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Overheard a guy at the parts counter say he stopped buying those cheap multimeters after one literally smoked on him during a capacitor discharge
That got me thinking about how much we gamble on budget gear when a $60 Fluke would've paid for itself after the first job, so has anyone else had a meter fail in a scary way?
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the_sam5mo ago
Did he at least get the smoke back in before it quit completely, or was it gone for good? I've seen cheap meters read wildly wrong on voltage before they actually let the magic smoke out, which is almost scarier. Was he able to tell it was going bad by the readings or did it just give up mid-discharge with no warning?
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markc845mo ago
Bet the guy made some good decisions that day, huh? Like trusting the cheap meter to not turn into a firework. I swear those things are designed to fail at the worst possible moment, probably right when you think you've got everything figured out. And honestly, if your meter is giving you wrong voltage readings, you're already playing Russian roulette with your face. The smoke was probably just the manufacturer's final gift to him before it quit. At least now he's got a nice little story to tell while he's buying the real deal.
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