whay it was FREE.

Ken

Hmm, that is quite a difference.
Oh well, at least your not out much ;)

I suspect every tech may be concerned about slight errors. However, I suspect if I was trouble shooting a ckt my concern would be the voltage difference. Free or not I'm betting if you picked up 20 different digital volt meters there would be errors between them. Back when techs really repaired electronic equipment instead of throw away in todays world we used analog volt meters and calibrated them to flashlight batteries. Didn't seem to handicap the techs. In fact many techs including myself measured DC with a scope which probably had considerable DC error. I have never had a problem trouble shooting an RV problem with a Harbor Freight free meter. I have about 5 or 6 of those free meters. Never had a problem. When was the last time your John Fluke was calibrated? When working in the aero space industry our equipment was calibrated every 30 days on Uncle Sam's dime. Probably a Harbor Freight meter would have worked just fine in the lab without any calibration. :B A meter is only as good as the person holding the probes and reading the meter, calibrated or not. I use the Harbor Freight meters all the time in my RV. Doubt it handicapped my troubleshooting skills. I totally recommend these free meters for every RVer.

I must have 10 or so of these free Harbor Freight meters, with most still in their display packaging. (They were free without having to buy anything up until late last year.) I use them frequently. I don't depend on the meter to give me an exact readout, and most of the time an accurate reading isn't that important anyway. They come in handy to determine if a circuit is hot, or ground is functioning.

Besides, you can't beat the price. (Even if you have to buy something else now, it is still a good deal.)

WyoTraveler wrote:
When was the last time your John Fluke was calibrated? When working in the aero space industry our equipment was calibrated every 30 days on Uncle Sam's dime...

The Fieldpiece is calibrated once a year on your dime. :B That's my standard. I calibrate the Fluke 88 and Simpson 260 to that as needed.

The HF has a single pot calibration. It must just adjust the display stage. Regardless, I calibrated it to 15V and now the current reads 4.8A @ 5.0A input.

I'm of the same opinion and have been in to electronics since the era of Popular Electronics, Heathkit and Radio Shack (early 70's). They're great troubleshooting tools that can be thrown away if damaged and cheap enough to have many on hand where ever you need one.

BTW: Most of my traveling tools are Harbor Freight or other China tools while I have some nicer tools at home. If the traveling tools were stolen or damaged, it would not be a big loss and they are fine for occasional use.

I use the HF in the RV to check for the presence of voltage or continuity and as a loaner. I will not loan my Fluke. I was in electronic servicing for 50 years, as mentioned when a tech was a tech and not a board changer. :)

I have 3 Fluke meters, a 27, 77, and 8080 as well as a couple HF meters. They all read within .1 volts when measuring a lead acid battery. The only one that will accurately measure the output from a modified sine wave inverter is the 8080 which is true RMS.

I have a few of those. I only use them for 12 volt testing, batteries mostly. I also have a bunch of screw drivers, led flashlights, tape measures, magnetic trays and what ever else was free at one time or another. Love that store.

OK, you know you're complaining about a free meter, right?