Author Topic: Coupon free digital multimeter  (Read 10467 times)

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Offline Norm

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Coupon free digital multimeter
« on: March 08, 2012, 11:21:32 pm »
At Harbor Freight....

Just got a bunch of coupons in last Sunday magazine/newspaper
one of the coupons.....free with any purchase, digital multimeter !
handy little things....I'm always having to repair the probe leads....
more my fault than theirs 'tho   clumbsy me ....
Now if I can just get up to Erie,Pa (nearest store 30 miles away)
before the coupon expires....
Hmmm what else to buy ?
Norm.

 

Offline RichHagen

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Re: Coupon free digital multimeter
« Reply #1 on: March 09, 2012, 12:57:01 am »
I usually forget to change the probe back to the volts/ohms socket after reading Amps on the cheap ones.  I've left a few behind after working on or installing stuff too, but usually they die some unnatural death such as water or the wrong socket thing.  We have a harbor freight store here, but I haven't been in there for a while. 
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Offline ghurd

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Re: Coupon free digital multimeter
« Reply #2 on: March 09, 2012, 08:37:58 am »
They have the $8 33-piece security bits on sale for $3 this Fri, Sat, and Sunday.
Handy things to have around.
G-

Offline Norm

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Re: Coupon free digital multimeter
« Reply #3 on: March 09, 2012, 06:58:58 pm »
Will have to try and get up there this week end.
Norm

Offline Norm

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Re: Coupon free digital multimeter
« Reply #4 on: March 11, 2012, 06:47:38 pm »
Got the free digital multimeter with the purchase of 9x7 tarp. and HFT masking tape
for $5.81 , for $1.99 the masking tape is the stickiest I've ever seen well worth the
price.

Roll around platforms various prices, $8, $12, $16 or $18 anyway, whatever ....they all
had the same size wheels.....3 inch? only difference bigger has a little more wood and
carpet padding.....I'd have got the smallest just for the wheels.

Was a longgg beautiful day !     (DST)
Fun !

Norm.

Offline Rover

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Re: Coupon free digital multimeter
« Reply #5 on: March 15, 2012, 03:12:44 pm »
"I usually forget to change the probe back to the volts/ohms socket after reading Amps on the cheap ones"

I Don't know how many times I've done that, usually cheaper to buy a new one and give the broken one away as a voltmeter :)

Rover
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Offline Norm

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Re: Coupon free digital multimeter
« Reply #6 on: March 17, 2012, 07:00:42 am »
Yeah Rover....Me too, and I bet we're in the majority of users that do this....eh?
Norm.

Offline klsmurf

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Re: Coupon free digital multimeter
« Reply #7 on: March 17, 2012, 09:03:48 am »
I think it must be an initiation or right of passage. Had a cheaper meter with a 20 amp rating that I did this to. Opened it up and there was a 20 amp fuse. The fuse was fine, the trace after the fuse was no more. A little solder work, and it seems to be ok.
"A man's got to know his limitations" ---- Harry Callahan

Offline Norm

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Re: Coupon free digital multimeter
« Reply #8 on: March 17, 2012, 05:22:14 pm »
one of the HF multimeters so cheap didn't even have a
fuse holder....soldered in line....I could hardly believe what I was
seeing....
Norm

Offline Rover

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Re: Coupon free digital multimeter
« Reply #9 on: March 17, 2012, 05:30:27 pm »
Really, at roughly $2 you were stunned?

LOL
Rover
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(Where did I bury that microcontroller?)

Offline ghurd

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Re: Coupon free digital multimeter
« Reply #10 on: March 17, 2012, 06:19:24 pm »
What stuns me is when I see them at other stores for $20.
Exactly "the same", except for the HF stickers.
"The same" means every batch is a little different from the last, just like at HF.
IE: Advanced Auto parts, #85357... "•Available in many different styles, including continuity and circuit testers"
G-

Offline rossw

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Re: Coupon free digital multimeter
« Reply #11 on: March 17, 2012, 06:33:37 pm »
one of the HF multimeters so cheap didn't even have a
fuse holder....soldered in line....I could hardly believe what I was
seeing...

Believe it or not, there's actually some measurable justification for that!

Fuseholders - especially cheap ones - tend to oxidise. Over time, and particularly with vibration etc, you end up with a higher resistance at either end of the fuseholder than you do through the fuse. This can affect the meters accuracy. (that said, I bet it wasn't the accuracy considerations that were 'top of mind' in manufacture of these cheap ones!)

Offline Rover

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Re: Coupon free digital multimeter
« Reply #12 on: March 17, 2012, 06:49:44 pm »
Ross..
(that said, I bet it wasn't the accuracy considerations that were 'top of mind' in manufacture of these cheap ones!)


you got it .... the little fuse holder is just too expensive in mass production compared to a dab of solder.

For the price.. sad.. but who cares. Cost me more in vehicle fuel to replace the little fuse (+ the cost of the fuse) than the meters original cost

:)
Rover
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(Where did I bury that microcontroller?)

Offline WooferHound

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Re: Coupon free digital multimeter
« Reply #13 on: March 17, 2012, 10:32:17 pm »
The Test Leads are the fuses
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Offline Norm

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Re: Coupon free digital multimeter
« Reply #14 on: March 18, 2012, 08:52:32 am »
Woof, got that ....good idea....never crossed my mind to do so
or that someone else had thought of it .... :)
Norm.