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

[stanky1219]

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


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

if its beeping constant without touching leads than there is a problem

 

[justafifteen 10+ year member]

if its beeping constant without touching leads than there is a problem

Yeah i thought so lol. I'll return it and get a new one, see if it works

 

[justafifteen 10+ year member]

Just thought I'd post and say that I picked up a new multimeter and it actually works. No continuous beeping lol.

Also, an amp does put out a higher voltage @ 41hz than @ 60hz, so I redid my gains with a -3.5db 41hz tone. Now "How low can you go" doesn't clip anymore //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

 

[fasfocus00 5,000+ posts]

Yeah i thought so lol. I'll return it and get a new one, see if it works

maybe you shouldn't be getting a walmart DMM. atleast a Ryobi or Craftsman if you can't afford a Fluke.

 

[justafifteen 10+ year member]

maybe you shouldn't be getting a walmart DMM. atleast a Ryobi or Craftsman if you can't afford a Fluke.

what's so bad about the walmart ones? aside from the fact that my first one was defective lol

 

[fasfocus00 5,000+ posts]

what's so bad about the walmart ones? aside from the fact that my first one was defective lol

not saying it's bad but for a few bux more you can get something with a better quality, auto ranging, a few probe options. I got my Ryobi Tek DMM for 50% off and it has auto ranging, a lithium ion battery, pin probes, alligator clips, and it looks pretty kul with it's bright green finish. I'm sure that the Walmart doesn't have auto ranging, which may seem small but it just makes things easier when doing readings.

link to the one I use:

http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10051&productId=100671269&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&ci_sku=100671269&ci_src=14110944&cm_mmc=shopping-_-googlebase-_-D25X-_-100671269&locStoreNum=385&marketID=5

 

[justafifteen 10+ year member]

not saying it's bad but for a few bux more you can get something with a better quality, auto ranging, a few probe options. I got my Ryobi Tek DMM for 50% off and it has auto ranging, a lithium ion battery, pin probes, alligator clips, and it looks pretty kul with it's bright green finish. I'm sure that the Walmart doesn't have auto ranging, which may seem small but it just makes things easier when doing readings.
link to the one I use:

Ryobi Tek4 4V Professional Digital Multimeter - RP4020 at The Home Depot

See now $40 is perfectly fine for a nice DMM, but $80 is a little expensive when I'm just using it to tinker around. That's why I just picked this cheap thing up instead of getting a quality one

 

[audioholic 5,000+ posts]

what's so bad about the walmart ones? aside from the fact that my first one was defective lol

In your original post you told us you had it set to AC. But it worked fine at your buddy's house, so presumably your buddy set it there (to DC). It only became 'defective' when you got home and tried it set to AC. It doesn't sound like it was defective, it sounds like you damaged it.

 

[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

It's a digital multimeter, just reads 1's and 0's

 

[justafifteen 10+ year member]

In your original post you told us you had it set to AC. But it worked fine at your buddy's house, so presumably your buddy set it there (to DC). It only became 'defective' when you got home and tried it set to AC. It doesn't sound like it was defective, it sounds like you damaged it.

Yeah if it wasn't defective then yes it was user error. I thought that it had to be set to AC. But oh well, you live you learn