n
1

I used to laugh at people who bought those expensive multimeters

For 8 years I ran a repair shop in Nashville with a $20 Cen-Tech meter from Harbor Freight and never had a problem. Then last Tuesday I got zapped trying to check a microwave capacitor and realized my meter didn't even have a proper CAT rating. Anyone else upgrade their gear after a close call like that?
3 comments

Log in to join the discussion

Log In
3 Comments
angela_allen53
Eight years with a Cen-Tech and nothing happened? Man, I gotta say that's wild to me. I bought one of those once and the leads melted the first time I tried to check a 240 outlet. You must have had some serious luck running that thing that long. Getting zapped by a microwave cap is no joke though, that's a nasty shock that can stop your heart dead. Glad you're still around to tell the story, but yeah that cheap meter was definitely a ticking time bomb waiting to go off. What did you end up switching to after that wake up call?
7
karen410
karen41025d ago
Did your Cen-Tech meter have any kind of warning label on it about high voltage, or did you just assume it was fine because it always worked before? I see guys at work using those cheap meters all the time and nobody ever checks the safety ratings until something bad happens. What finally made you grab that capacitor without double checking first?
2
aaron708
aaron70825d ago
@karen410 Did you know my uncle once used a wet stick to test a car battery and swore it was the same thing?
5