Useful cheap small tester...

[Radio Fixer]

A few years ago I was given a multi-voltmeter from probably back in the 30's. It was one of those big rectangular Bakelite cased things with a hinged lid. Inside was a large, maybe 6", mirror scale meter and a range switch.

This went 7.5V, 15V, 30V, 75V, 150V and 300V. It languished in a cupboard for some time and then I thought I will see how well it works. I was pretty astounded how close it was to my modern expensive (not cheap tat) digital meter. The largest difference was 1% on the 75V range and on others no more than 0.6%.

This was from a low Z source and it wouldn't have held its own on circuits with resistance of course.

Having no room to keep it I gave it to the BVWS B&B and at the end no one had bought it. I hope it didn't end up in the skip

Gary

[Nick]

Absurdum logic indeed, especially when the clocks go forward.

Indeed - that's the great thing - it maintains its absolute accuracy (twice a day) even without being adjusted for daylight saving. A marvel of vintage analogue technology - show me a non-working digital watch that could do that !

[pwdrive]

Don't quite follow that if it's not measuring time.

Lawrence.

[Nick]

Don't quite follow that if it's not measuring time.

Think about it

[pwdrive]

I have thunk, it's not measuring time.

Lawrence.

[Nick]

I have thunk, it's not measuring time.

...keep going (unlike the watch!)...

[pwdrive]

A watch that no longer works doesn't give you the time, it might indicate the time that it stopped working, but at the time that it stopped working who's to say that the watch was accurate in the first place.

My earlier post was regarding my old Avo and my cheap DMM, I can only write from my own experience of the said two items in my possession , sometimes it's the luck of the draw as to how long these instruments last.

Lawrence.

[Nick]

A watch that no longer works doesn't give you the time...

...Ahhh! but it does. Twice a day, with absolute & perfect accuracy, anywhere in the world, regardless of daylight saving.

The downside is that you don't when those two occurrences manifest themselves. A mere detail

[pwdrive]

A stopped clock is still not measuring time as most folks would understand it, it just records the time on whatever day it stopped, even that can't be taken as the correct time at the time of the event.

The stopped clock correct twice a day is just a statement, writing whatever o'clock on my kitchen wall tells me the same thing.

Not sure what this has to do with the reliability of my Avo and my duff DMM though.

Lawrence.

[Geaney]

I finally got round to putting that little kit in a box. The screen got a bit damaged along the way (not sure how - it's been sitting in a drawer for ages) so I may replace it with one of those blue backlit ones.

Cheers,

John