I want to buy a Voltage Meter…

[SDMAN1981]

I am looking into buying a good voltage meter at a decent price say… under $50, what are your recommendations, and what brand/kind do you got?

Thanks!

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[sam priem]

i have a Equus/Innova 3320 auto ranging multimeter. its only about $25 off of amazon. its a pretty good multimeter for a diy’er. ive had mine fore a little over a year and used it a few times a week and i never had a problem with it. i recently upgraded to the OTC 3980-750 multimeter and i LOVE it. but thats about $130 off of amazon. worth every penny. the innova is kinda cool becasue it’ll do a quick low load battery test. never use it but it a neat feature. if you wanted to go in between you could go with the innova 3340. that has a temperature probe and an inductive pickup for reading engine rpms. a friend of mine has that one and he says he likes it. theres a bunch of options out there, just do a little shopping around. i think brands like autel and actron also have good multimeters for around $50.

[SDMAN1981]

Thanks! One more question… Can you test the electrical components in your car.. like the alternator and such? Probably a stupid question, I know.

[sam priem]

yea itll do automotive tests. for an alternator test you just run the vehicle and test the voltage at the battery. it should be about 14v +/-. you can test fuses by using the continuity test (the innovas have an alarm when continuity is present so you dont have to stare at the screen for a measurement which is nice). most other tests simply use voltage measurements, so yes, for the most part the innova will do pretty much all standard electrical tests. its definatly a good tool for the price

[celticbhoy]

Are you a pro or diy’er? If you’re a weekend mechanic go for a Craftsman multimeter. Should easily be able to find one more under 50 and is probably one of the best ones for under 50.

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