does every multimeter shows higher voltage

[mamun2a]

I have a chines multimeter it always shows 1.5 -2 time higher then the rated voltage of every kind of battery, wt s the prob? does all multimeter do so, how to get the accurate voltage.

12 volt bike batt shows 30-32 vdc
6 volt bike batt shows 11 vdc

6vdc adapter shows 24 vdc
12vdc adapter shows 44 vdc

9vdc batt shows 15 vdc
3.6vdc batt shows 11 vdc
1.5vdc batt shows 3 vdc

 

[RODALCO]

Dump it and get a FLUKE.

A good quality DMM will last you a lifetime and is money well spend.
It is of no use when your meter readings are out by 100 %.

Imagine you measuring mains voltage? testing for 230V, measuring 40V.
You may touch it, BANG!! No more posts on the forum.

You don't want to risk your life upon cheap inadequate equipment.

 

[RODALCO]

One thing i forgot sorry.

Check your 9 volt meter battery, that may be low hence suspect readings.

A FLUKE tells you when the battery is low.

BTW i'm not a FLUKE agent,I just like quailty meters.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

No need to get carried away and spend a fortune on an expensive meter - just buy one that works, your's is obviously faulty. Even cheap meters have battery monitoring functions, so it should tell you if the battery is poor.

 

[Hero999]

It's perfectly for batteries and unregualted power supplies to read up to 25% more than their rated voltage but not 50% or 200%, get a decient meter, dump this piece of rubbish for your own safety.

 

[audioguru]

I have an expensive Fluke DMM that I keep in my workshop, and a cheap Chinese one that I got on sale and I take out (not to dinner and the movies ).
They both read DC voltages exactly the same!

The cheap one killed its battery when I forgot to turn it off but my Fluke turns itself off if it isn't being used for a while.

 

[john1]

Mamun2a,
Your meter is faulty.

Audioguru,
I too have flattened more batteries than enough by leaving meters on the
ohms range.
I am really not sure why the ohms ranges will take current when they are
not actually in use, but it seems that they do.
I am thinking of putting an LED on my ohms ranges, so that i will be much
more likely to turn them off the ohms, each time i use the ohms ranges.
I had a good and working Ever Ready BLR 121 in my bench AVO, until the
day came when i left it on ohms. When i went to use it again, it was flat.
I was of course furious. That battery is not made by Ever Ready anymore.
That was months ago now, and i still havent ordered a replacement.
I may see if i can copy the label, just to stick it on the replacement.

Actually i may make an LED fitting on a meter my next minor project.

Regards, John

 

[audioguru]

The A to D converter in a DMM uses power when it is turned on but doing nothing.
The display is probably displaying OR (over range) and is using power when it is turned on to OHMS but is doing nothing.

My Fluke DMM even has a frequency counter and a true RMS circuit that probably use a fair amount of power, even if they are idle. But they all turn off after a while.

 

[john1]

Hi Audioguru,

Thanks to this thread,
i had another look for a battery for my AVO.
I found that Ever Ready still make that same 15 volt battery,
they now call it an Ever Ready 411.
Maplins also do one called a BLR121.

They are a bit pricey, but i may buy one.

John

 

[Dean Huster]

Chinese import meters should never be used anywhere near a mains panel. They're rarely (and I've never seen one) rated for Cat I, II, III or IV. Having one of those Chinese things accidentally on OHMS when you're trying to measure the 480 three-phase voltage in a factory can put you in the hospital or the morgue.

Dean

 

[audioguru]

Maybe I am too smart to use the wrong test position on a meter.

I have never blown a current fuse in a meter. Some guys do it on the first day of having a meter. Some guys blow the fuse just by looking at the meter. Just by thinking about the meter?

 

[tunedwolf]

I use to supply the local leisure centre's maintenance staff with the odd piece of test equipment from time to time, until one day they hired an expert

This bloke done in 3 good meters in the first week he was there, a beautiful Beckman, and two Flukes. His boss told me to stop giving him good gear, and instead give him some piece of rubbish that wasn't costing them £300 a time...
So the last meter I supplied him with was the only one he didn't blow to bits, and that's because the quality of it was so bad that he was frightened to go near anything higher than a 9v pp3 with it

What's possibly more worrying though, is that in typical local authority fashion, he was allowed to work on live equipment unsupervised. Personally I wouldn't have trusted him with a knife and fork...
This bloke's reputation precceded him, the list was almost endless of the equipment damage and test gear he blew up along the way...finally he left the local authority to go and work for an electric motor company in Spain.

I always check spanish motors that I install now, just in case his signature is on the winders label, if I ever see it, I'll be double checking the insulation and wiring

 

[mamun2a]

i'm not able to buy another mm at this moment, but i found its one operating 1.5 v batt is fully dead though my mouth shows it has some current on it, but no device is working with this batt, so its die, i change the batt and again tried, but i normally dont go to check ac volt, but i'll be catious now 2 do so,

thanks every one for suggest, and awaring me.

mamun, dhaka, bangladesh