Warning: That cheap multimeter from Harbor Freight nearly fried my circuit board

I was testing a vintage amplifier from the 70s last weekend and used a $7 multimeter I had laying around. The readings were way off and I accidentally sent 120V through a sensitive capacitor because the meter didn't catch the discharge. Has anyone else had a budget tool mess up a repair job like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

robin_roberts8422d ago

You sent 120V through a sensitive capacitor" - that's rough, man. This is part of a bigger pattern I see everywhere: people trying to save a few bucks up front and paying way more later. It's like using a dull knife to chop vegetables, you think you're saving money but you end up cutting yourself and ruining the food. Same with tools, you grab the cheapest option and suddenly you're replacing a whole vintage board that was fine before a five dollar meter lied to you. What kind of amp were you working on anyway?

grace_bailey22d ago

Oh man, you hit the nail on the head with that dull knife analogy, that's EXACTLY how it feels. I once grabbed a cheap multimeter to check a vintage receiver, and the thing read voltage wrong by a huge margin, ended up cooking a whole power supply section. Spending a little more on a halfway decent meter would've saved me two weekends of headache and a lot of cuss words.

claire_ramirez21d ago

Grab a Fluke 77 if you find one used. Bulletproof for vintage gear.