Those cheap $30 multimeters from Amazon nearly cost me a panel swap

I bought one to keep in my truck for rough-ins and it read 277 volts as 120 on a commercial job in Austin... Has anyone else had a cheap meter lie to them like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

sullivan.quinn6d agoTop Commenter

Nearly cost you a panel swap" is doing a lot of heavy lifting there. I hear this a lot, but a $30 meter isn't the real problem if you don't verify it on a known source first.

dylan_ward6d ago

Read a post from a cal shop owner last week. Said he's seen more fried ECUs from bad meter leads than from the meters themselves. The leads are the weak link not the display.

milesbarnes6d ago

Wait, are you saying the leads are actually causing more damage than the meter itself? I've seen a few shops where guys swap leads out like clockwork because they get pinched or cracked, and that's where the voltage spikes sneak through. Good point though, the display is just the face the real risk is in the path between the test point and the meter.