Switched my mind about those cheap multimeters after a kitchen fire job

I was at a job in Columbus last Tuesday where a woman's fridge compressor went bad and I had to trace a short in the control board. My $15 Harbor Freight meter gave me all sorts of weird readings, and I almost ordered a new board. The customer's son was an electrician and let me borrow his Fluke 117, and the difference was night and day - accurate voltage drop in seconds. Has anyone else had a cheap meter trick them into replacing a part that wasn't actually bad?

3 comments

3 Comments

lunag3027d agoMost Upvoted

@blair_webb just called me out... my cheap meter probably just needed batteries.

blair_webb27d ago

Did you check if it just needed new batteries?

clark.alex27d ago

Oh man, batteries are always the first thing I check now after wasting way too much time. I had a wireless mouse that just stopped working and I spent an hour reinstalling drivers before realizing the battery was totally dead. Also had a digital scale that wouldn't turn on and it was just a couple of AAAs that needed swapping. Since then I keep a pack of assorted batteries in a drawer specifically for stuff like that. It's one of those boring fixes that somehow slips your mind when you're troubleshooting.