Snapon Multimeter question

[andrewmaciag]

Hello, I received a new EEDM525E Snapon multimeter today in the mail. I had an exchange because my last one arrived with the screen scratched up. This one arrived perfectly fine it seems. However, it flashes between negative and positive polarity at 0v, -0v with the leads unplugged or plugged in. Just curious if this is normal?

 

[-OSIS-]

Shouldn’t be a problem. They fluctuate a tiny bit. If you shake them in the air even it will generate a small charge.

 

[andrewmaciag]

Thanks for the response. I also have one more question, if anyone may be able to answer it for me. Though it is a auto-range meter, it does have a manual range feature. If I were to set this meter in Manual Range Mode, then measured beyond the manual range that it was set to--if the meter OL'd/attempted to read out of range in manual mode, would this scenario potentially damage the meter? I can't find anything in the instruction booklet mentioning anything about it.

Again, thanks for the help and responses!

 

[fordnut85]

It "shouldn't" damage anything as long as your within the max rage of the meter even if it is set on a lower scale as your only selecting how the information is displayed not really changing anything on the input side of the meter.

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

 

[bcradio]

If you do not move the leads between using the auto and manual ranging features, then you will be fine.

 

[anndel]

Normal

 

[BMack37]

All of this is normal...but based on your questions (please don't take this the wrong way) but please look up some youtube tutorials on using a DMM. It can be pretty disastrous if not used properly.

Usage will be the same for just about any auto-ranging meter. Right now, I'd recommend leaving the leads in the plugs that they start in, don't test current...you're not ready for that, for both safety's sake and protecting your wallet. Also, make it a habit to turn your meter off. Before testing voltage, always check to make sure you're in the right mode...checking voltage while in resistance mode can knock a lot of meters out of spec, not sure how TPI meters perform in this regard.

 

[andrewmaciag]

All of this is normal...but based on your questions (please don't take this the wrong way) but please look up some youtube tutorials on using a DMM. It can be pretty disastrous if not used properly.

Usage will be the same for just about any auto-ranging meter. Right now, I'd recommend leaving the leads in the plugs that they start in, don't test current...you're not ready for that, for both safety's sake and protecting your wallet. Also, make it a habit to turn your meter off. Before testing voltage, always check to make sure you're in the right mode...checking voltage while in resistance mode can knock a lot of meters out of spec, not sure how TPI meters perform in this regard.

I'm not attempting to hook the meter in series in a circuit for measuring amperage. I'm also not attempting to Ohm anything out in my question. I understand that I would need to isolate and disconnect a part of a circuit before attempting to send current through it to test for resistance. My question was that since this isn't an actual manual range multimeter, if setting this particular meter to manual range mode would damage the meter in DCV if I were to set this particular multimeter to a DCV manual mode range lower than the voltage range actually being measured (making the multimeter read OL if testing a higher voltage range than the set manual DCV range on the meter)--I was told in the past I would possibly damage the meter in a manual range mutimeter if I did so on accident. I'm just not sure how this particular autorange multimeter was made or how they actually work internally when set in Manual Range Mode. Does the autorange meter work something like a 10 Mega OHM resistor regardless of what the Manual Ranging is set to? Or will the meter work off a way smaller resistor in certain manual ranges, which I may possibly damage if in a manual range? Thank you for your help as well. If you can answer my question, I am just trying to get to know my meter better and how it would react in this particular situation.

To clarify--
Example scenario: Attempting to read source voltage with DCV on an automotive battery at 13.4 V, but being set in DCV manual range mode at 0.000-4V would read OL/out of limits. How does the meter react to this in stress? Will it damage a smaller internal resistor that it uses for measuring or does it just work off the same one large resistor regardless of the manual mode range (assuming something like a 10 mega-ohm resistor)?

 

[Citation]

Assuming Snapon had their vendor make a competent meter (likely) you will be fine so long as you don't exceed the voltage limits of the meter. The range didn't matter. With something like a Fluke meter you can have say 600V across the inputs, switch to any range including resistance and thing bad will happen.

 

[patchap]

The only way to damage it would be to run current through the volt/ohm port.
It should be Cat III 600v rated if it's any good, which means it's fused on the current port and safe to measure up to 600v.
If you read 300v and it's manually set to the 12v range, nothing bad will happen. They tend to be more accurate on the manual scale, though I haven't had a new meter since 2003 so yours may be equally accurate when autoranging.

 

[Citation]

Setting to current when the probes are in voltage inputs is no big deal. Those inputs should be safe for anything up to the voltage/CAT rating. Did you mean run voltage into the current inputs? They are fused but the fuse will blow.