I guess I am potentially in the market for a new multimeter for casual/amateur use (especiallus Black Friday looms near). The primary use case is for testing continuity for RJ45 Cat 5e UTP and Cat 6/6a STP termination for home lab use. Secondary use case would be for whatever tinkering I could do.
Gonna be honest here, I really dont know what I am doing and I do know only superficial things about electronics: volts/amperes for the household stuff. I know less about ohms and frequency. Even less about capacitance. The point is, its nice to have these on a multimeter but I dont know if I will use them (or even truly understand them beyond thr level of fundamental college physics).
I read some recommendation online that Fluke makes good quality multimeters but I dont know if I am overpaying for something I will probably use occasionally. But I do value the āBuy it for life mentalityā.
The lowest end Fluke that I think I see is the 101 and is available for both Amazon and a local-ish retailer. Klein Tools was also in the Amazon recommendation but I havent really checked it out yet. Should I even think of something else especially if its primarily for LAN cable continuity checking?
Im thinking of a hard limit of 100-150USD at the moment. What should I get?
coz like a $10 tester got ethernet, can detect connection of each pin, and cycle through, so you can test in walls while they are still open and such?
I only have cheapo fake Fluke, and a cheapish ethernet tester
this kind of thing
But then, I just wanted to make sure the wires connect on each pin, as I only have gigabit at home, so not worried about the strength of connection on each pin
(also, double checks I correctly followed the standard of pitting the correct wire in the right order, in the rj45 jacks/keys)
I donāt know where you are in life and how much you can afford to spend, I managed to wire my house and a couple friendās houses with a similar (different branded) tool for CAT5-6 ā¦ they work for basic wire by wire check, they do not check for shorts and do not do nything other than check continuity over the wires
I have recently bought one of these for about 60 bucks:
that is so overkill for what I will probably need, but I already used it multiple times to ādiscoverā and tag runs of cables done at various houses (it has named plugs you can put on one end and when you plug the tester at the other end it will tell you which cable is which) ā¦
Also for a multimeter, I bought a basic digital one from UNI-T that has lasted me for the past 15+ years, paid around 30EUR, can do the basics volts/amps/ac/dc /shorts and Ohm/continuity, but already much more that I can comprehend ā¦
A Fluke is probably overkill for you, and itās also not all you need for the kinds of testing you mentioned.
Iām an electrical engineer, and have had my own consulting business for over 20 years. I have a āgoodā meter from Radio Shack - the main feature I wanted was the ability to log readings to a computer, so this one has a serial port. Itās been fine for most things I would need a meter for. I also have an HP bench meter, which I would use if I needed more accurate measurements. I donāt think Iāve turned that one on in 10 years or more. The basic multimeter handles some things (is the regulator outputting the right voltage), and a high-end oscilloscope handles other things (is there too much noise).
For cable testing youād be better served by a function-specific meter as Trooper_ish suggested. Monoprice also makes cable continuity/short testers. Note that itās a far cry from a tool that will tell you if the cable is wired correctly ($10-$100) to a tool that will tell you that it meets performance requirements ($500-$1000). A Fluke (or other) cable tester will do frequency sweeps, capacitance measurements, pair-swap detection, etc. I donāt have one of those, even though I have done designs with networks of 100 or more devices.
Iām also a ābuy onceā kind of guy, so my suggestion would be to make a list of the features you may want, and then get something that does everything you think youāll need. Even if itās not the best quality or the highest precision, youāll at least have the capabilities. Note: Iām thinking about features like capacitance measurement, diode check, high-voltage or high-current measurements, true RMS voltage/current, power, etc. The other thing to remember is that no matter how good your meter is, it wonāt do everything (like CAT7 cable testing).
Thereās two different tools youāre looking for from what I can tell. An ethernet tester/toner and a multimeter. Since it seems like your primary use is testing ethernet cables/connections, start with a tester/toner for now. I picked up this Kolsol tester kit a couple months ago: NF-8209 LCD Display Measure Length Lan Cable POE Wire Checker Cat5 Cat6 Lan Test Network Tool Scan Cable Wiremap Tester for work as I have burned out a couple cheapo testers when the other end was hooked up to a PoE switch. Iāve really liked it so far, the only thing that I donāt like is having to move the connector to different ports depending on what youāre testing; sometimes I forget and then canāt figure out why itās not working. The other thing is the toner part isnāt quite as strong as I would like, but it hasnāt really caused me any issues in finding wires. The length estimator is really handy actually, and the flash port option for finding ethernets already plugged into a switch has proved quite useful as well. PoE tester works perfectly and has not fried it yet.
You can pick up a multimeter from any big box hardware store when the time comes that you need to be besting voltage/resistance/amperage, and they arenāt terribly expensive.
the link was just a cheap-o no-name kinda deal for illustrative purposes.
I got a $15 set with cable tester, crimping tool and strippers, as itās just nome gaming for a couple dozen terminations, where continuity was all I was worried about.
If I was to need 10gig, or do it for mates for money, or whatever, then the linked one from @MadMatt looks a better deal, but like 5-10-20 times the price.
For simple uses such as continuity , resistance, and voltage testing many different cheepo meters will work.
Fluke meters are industrial rugged quality meters.
I own 2, a multi function and a megger.
My day to day is a klien clamp multimeter.
In your case even the klien would be overkill.
I also own other meters for different tasks that i use for simple measurements where precision is not critical.
But asking the question is a wise decision.
If you want rugged and precision , plus lifetime reliability in the long run, then yes buy a fluke or klien.
Otherwise economy meters!
The benifit here is if you drop or toast one, you are not out a lot of green.
Iām a retired electrician (was for over 40 years)
And had to have rugged gear.
I think the heat of my garage this summer did in my cheap Harbor Freight meters. They were reading impossibly high voltages. I bought the Fluke 101 last month because I really needed something accurate for building Li-ion battery packs. Plus I can use it to determine how accurate other multimeters are, as well as ebike voltage meters.
There are lots of YouTubers who swear by certain less popular meters that would probably be great for most people. At around half the price of the cheapest Fluke, they have more functions and better accuracy than an ultra cheap meter without breaking the bank.
As other mentioned, you might want a different tool for specific purposes. If you do intend on getting a meter, the Fluke is great, but I would look in to the others. Some of them are made on the same assembly lines as more expensive models, and work great for a hobbyist. I really wanted the accuracy down to a thousandth of a volt. I used to use all Klein decades ago when I was an electrician, so I would trust them if you need it, but you probably donāt need to spend that much.
Thank you for your insight! I knew I definitely dont need the most accurate one. I should settle on the good enough, unfortunately we dont have a RadioShack locally (Iām overseas in Southeast Asia).
I was hoping that somehow I wouldnāt need an oscilliscope for these to test for noise or the alternative 1000+USD performance checker but it seems, those are the right tools for the job. Iāll just have to resort to manual testing through file transfer speed at other means, because if the wire doesnt work as specced, is there really a way to save it? I could try to reterminate but this can attempted a few times especially if I want a perfect length.
@powderbanks Thank you for this recommendation! This certainly looks interesting, particularly the ability to test if the cable is shielded or not. It seems like a generic tester, maybe I can find the same on an equivalent local online reseller.
@Gnuuser I am liking the idea of a lifetime reliability so I am inclined to get a nicer one and be done with it. I dont know if I will actually fry one because I dont think I will encounter significantly high amperage and voltage in my use case. Fluke is rated for a 2 meter drop height that already seems overkill my purpose and I dont really expect to work higher than a regular desk or workbench.
@KleerKut Im going to probably watch more youtube then. Iāve tried browsing the internet and with the advent of ChatGPT, Iāve noticed flatout wrong information that a proper human writing wouldand should catch. It seems that post 2021 internet is no longer as reliable as it was these AI writers churn bad info with no one to check the content. It doesnt help that Google (and probably Microsoft as well) is making search worse just to display more ads. All in all I am just thankful that in the ocean of misinformation/disinformation out there, there are oasis of knowledge in the internet like this forum where the water is safe to drink.
Thank you guys for the information. I will try to update if I will settle for something more specific. It seems like I have to separate the tools and I would probably compare the base multitester of Fluke vs Klein Tools and see what the best of the worse cheap youtube recommendations. I should look into specifically, a Cat6A tester for STP testing because that is the main objective.
The inherent danger though of the cheaper meters is that they often lack sufficient protection circuitry.
For instance if you forget to switch out of resistance ( ohms scales) and measure voltage or current its likely to fry the meter.
A well experienced user generally takes the extra time to make sure of his settings, But not always.
Hence the occasional Homer Simpson moment.
Your high quality meters are generally equipped with better sensing and protective circuitry to protect both the meter and its user.
So with a strict battery maintenance schedule( to prevent leakage) a good meter such as a fluke will still be operational and accurate for multiple generations of users.
If my granddaughter follows the technical paths, my equipment will be hers!
This is one of the reason why I want a better multimeter because there really is no one overseeing me and telling me Im doing things wrong.
Now that I think of it, I may want to mess around with solar power in the far future and hopefully sell to the grid. It helps that if I need an actual certified electrician, there are people that is happy to help me.
Happy to help as long as i can.
Quality advice is a rare commodity and someone willing to mentor even online is just as rare.
Keep in mind i am a bit of a safety nazi though.
I really dont like seeing people get hurt if it can be prevented.
As was my father before me. Too bad he passed before I had time to fully mature up and had the opportunity to talk like adults. He liked to tinker as much as I did and he did introduce me to Slackware way way back then.
You definitely do not want to mess with electrical circuits that can output 500v DC and āaccidentallyā hit them with test probes ā¦ Or even worse lithium batteries that can output 100 amperes at 50v if āaccidentallyā shortedā¦
Anything below 6 1/2 digit is basically guessing No, you do not need to lug a NIST-traceable bench-top calibrator around with you to check if that light-bulb is safe to unscrew.
Fluke is to please pencil pushers. Donāt get me wrong, they make nice tools and all, but half the price is just the name and yellow bumper.
Some multi meters have shutters to prevent switching into explosion-mode with the test leads plugged in incorrectly. Hioki DT4261 and Gossen Metrawatt Metrahit 2+ to name two examples.
