That $200 multimeter I bought almost got me killed last week

I dropped $200 on a fancy Fluke multimeter about six months ago thinking I was getting top quality. Last week I was troubleshooting a power issue on a Cessna 172 at work and the meter gave me a false reading on a live bus bar. Nearly grabbed bare wire because it showed zero voltage (which was a lie). Turns out the internal fuse had blown and the meter didn't warn me about it at all. I had to buy a new one anyway and now I'm out that $200 plus the peace of mind. Has anyone else had this happen with a multimeter or am I just unlucky?

3 comments

3 Comments

alex3071mo ago

Yeah I had a similar scare with a cheaper meter a few years back. The fuse blew and it just showed zero with no warning. What saved my ass was always keeping a known-good voltage source around to test the meter before every use. I bought a little outlet tester thing for like 10 bucks and I check the meter against it before I touch anything live. It sounds stupid but it's become a habit now. Also I switched to a meter that has a fuse blown indicator light on the front so you can't miss it. That was a game changer for me.

the_anthony1mo ago

I read somewhere that some of those cheap meters can actually show a false reading too, not just zero. Something about the internal resistors drifting over time or the voltage reference being poor quality. A guy on another forum said his read 24 volts on a dead battery once and almost made him think a circuit was safe when it wasn't. That's why testing against a known source before each use is so smart, it covers both a blown fuse and any calibration drift.

stellaa691mo ago

@alex307 That outlet tester trick is genius, definitely stealing that for my own kit.