Shoutout to the mechanic who laughed at me for using a multimeter wrong

Been wiring planes for about 3 years now and I always thought continuity tests were just a waste of time. Old salt at the hangar in Nashville saw me chasing a ghost on a 737's nav light circuit and he just shook his head. Showed me how to actually use the damn thing in about 5 minutes. Turns out I was reading resistance instead of continuity and missing a broken wire in the harness. Fixed it in 20 minutes after that. Anyone else have a moment where you realized you'd been doing something basic the wrong way for way too long?

3 comments

3 Comments

king.robin18d ago

Tbh we've all been there. Multimeters are way too easy to use wrong.

the_diana18d ago

Multimeter: the only tool where guessing makes you feel like an electrician or a fire hazard.

derek_perez18d ago

Yeah, that "fire hazard" part really hits home... I used to think I had it all figured out with my cheap harbor freight one, just poking around without really knowing what I was doing. Then I tried to check if a wire was live and got a crazy reading that didn't make sense, so I just went for it anyway. Got a nice little zap that changed my whole mindset about guessing with those things.