Changed my mind about those fancy diagnostic multimeters after watching a guy at a shop in Austin troubleshoot a fridge in 5 minutes

I saw him plug one into a Samsung control board and it told him exactly which relay was stuck shut, so now I'm thinking about dropping $200 on one - anyone else made the switch from a basic meter?

3 comments

3 Comments

gonzalez.reese18d ago

Yeah that "exactly which relay was stuck" part is what got me too. I was messing with a dryer that kept overheating and my basic meter just showed voltage everywhere. Drove me nuts. I finally borrowed a diagnostic one from a buddy and it pointed straight to a bad thermistor in under a minute. If you're working on anything with a control board these days, the $200 is worth it just for the time you won't waste guessing. Just make sure you grab one that actually supports your brand of appliances, some are locked to certain systems. But yeah, once you see that thing pinpoint the issue, going back to a basic meter feels like using a butter knife for surgery.

lily_singh218d ago

$200 is a lot for a tool I'd barely use though.

the_jana18d ago

Oh man I read somewhere that those fancy meters practically do the diagnosing for you. It's wild how much they can tell you about a circuit without having to guess. And @lily_singh2 I get what you mean about the price, but if you use it even a few times it pays for itself in headaches saved.