My new multimeter reads 0's on every single setting. What do?

[justafifteen 10+ year member]

I got a new multimeter today. It's just the one from walmart, and E-Tek. I have heard good things about them and I thought I'd just give it a shot

So after I bought it, I tried it on my friend's battery and it worked great. I tried it on mine when I got home, and it worked great again. Now that I'm trying to test the voltage on my amp, it just reads 0's on every setting. I can't even get it to read my battery voltage. Just all 0's.

I've made sure it's in AC mode. I've opened it up and made sure the fuse isn't blown. I've had the two wires connected to my battery and have tried each setting around the wheel, and nothing gives. Does anyone have any ideas?

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[KyleBechtold 5,000+ posts]

you have the tips plugged in correctly? assuming yours has the three different holes 1 neg 2 positive depending on what setting you want to use

 

[justafifteen 10+ year member]

Yeah I have the black in black and the red in the "ohms voltage amps temperature" one.

 

[KyleBechtold 5,000+ posts]

set to dc and 200v?

 

[justafifteen 10+ year member]

set to dc and 200v?

Just tried it on my battery, still nothing. But with it on the 2v setting, I got a reading of 0.009

 

[Side Show 10+ year member]

wtf, try reset it? or take it back

 

[KyleBechtold 5,000+ posts]

it should be the 200v setting. either the batteries are dead/dying or the unit is defective

 

[justafifteen 10+ year member]

wtf, try reset it? or take it back

No reset button but I'll leave the batteries out overnight

Also, it has brand new eneloop batteries in it, so it's not the batteries

 

[justafifteen 10+ year member]

Morning bump

 

[stanky1219]

the leads are bad. try sticking some speaker wire in and use it as leads.

 

[Wingman0121 10+ year member]

Switch to ohm and touch the two leads together, it should read zero. If it reads nothing or infinity then it's defective.

Oh and to measure battery voltage you need to be in DC and not AC.

 

[justafifteen 10+ year member]

Switch to ohm and touch the two leads together, it should read zero. If it reads nothing or infinity then it's defective.
Oh and to measure battery voltage you need to be in DC and not AC.

It took about a minute to go down, but it ended up reading 0's after going down from .08 very slowly

 

[I Like Waffle]

turn it to continuity, and see if it beeps. Something internal is messed up then, i had that happen to 3 of mine. I always just go back and buy a new one and put my old one in the package and return it.

 

[stanky1219]

with the leads or with speaker wire? if it did it with the leads turn it to dc and go stick it on your battery

 

[justafifteen 10+ year member]

turn it to continuity, and see if it beeps. Something internal is messed up then, i had that happen to 3 of mine. I always just go back and buy a new one and put my old one in the package and return it.

I put it on continuity and without touching the leads on anything, there's a constant beep

with the leads or with speaker wire? if it did it with the leads turn it to dc and go stick it on your battery

With the leads. I'll try it on my battery in a minute