Help for Old Men

[bammons]

This old man is learning to use a multimeter. I have three 2 digital and 1 analog (which I just discarded). They are cheap ones. My problem which I understand some others have is I can't hear the low frequency noise it makes when on audible checking continuity. Can someone name a multimeter that has a buzzer that is not a low frequency buzz?? Another words LOUD. Thanks Bruce

 

[JHaydon]

I have a 30-ish year old Blue Point (entry-level Snap On) digital meter which has a rather shrill beep to indicate continuity. It's not piercingly loud but it's no buzzer.

 

[NutmegCT]

Actually I've never found a MM with a low sound. Mine have always had a high pitch screech!

Here's a cheap one I have. Unless they've recently changed it, continuity has a high pitch blast.

Harbor Freight Tools – Quality Tools at Discount Prices Since 1977

Harbor Freight buys their top quality tools from the same factories that supply our competitors. We cut out the middleman and pass the savings to you!

www.harborfreight.com

 

[mezy]

I have the same problem, Having worked in car body shops for most of my life using all maner of air tools, I have lost my high pitch hearing, I cant hear the multimer as it is too high of a pitch, i just look at the readout for continuity.

 

[bammons]

It is the high pitch Nutmeg which we can't hear. My wife can hear mine from 8 ft away but I can barely hear it when I hold it up next to my ear. I know I can look at the display but having spent a decent amount of time under my dash and often needing two hands it is sometimes difficult to see the display while paying attention to what you are doing. I was going to buy a HF Ames auto ranging for $45 but I asked the manager if I could return it if I could not hear it. He said (surprisingly) that I would have to pay a restocking charge and they only took items back that were defective. And of course it came in a clamshell pack that I would have to destroy to try it out. I may have mistakenly called it a low pitch noise but really it is a high pitch that both of mine make and sounds like what all of you are describing. Bruce

 

[JPSmit]

why not just get a cheap continuity tester with a lightbulb? My multimeter has a continuity testor but I pretty much always just grab the one with the light. Actually I have two - one with a battery and one without.

(Looks like $6 at harbor freight for three)

 

[mezy]

I find one of these a must have when tracing wiring faults on cars, you connect to the batery and you probe away, will tell you if a wire is live or if it is going to earth.
you can also put power to somthing or earth something out depending which side of the something you are, and not a lot of money either, unless you buy it off the snap on van.

 

[NutmegCT]

sorry 'bout that. I thought when you wrote "I can't hear the low frequency noise ...", that you can't hear a low frequency noise!

I like JP's idea of just using a light bulb system:

Tom M.

 

[mezy]

problem with a light bulb system it an only test for power to an item unles you keep running back to the batery to swap it to the positive terminal.
the tester i have shown does that automaticaly and will test for live and ground just by probing one side of a bulb and then the other. you can also power things , or ground things

You realy need to try one of things just to see how great they are at tracing wiring faults

 

[Popeye]

My Fluke is pretty loud. Not sure if loud enough and the right frequency, though. Not sure how to solve the problem… go to all your friends’ houses and try them out might be the only way??

 

[bammons]

Popeye - I live way out away from others with British cars and am pretty much a hermit but I will ask when I go to the next meeting of the club. Mezy - I am not familiar with the item you are showing. Does Harbor Freight have it? You did not say how it indicates continuity - does it make noise (what kind of noise) or flash or what? But I like what you are saying about it. I do have and use a tester like Nutmeg shows but you can't test continuity with it can you? Bruce

 

[NutmegCT]

Hi Bruce - you're right. The tool I showed tests for voltage, not continuity. I still suggest trying a multimeter at Walmart (they're really good at letting you return things), or Harbor Freight, or a hardware store you know.

Tom M.

 

[LarryK]

I have the light like Tom, but I also have the snap-on light with three lights. Hook to pos and neg and as you probe you get green light for hot or red for grounded. But, also have a fluke meter for with a loud beep.

 

[mezy]

Popeye - I live way out away from others with British cars and am pretty much a hermit but I will ask when I go to the next meeting of the club. Mezy - I am not familiar with the item you are showing. Does Harbor Freight have it? You did not say how it indicates continuity - does it make noise (what kind of noise) or flash or what? But I like what you are saying about it. I do have and use a tester like Nutmeg shows but you can't test continuity with it can you? Bruce

It will test continuity of any wire that has 12 volts going into it, simply by probing the other end of the wire, if there is continuity the tester will light up. simple one handed use, great if you cant get two arms somewhere with test probes,
It will tell you if a wire is 12 volts live or if it is going to ground. simply with a red or green light,
if you want to test a fuse for instance, just probe one side then the other, if it lights one side but not the other fuse is dead, no need to remove the fuse.

 

[bammons]

I am sort of new to actually using a multimeter for anything more that "is my battery dead". I am new enough and dumb enough to have burned a major wire on my new wiring harness. On the TR4A (different than a TR4) the wiring in the headlight switch is difficult because the existing wiring diagrams don't cover the proper wiring there and some harness's seem to be made slightly different in this area. Yes I had a thread on this recently. One of the contributors was kind enough to tell me how to test continuity with my multimeter with NO power supplied so I could trace wires and determine if wires went and did what I thought they did. These seems very useful and I have already used this feature. To test wires and test switches. So I want the ability to test without 12V power supplied before I burn stuff up. So Mezy from what you just said the unit you are talking about would not work in this instance. I literally just need a multimeter that has a loud (not high frequency) audible function but if one can't be identified without spending big $$$ then I will have to continue holding my ear to my multimeter. Bruce

 

[mezy]

I am sort of new to actually using a multimeter for anything more that "is my battery dead". I am new enough and dumb enough to have burned a major wire on my new wiring harness. On the TR4A (different than a TR4) the wiring in the headlight switch is difficult because the existing wiring diagrams don't cover the proper wiring there and some harness's seem to be made slightly different in this area. Yes I had a thread on this recently. One of the contributors was kind enough to tell me how to test continuity with my multimeter with NO power supplied so I could trace wires and determine if wires went and did what I thought they did. These seems very useful and I have already used this feature. To test wires and test switches. So I want the ability to test without 12V power supplied before I burn stuff up. So Mezy from what you just said the unit you are talking about would not work in this instance. I literally just need a multimeter that has a loud (not high frequency) audible function but if one can't be identified without spending big $$$ then I will have to continue holding my ear to my multimeter. Bruce

Sorry bammons wasnt aware yu needed to test when the circuits are dead,
have a look at this continuity tester designed for factory use,

if you cant hear this mate your not deaf your dead
The loud 85 dB buzzer makes it ideal for use in noisy environments