s yeah anyone with a dmm can tell you exactly what is broken. too bad they cost like $200 for a decent one
I bought a el cheapo dmm back in about '86; it's been thru hell and back, has solder permanently embedded in it, a couple of melted spots, etc.
I did some measurements at home recently for a work project, and tried to replicate them at work with the calibrated fluke 189 meter I have there...was WAY off...I'm like WTF??? I thought the calibration was way off; (I just got it back from cal)...seemed fine. I brought in my meter the next day, mainly to see if I needed to pitch it, and the measurement was exactly the same as I originally measured.
Turns out the cheap meter was 100M ohm input impedance, the fluke is 10M, and on a high impedance circuit, it makes all the difference in the world.
So now I'm buying 5 cheapo meters for $70 each, and paying $150 each to have them calibrated so we can use them at work...everyone wants one that actually works ... Life is often strange...
You really don't need a expensive meter to dink with cars...the biggest thing you will be measuring is whether the alternator is putting out 14.4 or not when running...otherwise its 'yeah its there' or 'I got nothing'.
If you want to measure audio, you need an oscilloscope.
To measure audio power, a handheld is only going to give you a relative answer. If you use the same audio, and the same meter, the reading means something. But if you measure the rms power of say, snoop dogg, vs Mozart, the measurement isn't accurate. The harmonic content is different, and not comparable. Errors are around 10%.
The power analyzer I use basically measures the temperature of a calibrated resistor, and calculates it from that. No frequency dependent errors; It's even older than I am, and that's saying something...
Long story short, (too late...lol) Buy a meter you can afford, and learn to use it. If it has a name brand, you paid too much for what you will likely use it for.
