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Warning: my digital multimeter was lying to me for 6 months
I always trusted my Fluke 87V for continuity testing on the flight line. Turned out the leads had a crack near the probe tip, giving me intermittent false readings on a 737 brake wire bundle. Anyone else have a tool fail in a sneaky way like that?
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danielr992mo ago
Hold on, are we really going to blame the tool for this one? You check continuity on a 737 brake wire bundle and you never thought to wiggle the leads first? That's basic troubleshooting 101. If a crack was giving intermittent readings, that means it was working sometimes and not others. That's a perfect chance to catch the issue with a simple bend test. Sounds like the Fluke was fine, and the real problem was a lazy test procedure. I've been using the same $50 meter for ten years and found bad leads on day one by just moving the wire around.
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jake7472mo ago
Yeah but @danielr99, you're missing the point. A brand new Fluke should hold up better than that, period.
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flores.emma2mo ago
That's basic troubleshooting 101" really got me thinking though. @jake747 don't you think there's something to be said about expecting a premium tool to just work without having to bend test it every time? I get that wiggling leads is standard practice, but if I drop $500 on a meter I kinda want it to hold up better than that. Had a similar thing with a $200 clamp meter where the test lead jack cracked inside after three months. So like, when is it the tool's fault vs the user's fault?
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