Learn about Electricity

[leeschaumberg]

Many people say something but only some say the truth.
To start with get some thing that will tell you. A small digital volt ohm meter will do the job , other wise just called a meter. Get a couple because after a while you will use it all the time. Many battery powered meters sell for less than 10 dollars. Some meters will also give you temp using a K type thermocouple. The human body along with most stuff has voltages. But touching some ones hand is not like grabing a plug wire. Learn and under stand what current is , voltage , resistance , etc. Money drives the reason for many things. Because of this there is many different things.
So Learn , Learn , Learn , Learn , and Learn some more.
I've got a timing lite that is battery powered and just clips over a plug wire! Very easy to use.

[harcosparky]

bah ... call me old fashioned but....

You'll never get me to give up my Simpson 260 Series 5,6,7, and 8P.

Yeah I got four, big bulky with roll top cases.

IMO nothing beats an mirrored ****og meter movement.

We have a digital meter around here someplace. A Fluke 8050.

But when the going gets tough we grab a Simpson!!!!

***** Added Info ***** OMG this site CENSORED a n a l o g as in " a nalog meter "

[JD in Socal]

***** Added Info ***** OMG this site CENSORED a n a l o g as in " a nalog meter "

Just call it rectumog and we'll know what you mean.


JD

[rasommer]

bah ... call me old fashioned but....

You'll never get me to give up my Simpson 260 Series 5,6,7, and 8P.

Yeah I got four, big bulky with roll top cases.

IMO nothing beats an mirrored ****og meter movement.

We have a digital meter around here someplace. A Fluke 8050.

But when the going gets tough we grab a Simpson!!!!

***** Added Info ***** OMG this site CENSORED a n a l o g as in " a nalog meter "

Absolutely -- I have four Simpson 260's (my grandfather's, my father's, and two of my own). When my friends need accurate readings, they drop their digital bricks and borrow one of the Simpsons.

[fun4now]

yep the new senser system is way to sensitive. i tryed to say s h el led out $35 bucks for some thing the other day and it took the middle out of it ???
thats the price we all have to pay for one fool. maybe they will take it back out some day, we can only hope.

[fun4now]

BTW i also have 2 meeters one lil cheepo and one soso madle compleat with all the goodies.
use the cheepo most of the ime as i'm just checking for juce or contenuity and its fast and simple and dosent need to be real acurate, just let me know if its there or not. some times that the most important thing to check for.

[harcosparky]

bah ..... for those 25 and under I also have two of these .....

VTVM*

Very senstive, accurate .... there's nothing like a VTVM to null out a synchro!

*Vacum Tube Volt Meter

Ya see I was trained as an Electronic Tech back in the 1970's, when you diagnosed and troubleshot an individual component. Capacitot, diode, resistor, vacum tube , whatever ...... none of the 'board level self test diagnostics ' they have today.

I worked for a company that took the service jobs nobody else wanted. Once had to repair a generator for which there were no schematics, manuals, blueprints. Just started yanking compononents and testing them until the dead ones were found.

My basement looks like the Smitsonian Museum Of Electronics.

[wojeepster]

I have both types of meter and they both have their place. Sometimes you have to use the digital (for example reading the voltage on the sensor wire of an O2 sensor) If you inject voltage you can damage the sensor. The simpson is a very good meter, too but I would not use it there, I would use it for checking the throttle position sensor though (the digital changes too fast to see what is happening). Fluke 177 has bargraph in addition to digital readout so you can use it for both. I love my Fluke. The best electrical book on car's I have ever read is Tracy Martins, "How to diagnose and repair automoble electrical systems" It is light years ahead of all the others I have read and easy to understand. I think it is about $16 on amazon.com and worth 5 times the price, easily.

[rmack898]

I also have a Simpson260 and it is a great meter for on the bench. The meter that gets used daily is my Fluke 88. This is one tough meter that can take a beating without ever letting the factory smoke out. For electronic engine control work, it's hard to beat.

[harcosparky]

I also have a Simpson260 and it is a great meter for on the bench. The meter that gets used daily is my Fluke 88. This is one tough meter that can take a beating without ever letting the factory smoke out. For electronic engine control work, it's hard to beat.

I have a Fluke handheld around here somewhere ... forget the model but it reads everything including Temp and Frequency ... Somebody ( my son ) snagged it and I ain't seen it since.

I use the Simpson everywhere. If I need to work on one of the vehicles I grab an old laptop with a USB -> OBDII cable .... and run some programs. If I take the car to the dealer it is to get them to repace a part I don't wanna mess with.

Heck one of the progs allows me to run the enging from the keyboard. LOL

I don't do much vehicle work anymore, last job I did was cure a non-starting Chevy work van, and a little $9.95 Spark Gap tool was all I needed and a new Fuel Pump! LOL

[Coalsmoke]

bah ... call me old fashioned but....

You'll never get me to give up my Simpson 260 Series 5,6,7, and 8P.

Yeah I got four, big bulky with roll top cases.

IMO nothing beats an mirrored ****og meter movement.

We have a digital meter around here someplace. A Fluke 8050.

But when the going gets tough we grab a Simpson!!!!

***** Added Info ***** OMG this site CENSORED a n a l o g as in " a nalog meter "

I agree, and while my primary is a high quality digital, there's things that only the a.nalog can truely do well.