Rant: I used to think all test box setups were the same until yesterday

I spent 3 years swearing by the cheaper DMM setups from the supply closet at work. But then my lead handed me his Fluke 6000 series to confirm a wiring fix on a Cessna 172 wing at the ramp in Bakersfield. He just said, 'Watch the voltage drop reading on the second screen.' I saw the difference in half a second and it hit me how much time I wasted before. Now I'm looking at upgrading my own personal kit. Anyone else have a coworker who set you straight on test gear?

3 comments

3 Comments

gray623d ago

I was the same way. Used the cheap handheld multimeters from the hangar for years and thought they were fine. Then a senior avionics guy had me check a magneto timing on an old Piper with his Agilent. The reading was stable and fast, no flickering numbers. I had to admit my old meter was just guessing half the time.

phoenix2923d ago

Man that's exactly it, the flickering numbers drove me crazy on some of those cheap meters. You never knew if you were getting a real reading or just noise, especially on something like magneto timing where it really matters. Once you use a stable meter that locks onto the signal, going back feels like you're working blind. It's one of those things where you don't realize how bad it was until you see the difference.

zarab2415d ago

Put your old meter in the tool drawer as a backup and don't look back. @phoenix29 nailed it about working blind once you know what stable readings feel like. That Agilent will save you time and frustration on the tricky jobs.