Intelligent Digital Multimeter

The first is the way its ranges are quoted: DC voltage 1V to 600V, AC voltage 2V to 600V, DC current 2mA to 10A, AC current 2mA to 10A, resistance 0 to 20 megohms. Written as continuous spans rather than as a list of switch positions, that is the signature of automatic range selection — the meter works out for itself which range the measurement falls into. In practice that removes the most common cause of a wrong reading and of a damaged meter, which is having the selector in the wrong place. It also makes the instrument considerably quicker to use one-handed, which matters when the other hand is holding a probe against a terminal.

The second is capacitance measurement, up to 1999µF. That is a genuinely useful addition and it covers a fault that is extremely common in this climate: failed capacitors. Ceiling and exhaust fans, air conditioner compressors and fan motors, pumps, refrigerators and fluorescent fittings all rely on capacitors, and capacitors are the component that fails most often — usually by losing capacitance gradually rather than dying outright. A motor that hums and will not start, or an air conditioner that trips on overload, is very often a capacitor that has dropped to half its marked value. Without a meter that reads capacitance, that is diagnosed by swapping parts. With one it is a ten-second measurement.

It also adds AC current measurement, which the standard meter does not have, at the cost of the transistor hFE test, which it does. So the choice between the two is not simply better or worse — this one suits electrical and appliance fault-finding, and the other suits an electronics bench.

The rest is the same solid specification: IEC 61010-1 CAT II 600V, 3½ digit backlit LCD reading to 1999, auto polarity, data hold, overload protection, low battery indication, auto power off, two AA alkaline batteries and test leads included, CE approved.

That CAT II 600V rating carries the same important limit as its stablemate. Measurement category describes how much fault energy the instrument is built to withstand where you connect it, and CAT II covers appliances, socket outlets and the circuits fed from them — not distribution boards, main switches or service entries, which need CAT III or CAT IV. For appliance and equipment work this meter is right; for working inside a consumer unit it is not, and we would rather tell you that than sell it to you.

The buyers are appliance and air conditioning technicians, electrical repair and maintenance staff, auto-electricians, equipment servicing, and hardware dealers supplying repair trades.

Discharge capacitors before measuring them. Ask on WhatsApp for a price.