Can someone recommend a good basic "Voltmeter"
 

I have to purchase a good basic "Voltmeter" or whatever you call the item that measures resistance, volts etc. The fact that I'm not sure what it's called shows my level of experience here. Anyway, what should I be looking for specifically? Do I need to make sure the item measures things in certain ranges or has a certain level of sensitivity?

Can I get a decent one from Sears or Radio Shack? I know Home Depot have several for sale but I don't know exactly what I'm looking for. They seem to range from $20-$200 or more

Sears is fine and offers several.

Also some advice at this thread!

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showthread.php?threadid=21572&highlight=simpson

I have been around electronic test equipment for 35 years. There are many good digital meters for very little money these days. Because of the car you have, I would strongly recommend a little meter from Sears that has a Duty Cycle function that you may very well need at one point for Lambda adjustment.

This meter also has provisions for a thermocouple which is extremely handy for checking evaporator temperature. It also has a frequency measurement. Freq meters used to be a very specialized piece of equipment, now it's in a $30 meter!

I bought mine at the store a few years ago, but it can only be had from the online Sears tool store now.

http://www.sears.com/sr/product/details/productdetails.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@1194598947.1037893729@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccheadcgkkdhgjicehgcemgdff mdflf.0&vertical=TOOL&prod_id=03482139000&fromAuto=null&bidsite=

The Craftsman number is: 82139
The Sears Item number is: 03482139000

I have been completely amazed by this meter and its quality and functionality for the money. I have a number of different pieces of test equipment, but I find myself reaching for this almost exclusively. I highly recommend it.

BTW, it is $29.95 from the Sears online store.

Good luck,

Well, there was no edit button on my previous post, so I'll make my additon here.

For auto shop work, it's not usually a good idea to use an expensive meter. You need one that is of adequate quality and accuracy but somewhat inexpensive. The reason for this is that, unlike bench work, using it around a car it is very likely that you will drop it, leave it, place it somewhere that the leads get tangled in moving parts destroying the meter, etc.

It will cause many fewer tears to be shed when such a thing happens to an inexpensive meter.

Have a great day,

Larry, I'm going with the one you recommended from Sears. Of course they are out of stock in all local stores AND out of stock on-line. SInce it's only $30.00 I'm checking their webite to find another one that has all the same functions and ranges for maybe a bit more money. They seem to have a lot of models in the 29.99-39.99 range. Story of my life - out of stock!

I have several Fluke Benchtop instruments. They are top quality. Fluke has been synonymous with Digital Multimeters for over 30 years. I have never had one of the pocket sized Fluke meters. But, they are overkill quality for this purpose. Additionally the low priced meters like we are talking about here have come very, very far in the last few years.

About a month ago I was looking for my meter on the Sears site and only found a $39.95 meter with duty cycle, so I'm pretty sure there's another one with duty cycle. Maybe they have that one in stock.

Good luck,

This is a great, handy and durable one ....

Radio Shack Auto-ranging Tester $19.99

.... and it is on sale!

I'm sure this Radio Crap meter would serve as a basic ammeter and voltmeter and do it quite well. But, for only $10 more you can get the Sears meter I indicated that also has Duty Cycle function which is very useful for a 124 gas engine MB owner.

Additionally the Sears motor has a frequency counter, capacitance scale, temperature scale and on and on. The Sears meter is a drastically better value and in my opinion worth waiting for.

The Sears meter puts instrumentation in your hand that would've required a number of different instruments for a total of several thousand dollars a few years back. The Radio Shack meter, on the other hand, ONLY provides very basic multimeter functionality which has been available for under $100 for many, many years.

Good luck,

If anyone was looking to get the Sears multimeter, I got a message from Sears that they're in stock again as of 19 Dec 2002.

Sixto
91 300SE
87 300SDL
83 300SD

And if I might add, at least here, they are on sale for $19.99. I bought mine for 29.99 and when they went on sale, Sears not only gave me back the 10.00 but another 10% on top of that!

At the store ?
Did it come w/temp probe ?
Tnx

I just got off the phone with Sears and got nowhere with the temp probe question..

No temp probe. I thought it came with that but mine did not. It did have the duty cycle function which is what I wanted it for in the first place.

I called the local store and they quote 29.99 for a 82139.
Is that the model you got ??
Is that a special sale?

The next model up [39.99] comes with the temp probe , but they dropped the duty cycle..
Guess they know how to beat us at all turns.....

I don't have the modle # here, but it was the cheapest one with Duty cycle so you probably have the right one. I'm in NY . I don't know if the sale was here only or just for a limited time. I just saw it in the paper went down and got the 10.00 adjustment plus 10%. I considered it all a Christmas present to me form me with a kick back from Sears.