Saw a massive difference after switching to a digital multimeter last month

Honestly, I've been using the same analog multimeter for like 8 years at my shop in Chicago. Last month I finally swapped to a Fluke 87V after my old one started giving me weird readings on a 737 comm panel. The difference in troubleshooting was night and day. I caught a faulty comm antenna coupler in about 10 minutes that would've taken me an hour with the old meter. The digital readout is way more stable for those intermittent voltage drops. Has anyone else noticed that analog meters just can't keep up with modern LRU testing? What meter do you guys swear by for line work?

3 comments

3 Comments

mason_reed476d ago

Yeah, that calibration thing is a total pain isnt it?

mileslane6d agoMost Upvoted

Man @mason_reed47 hit the nail on the head - I've had to redo a whole batch of readings after realizing my meter was off by 0.2V because I skipped the yearly calibration.

angela_morgan6d ago

Yall ever accidentally touch the test leads together and hear that awful snap like static discharge on a comm cable? That's where analog gets you every time. The digital filters out that garbage so you're not chasing ghosts in the wiring. That Fluke 87V is solid but check your local calibration schedule, I've seen guys trust em for three years straight without a recal and swear they're fine until a QA audit catches a 0.5V offset on a power supply test.