Multimeter hazard The HOLD button

[ban-all-sheds]

I disagree with John about the usefulness of your post.

The issue is not single vs double - it is, as John says, the use of marks to indicate that a word or a phrase is being used in a way which is different from its normal usage.

Which can be a valid thing to do, but not around adapter leads, or test leads, or isolated, or informative, or ideal, or speaker (plugs) etc. That debases the English language, and the persistent misuse dilutes the effectiveness of them.

We know that ('informative') Appendix 15 of the regs recommends that cooking appliances >2 kW should not be supplied from a ring final circuit.

did he really mean to signal to the reader that Appendix 15 isn't actually informative?

However, accepting that such a practice would certainly not be regarded as 'ideal'..

did he really intend to inform the reader that he wasn't using the word ideal to mean something other than any of its normal meanings?


Still - he's not as bad as KenGMac

 

[JohnW2]

I disagree with John about the usefulness of your post.

So you approve of littering/confusing threads about serious electrical issues with totally off-topic material? As Bernard said, if you really wish to, you can start a new thread - and you may then even get some responses to what you have to say.

Kind Regards, John

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Do you approve of deliberately confusing the readers of threads about serious electrical issues?

Because that is what you are doing when you tell them that ideal does not mean what they think it does, that informative does not mean what they think it does, that speaker does not mean what they think it does, and so on.

 

[ekmdgrf]

I'm trying to work out what use one would have for a hold button. It's not so hard to remember 2-3-0 while you write it down. Zero is even easier to commit to memory. I guess it's perhaps useful if you have one of those fancy meters that can report the PD to 10 decimal places. I don't think I've ever really measured anything where I care beyond the readings "high" and "low"*

* I never did get the hang of analogue electronics. Maybe this is why

 

[JohnW2]

I'm trying to work out what use one would have for a hold button. It's not so hard to remember 2-3-0 while you write it down. Zero is even easier to commit to memory.

IME, it's mainly (probably only) with clamp meters that hold buttons are useful. The way in which such meters are used is such that it can be difficult to even see the display (let alone remember what was displayed) when they are clipped (at 90°) to a cable. Maybe there are some clamp meters with (much more sensibly, IMO!) the jaws of the clamp at 90° to the display - but I can't recall ever having seen one! There may also be situations in which hold buttons are useful if one is measuring something which is varying quite rapidly over time, and wants a reading at a particular point in time - but that's not often going to arise in relation to 'electrics'.

Kind Regards, John

 

[ekmdgrf]

There may also be situations in which hold buttons are useful if one is measuring something which is varying quite rapidly over time, and wants a reading at a particular point in time - but that's not often going to arise in relation to 'electrics'.

Sounds like you need one of those "multimeters" that graphs the PD against time.

 

[Greenie9657]

Force of habit for me but I always put the meter to OHMS and touch the red and black probe together. I had a dodgy probe years ago and just stuck with this quick and easy before use check.

 

[JohnW2]

Force of habit for me but I always put the meter to OHMS and touch the red and black probe together. I had a dodgy probe years ago and just stuck with this quick and easy before use check.

That certainly gives some information/reassurance. However, in the context of 'testing for dead', one obviously should first check that the meter is giving the correct indication when connected to a known live source, which achieves the same thing (and more).

As I recently wrote, the greatest risk with these meters is that one might accidentally (and unknowingly) press the 'hold' button (which is often made to be easily found by touch) whilst handling the meter - e.g. whilst switching from 'Ohms' to 'Volts' ranges after your test.

Kind Regards, John

 

[JohnW2]

There may also be situations in which hold buttons are useful if one is measuring something which is varying quite rapidly over time, and wants a reading at a particular point in time - but that's not often going to arise in relation to 'electrics'.

Sounds like you need one of those "multimeters" that graphs the PD against time.

Well, I have a few oscilloscopes, at least one of which has 'freeze' and storage capabilities

Kind Regards, John