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Calrad multimeter? Useful or novelty?

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n8n

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Joined
Mar 11, 2014
Messages
3,607
Location
Curtis Bay, MD
Worth putting any effort into? Found in thrift store, got it home and found the crispiest nastiest AA cell I've ever seen in it. Rigged a saucer full of vinegar to dip the battery holder area in, and pulled it out with needlenose pliers. Marked Made in Japan, couldn't see that sticker because it was bagged in its box for display. Does in fact have the original box and I found all the original instructions underneath though. I'm going to clean it up and put new wire on the negative terminals (it broke as soon as I went to pull the battery clips out to clean them up) but I'm wondering if it's even worth testing. Takes a 15V alkaline battery which I didn't know; apparently replacements are more than I paid for the meter, and the leads are a little hacked up. Does not appear to have any fuses, either. Useful alternative to a Harbor Freight meter or just stop now? The other thing I noticed was no fuses, that may be a bummer. Certainly not going to be using this on any tube amps. I guess before ordering a 15V battery I can use a benchtop PS in place of it to see if it's basically functional.

I know I just like random old stuff. I'm a sucker for Bakelite, what can I say.

Stupid thing is I just did this exact same repair on two fairly rare Luxman remote controls a week or so ago. When will people learn to take alkalines out of their seldom used equipment?
 
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62civa

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Oct 26, 2014
Messages
18
Calrad is still in business in Hollywood CA. They still import cheap, Chinese made electronics. If that meter needs some hard to get battery, I would not waist your time. I think the quality of the meter will just be a bit better than Harbor Freight. Harbor Freight gives their basic meters away for free from time to time.
 
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driftpin

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Dec 22, 2016
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11,218
Location
Miami-Dade/Broward Co. Florida
I have some old tools some still boxed. I put them in a couple of glass cases, bookshelves, or on-top of shelving, as accent pieces, I guess you could think of friday's restaurants where they have old stuff on the walls. It's just there to see, not to-use. One that I bought at a street sale is an old camera from the company that invented the exposure mechanism it uses, which all 35 mm came to use in one form or another. Just cool-looking old stuff, neat packaging no contemporary use.
 
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n8n

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Mar 11, 2014
Messages
3,607
Location
Curtis Bay, MD
OK, sounds like about what I expected. It looks really cool and amazingly it still has what may be the original 15V battery in it dated 1977. (That didn't leak, the Energizer Industrial AA made an unholy mess however. Fortunately it did not damage the documentation like the leaking battery in my Simpson did.) But I may clean it up and get it working and then put it somewhere where it can look cool. I already have two Flukes, a Simpson 260-8M, and another meter that I don't remember what it is that I picked out of the electronics recycling (Greenlee maybe?) so I don't actually need another one to use, although if I did find another good one I'd give it away to someone who needed it.
 
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