I've been fighting with my multimeter for years over a simple thing

I was trying to diagnose a weird intermittent fault on a dryer in a customer's basement, and the reading kept jumping around no matter what I did. After half an hour, my buddy pointed out I'd been using the wrong test lead jack for voltage this whole time, which was adding extra resistance. How many other basic tool habits have I been getting wrong without knowing?

2 comments

2 Comments

mason2091mo ago

Nah, I gotta disagree a little here. I've done the wrong jack thing too, it happens, but I think we overthink these basics. Multimeters are finicky by design, especially on intermittent faults where you're chasing loose connections or bad grounds. Half the time the jumping reading is the actual problem, not the tool. A little extra resistance from a wrong jack wouldn't cause wild swings on a dryer, that's usually just a dirty contact or a dying component.

tessa_hunt421mo ago

Oh man, you're spot on, I've chased my tail on the exact same thing before.