Comparison of various multimeter test leads
Vložit
- čas přidán 21. 05. 2016
- I had several test test leads that I had accumulated in the last couple of years. Most had never been taken out of the box.
In this video, each set of probes was attached to my older generator to see if they would breakdown at 15KV. I then connected the probes to a constant current source to measure their power dissipation. The worse probes were then tested to failure.
Below, the brand, overall length, wire insulation OD, Resistance at 4A, Gold Plate
CENTECH, 32", 0.02", 0.375
Agilent, 55", 0.05", 0.047
Fluke (101), 55", 0.05", 0.047
HIOKI, 43", 0.04", 0.043, gold
AMPROBE, 42", 0.04", 0.041
Brymen, 46", 0.045, 0.033, gold
KLEIN, 41", 0.045", 0.150
Mastech (plain), 40", 0.04", 0.074
VICI, 42", 0.042", 0.084
Mastech (gray), 41", 0.04", 0.026
ProbeMaster, 46", 0.04", 0.031, gold - Věda a technologie
It's guys like you who keep these manufacturers on their toes and hold them to a standard.
👍👍👍
would also like to thank you for taking the time to do these test. very interesting to see the failure points.
No problem. I was curious myself to see what would happen. Dissipating 450 Watts with a brand new Fluke probe is not something I recommend anyone do. There is some additional data on the eevblog site as well as under the description for this video.
This is an interesting and memorable evaluation. It didn't require a thermal imaging camera to observe the results! A number of meters I have suggest maximum current test of 10 seconds in the instructions, but the CenTech is not one of them. I don't have this much equipment, but I think I could reasonably extrapolate the current carrying ability from milliohms using my 4-wire setup. Anytime I test a current above 1A I tend to remove the standard leads and use high gage banana wires directly to the jacks and keep the test duration short. If I must monitor the current for a long period of time, I will use my UT210E clamp meter same as what you showed, after zeroing out the earth's magnetic field DC offset in the correct orientation relative to the wire, which leads to extremely accurate results. Alternately, I would monitor the voltage across a high power low resistance shunt resistor in series to monitor current.
Side note, in the current test some leads were left bundled with wire tie and some were unraveled. This could introduce a variable because of how well constant heat can escape the leads and where the break might happen. Non-tester wires are typically specified with an optimum insulator OD based on the conductor diameter and the thermal conductivity of the jacket. Low voltage wires with low isolation need are better at current carrying current because the jacket ends up being thinner. Tester leads capable of high voltage are not usually very good a high current because of this compromise. Then there is silicone which has higher combustion temperature versus PVC, which is a better conductor of heat. I would choose PVC for high current because you wouldn't approach ignition temperatures with appropriate use. It's more likely that silicone would fare better near a soldering iron on the bench. Silicone is mostly for flexibility.
I love the way that you sensible testing of equipment, always ultimately ends up with stuff exploding and/or bursting into flames :-)
HAHAHA! The only real way to know just how robust something is by pushing them to their failure point.
Loved it .... and even went outside!
I appreciate all the testing videos that you put online, thank-you.
great video joe they give an idea of which probes to buy and what not to buy but under normal testing they seem to me like they would all work well under normal testing
Appreciate the effort making this interesting video.
Also I think it would have been kind of cool to see you cut probes open and get an idea of the gauge & strand count.
As leads are used over time, their strands may start breaking especially where the go into the pen or plug. Often caused by years of motion or less if tightly wrapping the leads around the DMM for storage. This can lead to resistances 10X what they were new, without the user noticing. I personally had a set of leads with unknown origin/history which had over 300 milliohms resistance and would change back to 50 by moving the leads around. After doing some microsurgery, I confirmed a few strands were compromised; I expected to see many more broken than I did.
great video, i hope you keep making quality content
+Stratos Vasilas Thanks. I'm glad you're enjoying them.
Awesome testing bro
man I was hoping you were going to see how much the probe masters would suffer. Probe master is all I run and I love it. I wonder what the silicone leads would have done.
nevermind I found it:)
So, the CENTECH probes put out the most power and, therefore, are the best. Maybe the leads will provide enough resistance to prevent the breaker from tripping if it's inadvertently left in current mode when one checks line voltage. The leads can sort of act like an external PTC thermister.
I decided I was done fooling with bottom of the barrel multimeters last time I forgot to change the probes from current to voltage inputs. I haven't forgotten swap inputs since I decided I'd only use meters with fused inputs. Who wants to pay for and go through the additional work of replacing a fuse, if you can just remember not to blow it?
I've enjoyed your videos but I'm glad I don't have smellovision for the smoke in this one.
"Remember kids, the only difference between Science and screwing around is writing it down."
www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/science
Pretty cool
You can no longer sell that ASUS laptop as from a non-smoking shack. Great test!! Thanx.
Nice, subscribed :)
Well, if the probe quality is any indicator of the products overall worth, it seems the Fluke is the winner. My guess is if a manufacturer wanted to skimp on cost they would short you on the probe quality. Nice video.
I use the Probe Master probes and some Fluke needles that I use at home.
Have to move my centech probes to my fusible link drawer
Cool. The analytics software you present with is great too; did you write it yourself ?
Yes but it's LabVIEW so fairly simple to setup. That's the reason I use it.
HOLY SMOKES 21:42!
+Ig Saturation Lots of smoke and fire towards the end.
nice video. good test. witch probe would you say is good one for every day use at 5 amps all the to say about 15 amps maybe pushing 20 amps.
Sorry but its very rare I will make any sort of recommendation. I have been using the ProbeMaster products for several years but as I have stated several times, it's rare I use a meter to measure current.
Great stuff! Would have liked to see a 60 amp test of the ProbeMaster ones. Have the cheaper model and I like them a lot.
Thanks. Stay tuned....
and brymen's too!
I may see if I can get a spare set to test.
Love my Bremen 869S. Built like a brick shit house...
I've had mine a year now and it's seen a fair amount of use/abuse. Still by far the best handheld meter I have every owned or used.
that high voltage probe looks like evil genius tech
HA! Link below shows this one along with some others I made. czcams.com/play/PLZSS2ajxhiQCAQ6gIp6s-WoKiIEb1gHPD.html
thats going up into hig voltages.. way beyond a valve amp i guess?
prob best i play with AA batteries for now
finally fire and smoke !! lol
That's why I only use 2.5mm^2 test leads rated for 32A, they can handle whatever the 4mm plug can handle. The probes that come with meters aren't all that practical anyway, compared to stackable banana plugs on both ends.
+stefantrethan I normally use the Probe Master ones I show. I have one set that I changed the ends for a retractable style for one of my old HP bench meters. These are fairly decent for most of what I do. For smaller area, I use the Fluke needles that were shown on the far right of the bench. For other work, I use the modular Probe Master tips. Rare I will use the current inputs on a hand held but I would never defeat the fuse or use a meter without one!
Thanks for this extreme test. So in reality, Vichy VC99 probes; What they claimed was actually correct because they lasted 35amps before it failed. is that right?
I really am not sure what probe testing is required for CE. It's for sure not one of the better performing probes of the ones I looked at.
what is your profession on a daily basis?.. by the sounds and looks, I wouldn't be surprised if you are already retired.
what are some of the projects you work on for your job?
Did the probemaster fail before the last test? Or what was the reason for not testing probemaster to failure? Or have I missed when it failed?
I suspect this is what you are asking about: czcams.com/video/CqDxMGs_zfg/video.html
niiiice
👍👍
I thought gold was actually a somewhat mediocre conductor, and that its use was just to prevent corrosion?
The uncorroded junction does conduct better than the corroded one.
13:18 - UNI-T UT61E is supposed to work up 10A.
Most meters will have a duty cycle and time limit. For example, on the UT61E, it you read the marking on the face of the meter below the 10A connector : Each 15min Max 10sec. So you can measure 10A for 10 seconds out of every 15 minutes.
Still, I'm surprised that the PCB opened up like that.
@@joesmith-je3tq Would be interesting to know if the shunt temperature in this multimeter was rising fast enough to detect this rise in temperature before the failure? May be built in multimeter smoke detector would be a good option to have ;)
Horrified that you would destroy all those probes with so much current! 😞
Really? This is what horrifies you? LOL!!!!
I've owned Brymen BM869s for 1 year.
After a short time, a non-contact problem occurred with the test probes that came out of the box. It shows 2.2ohm resistance. I am not a beginner (25 years of experience) and have used the device very little. causing problems in a short time does not suit the Brymen brand. even cheap china probes last longer than that. The probes that come out of the box are old production. not silicone and no banana screw. I have now ordered a new one. They say these are silicone. the tip is banana screw. it will reach me soon.
Note: I am using "google translate". I'm sorry I don't know your language.
Maybe just oxidation. How did you test them?
the location of the fault is in the wiring in the banana jacks plugged into the multimeter. cable protectors are too loose. so he couldn't do his job. When the cable turns, the line is broken. I removed the black (com) wire and measured its resistance. When you move the problem area, sometimes the conductors come into contact.
I used the multimeter very clean. I keep it in its special box. so there was never any misusage.
@@Nazmi_PWM.C Oxidation could have more to do with where you live.
Polish the probe tips !
At what point during the video do you feel that polishing the tips would be beneficial?
@@joesmith-je3tq I dont remember now. Lol