If your meter was without fuse, this may increase the tolerance on the mA range, because the resistor inside the DMM has been hot.
Nice collection!! I love those FLUKES!
For the price, comparing the VC99 with the 8846A that costs forty times more, I think VC99 is OK for most flashaholics.
Thanks for the reply, HKJ. I was checking Manafont XML drop-in. (~2,5 A on MAX). Wanted to check that, but DMM only showed me zeroes. I saw then that I forgot to change the socket. Changed the socket and it works. After that, just in case, I checked V of my li-ion. Showed 4.17V. So looks like nothing bad happened. What do you mean saying "the resistor inside the DMM has been hot"? If resistor is cooled down, can it operate correctly then? I have UNI-T UT33A. mA fused (up to 400 mA), 10A unfused. Thanks again for the help.
A DMM has some internal resistors for measuring current, if they get overloaded they will get hot and this may change the value of the resistor permanently, i.e. make the meter show a wrong current value next time. If you overloaded a fused mA range, there is no reason to worry, either the overload was to small to matter or the fuse will blow.
Me too, but the Gossen is also a very good meter. I really like the single current socket, where it can measure from uA to A, very useful when checking standby current. The only negative with Gossen was the price for the computer interface!
Each of the good meters has some good and some bad points. this means that I uses specific meters for specific jobs.
I like the VC99 and believe it is a good DMM, but has not checked it enough to confirm it.
The 8846A is expensive, but looking at other precision DMMs (Like the ones in the photo) and what they can do, it is not that bad.
Mmmm... as I said before, and if I remember well, it was switched on A, and A is unfused :| But then I checked my li-ion and it showed 4,17V (the same result 1 day before I tested it). But maybe V resistors are different, and only A resistors was damaged. Well, it was 2-3 seconds with wrong socket. mA also works, don't know if it shows correct result, but still. Hope UNI-T use good resistors so nothing happened in such a small amount of time :)
The V range is difficult to damage, and if you checked a regular LiIon cell with the probes in the 10A socket, I doubt it will damage the meter.
Isn't checking voltage while in the A socket a big no no? It's essentially shorting the battery with the DMM. I guess if the battery doesn't pull enough short circuit amps, you won't damage the DMM, but it definitely stresses the battery.
It is, but as long as the battery has a protection circuit or has limited current capability there are no big problems.