If the battery compartment has threaded brass inserts, why would you need to take it apart? IMO pulling them up on the self tapper screws holding the case together is a bit unfair.
Why are you taking the meter apart all the time? lol By far the biggest problem with this meter is the "sleep mode". It turns off after 15 minutes, *EVEN IF YOU'RE USING IT*. It only detects a button press or dial turn to reset that timer. You might be measuring a box of resistors, and it will eventually turn off. If anybody knows how to disable that or lengthen the time, please let me know!
There's a way to do it. You have to hold down a certain button while powering it up to disable the feature, not sure which button it is, but fair guess, probably either the FUNC button or the backlight/flashlight button. I would guess it's the FUNC button though. I take these things apart to show what's under the hood.
I turned on the temperature gauge when I plugged the thermometer wire into the meter and it seemed to jump very wildly. Please tell me what's wrong. The meter was just purchased.
great test, i love my ol 118A will now buy a new one for my Brother to compare it to my 2y old model.. have newest 118a any improvments/extras over old ones? would hate if new 118a has permanent Backlight..
There are a couple of differences between the newer and older units - first, the backlight will stay on indefinitely when you turn it on, but it can be toggled back off so you're not stuck with it being on all the time. The older version would turn itself off after 15-20 seconds, no matter what. The other difference is in voltage mode the newer version defaults to DC voltage rather than AC voltage when switching to that mode (guessing the same is true of the current mode as well). Other than that - no differences really, at least that I know of.
This meter seems almost perfect for this budget and it's on my list of multimeters to consider. Only thing I don't like is the input protection could be better. I wonder would it have been possible for them to just remove some of the features (eg. flashlight, bargraph, temp sense etc.) and instead put the extra cost saving into beefing up the input protection? Does it cost that much to put a couple of MOV's, PTC's and a current shunt and still keep the price point the same? I'm hoping it would improve the meter's ability to handle transients at least. Another meter I'm considering is the Amazon Commerical 90DM160, for some reason there's hardly any reviews on this 4000 count meter. Can't find any teardowns on it online. Its bigger brother 90DM600 has some really impressive input protection, it's chucked full of PTC's and MOV's in the front and back of the pcb. I would have bought that if it wasn't out of stock. Any chance you can review 90DM160 and see if it shares in some of 90DM600 input protection design? Sidenote, AmazonCommerical meters seems to be rebranded CEM. 90DM160 is just a CEM DT-916N with different color.
@greatwolf Almost all of these meters in this price range have the same 1-2 PTC's and no MOV's. The real problem with any of these is none of them have a high voltage resistor so while having a few PTC's and MOV's as a combo would certainly be better protection, in the larger scheme of things it's still not going to be really good protection. Another suggestion I can make in regard to getting more protection is to take a look at the Etekcity MSR-A1000 I reviewed - it has three PTC's and three MOV's and a real current shunt - certainly superior to the HT118A. It's also a 6000-count, but lacks a couple other things the HT118A has. Also about the same price - I got mine for 30 bucks and last time I looked I think it was priced around 35 bucks. All of the Amazon Commercial meters are made by CEM as far as I can tell. I had another request to look at the 90DM150 which is also a 4000-count and has more functions than the 160 offers but it's also out of stock so maybe I will grab a 90DM160 instead to review (assuming it is available).
@Sui778 Oh wow, thanks for bringing this to my attention. On my quest for choosing my first multimeter this wasn't even on my radar. All I know was I wanted a meter with the following things: - autoranging - uses double AA batteries - decent input protection - decently uniform backlight without terrible sidebleed - about $40 or less Looked at a lot of meters, some came pretty close but they were all deficient in some way. After seeing your review of the Etekcity MSR-A1000, it ticks all those boxes without making any concessions. The only ding against it is the quick backlight timeout. I wonder if it can be fixed with a EEPROM reprogram. Was wondering what is the burden voltage like for this meter and the battery runtime. Usually meters using AA batteries seem to have better runtime performance compared to AAA and 9v batteries. Anyway will be getting the A1000, seems to be an incredible value for the price. Thanks again.
@@greatwolf. Burden voltage is going to be a problem on any cheap meter - just a fact of life. As far as the battery life goes - I generally just use rechargeable batteries if I leave batteries installed in a meter - alkalines kinda suck that way and tend to corrode. But the MSR-A1000 is your standard LCD display without permanent backlight so should last a very long time. Overall it did pretty well on my reference chart spreadsheet, and it also has one of the more robust stands. Kinda hard to go wrong for $35.99 minus 20% coupon right now.
@greatwolf - I looked into the 90DM160 and I would advise against buying one - that meter is not TrueRMS - you will have to do a little math when you do AC voltage and current measurements as a result.
@@Sui778 Thanks, I already got the MSR-A1000 as per your recommendation. Am quite happy with it, even picked it up at a nice discount ~$24 over black friday :D
Thanks for a great review. At 8:56, the slow response of the meter - just checking whether the voltage source reached its peak earlier - or was it slow rise at the source? Thanks
Hi, is it possible to use a lithium cell (4,2V when fully charged) instead of the alkaline cells for all these 3V multimeters without damage for the card and the screen? or only with a storage charge (3,8V)?...or not at all?
Manual mentions nothing about using lithium ion cell rechargeables. Bottom line is - don't do it - stick with alkalines or your regular every day eneloops or other NiCad's.
Thanks for the review. The NCV and the live wire function, should be close to the V AC position. I don't understand why the brands put the NCV / live wire functions so far away from the V AC Position. You should point this on your future reviews. Keep up the good work.
Makes sense to me - if for no other reason, than perhaps just convenience. Once someone discovers the outlet is hot then they can make a quick switchover to VAC.
A higher voltage amplitude has to be used to force a DMM to read a frequency beyond its spec and that's the problem. The manual for this DMM warns not to go above 10V on a signal source and I have my doubts about it being able to take an amplitude that high.
On the rear of the unit underneath the stand. Extend the stand out and you will see a screw you have to take out to remove the cover to get to the battery compartment.
Continuity determines whether there is a good electrical contact between two points or not (a beep is good - no beep is bad), like a wire, or a resistor, or whatever else, and resistance measures the actual resistance of a connection or resistor (or other components).
Hi, great review! Can you please help me with something. I have the same meter and when I tried to test it's fuses by checking the resistance in the 10A and mA inputs, I got nearly 0 ohm in the 10A input, but about 16 mega ohms in the mA input. I believe this isn't good. Also on continuity mode I have beep in the 10A input, but no beep in mA input. I took out the fuses and checked them, they are good, there is continuity on both and the readings are nearly 0 ohm on both.. What resistance readings do you get in the mA input.. Thanks in advance.
@Svetlin Barzev Assuming you are measuring from the jacks on the HT118A with the fuses installed - I measured my HT118A from the jacks and on the 10A jack I get 0.1 ohms and on the mA jack I get 11.1 Megaohms. Be advised I had to replace my fuses as I had blown out the originals - but based on that I don't know that it would be a cause for alarm since my mA jack is drastically higher than the 10A jack (not quite as big a difference as yours but still pretty significant difference). I get the same results on the continuity test for the jacks as you do - 10A jack reports continuity, mA jack doesn't.
@@Sui778 thank you very much you did the test for me. Yes, I was measuring from the ht118a itself, with the fuses installed, same as you (only, when I disassembled the ht118a, I measured the fuses with another meter). So the situation with yours is the same at all(reading mega ohms). Maybe it is something about how this meter works? I hope it doesn't mean there is a problem with it. Because, as what I found in the Internet, the mA input should give about 1000 ohms if not the same as the 10A's 0.1 ohms, but it's still far less than a mega ohms reading.. And if there is not a continuity, it is considered as a problem, but my fuses are fine, as yours are. Thank you again for your reply.
@Svetlin Barzev I have done 17 DMM reviews on my channels - most of them in the sub $50 USD range and the HT118A is still one of the better DMM's I have reviewed in that category so I wouldn't worry too much. It's one of the most accurate budget meters I have and it has done quite well on my reference standard tests. Also keep in mind that this meter uses a resistor for its current shunt rather than a piece of metal and that may have something to do with all of this.
You just short press the backlight/flashlight button and it stays on. There's no trick to making the display stay backlit - you just turn it on or off.
@@Sui778 yes, I know this. I ask because I saw a video where the reviewer said the backlight stays on for only 45 seconds at a time. I was surprised to see yours stayed on!
@@koonley The HT118A has multiple firmware versions - the older ones had a light that would not stay on permanently and the other telltale sign is when you engage the voltage mode it defaults to AC voltage. The more recent versions it will default to DC voltage and the backlight stays on. Any newly purchased HT118A should have a backlight that stays on.
If the battery compartment has threaded brass inserts, why would you need to take it apart? IMO pulling them up on the self tapper screws holding the case together is a bit unfair.
You don't have to take it apart to replace the batteries, but you do have to take it apart if you have to replace the fuses.
I just bought one. I'm an amateur electronic wannabe. From what I've seen of the reviews on TH-cam, i made a great choice. Nice review.
Awesome review, thank you. Clarifies a lot of questions.
Thanks for watching.
Very nice review. We know you only bought this to measure your vape coils :)
Only with really cheap leads... LOL. But nah, the mods measure the resistance for you. :-)
Thanks. Love your multimeter reviews. This meter on Amazon right now for $14 under the Dewenwils brand.
Why are you taking the meter apart all the time? lol
By far the biggest problem with this meter is the "sleep mode". It turns off after 15 minutes, *EVEN IF YOU'RE USING IT*. It only detects a button press or dial turn to reset that timer. You might be measuring a box of resistors, and it will eventually turn off. If anybody knows how to disable that or lengthen the time, please let me know!
There's a way to do it. You have to hold down a certain button while powering it up to disable the feature, not sure which button it is, but fair guess, probably either the FUNC button or the backlight/flashlight button. I would guess it's the FUNC button though. I take these things apart to show what's under the hood.
I turned on the temperature gauge when I plugged the thermometer wire into the meter and it seemed to jump very wildly. Please tell me what's wrong. The meter was just purchased.
What about HTC DM98? Can U just campare the spec and other brand like GVDA multi Meters....
Nothing to compare really - it's the same exact model with a different brand name and model designation.
great test, i love my ol 118A will now buy a new one for my Brother to compare it to my 2y old model.. have newest 118a any improvments/extras over old ones? would hate if new 118a has permanent Backlight..
There are a couple of differences between the newer and older units - first, the backlight will stay on indefinitely when you turn it on, but it can be toggled back off so you're not stuck with it being on all the time. The older version would turn itself off after 15-20 seconds, no matter what. The other difference is in voltage mode the newer version defaults to DC voltage rather than AC voltage when switching to that mode (guessing the same is true of the current mode as well). Other than that - no differences really, at least that I know of.
Excellent review i will buy this meter
This meter seems almost perfect for this budget and it's on my list of multimeters to consider. Only thing I don't like is the input protection could be better. I wonder would it have been possible for them to just remove some of the features (eg. flashlight, bargraph, temp sense etc.) and instead put the extra cost saving into beefing up the input protection? Does it cost that much to put a couple of MOV's, PTC's and a current shunt and still keep the price point the same? I'm hoping it would improve the meter's ability to handle transients at least.
Another meter I'm considering is the Amazon Commerical 90DM160, for some reason there's hardly any reviews on this 4000 count meter. Can't find any teardowns on it online. Its bigger brother 90DM600 has some really impressive input protection, it's chucked full of PTC's and MOV's in the front and back of the pcb. I would have bought that if it wasn't out of stock.
Any chance you can review 90DM160 and see if it shares in some of 90DM600 input protection design?
Sidenote, AmazonCommerical meters seems to be rebranded CEM. 90DM160 is just a CEM DT-916N with different color.
@greatwolf Almost all of these meters in this price range have the same 1-2 PTC's and no MOV's. The real problem with any of these is none of them have a high voltage resistor so while having a few PTC's and MOV's as a combo would certainly be better protection, in the larger scheme of things it's still not going to be really good protection. Another suggestion I can make in regard to getting more protection is to take a look at the Etekcity MSR-A1000 I reviewed - it has three PTC's and three MOV's and a real current shunt - certainly superior to the HT118A. It's also a 6000-count, but lacks a couple other things the HT118A has. Also about the same price - I got mine for 30 bucks and last time I looked I think it was priced around 35 bucks.
All of the Amazon Commercial meters are made by CEM as far as I can tell. I had another request to look at the 90DM150 which is also a 4000-count and has more functions than the 160 offers but it's also out of stock so maybe I will grab a 90DM160 instead to review (assuming it is available).
@Sui778 Oh wow, thanks for bringing this to my attention. On my quest for choosing my first multimeter this wasn't even on my radar. All I know was I wanted a meter with the following things:
- autoranging
- uses double AA batteries
- decent input protection
- decently uniform backlight without terrible sidebleed
- about $40 or less
Looked at a lot of meters, some came pretty close but they were all deficient in some way. After seeing your review of the Etekcity MSR-A1000, it ticks all those boxes without making any concessions. The only ding against it is the quick backlight timeout. I wonder if it can be fixed with a EEPROM reprogram.
Was wondering what is the burden voltage like for this meter and the battery runtime. Usually meters using AA batteries seem to have better runtime performance compared to AAA and 9v batteries.
Anyway will be getting the A1000, seems to be an incredible value for the price.
Thanks again.
@@greatwolf. Burden voltage is going to be a problem on any cheap meter - just a fact of life. As far as the battery life goes - I generally just use rechargeable batteries if I leave batteries installed in a meter - alkalines kinda suck that way and tend to corrode. But the MSR-A1000 is your standard LCD display without permanent backlight so should last a very long time. Overall it did pretty well on my reference chart spreadsheet, and it also has one of the more robust stands. Kinda hard to go wrong for $35.99 minus 20% coupon right now.
@greatwolf - I looked into the 90DM160 and I would advise against buying one - that meter is not TrueRMS - you will have to do a little math when you do AC voltage and current measurements as a result.
@@Sui778 Thanks, I already got the MSR-A1000 as per your recommendation. Am quite happy with it, even picked it up at a nice discount ~$24 over black friday :D
I bought habotest HT118A
A useful review. Thanks!
Thanks for the comment.
I use it on boilers 24 V AC and I use it on alarm systems 12 V DC Works good
Thanks for a great review. At 8:56, the slow response of the meter - just checking whether the voltage source reached its peak earlier - or was it slow rise at the source? Thanks
As it states in the video, it was the power supply being slow - not the meter.
@@Sui778 Thanks for the kind response.
Hi, is it possible to use a lithium cell (4,2V when fully charged) instead of the alkaline cells for all these 3V multimeters without damage for the card and the screen? or only with a storage charge (3,8V)?...or not at all?
Manual mentions nothing about using lithium ion cell rechargeables. Bottom line is - don't do it - stick with alkalines or your regular every day eneloops or other NiCad's.
Best review I have seen Very thorough
AC duty cycle measurement fluctuates on mine too but only when the backlight is turned on.
Hm. Interesting. I'll have to run a little experiment on mine.
hey, can this be powered by rechargeable Ni-MH batteries like eneloops?
@Thimira Keerthisena Yes - this DMM can use rechargeable NiMH batteries.
Thanks for the review. The NCV and the live wire function, should be close to the V AC position.
I don't understand why the brands put the NCV / live wire functions so far away from the V AC Position. You should point this on your future reviews.
Keep up the good work.
Makes sense to me - if for no other reason, than perhaps just convenience. Once someone discovers the outlet is hot then they can make a quick switchover to VAC.
Duty Cycle on a Sine Wave is useless and you will not harm the meter measuring low voltage on any frequency.
A higher voltage amplitude has to be used to force a DMM to read a frequency beyond its spec and that's the problem. The manual for this DMM warns not to go above 10V on a signal source and I have my doubts about it being able to take an amplitude that high.
Hi. Does the voltage in the frequency test has to cross zero to be mesured?
Since I am using a sine wave in the tests - I would say the answer is yes.
Is this an auto off multimeter
Unfortunately, yes, after 15 min.
It can be disabled on bootup - unfortunately it won't retain the setting when you turn it back off.
How do you install the 2 AA batteries?
On the rear of the unit underneath the stand. Extend the stand out and you will see a screw you have to take out to remove the cover to get to the battery compartment.
What about shorted diode test in diode mode give long buzzer Or short buzzer
You get no continuity beep at all when testing diodes.
@@Sui778 Might be different versions out there. Mine beeps a short beep on diode continuity.
@@larrybud Could be - know of at least two versions of it and there's probably more than that.
Also known as the Habotest ht118a
Yeah, also several other manufacturers.
What's the difference between the continuity test and resistance?
Continuity determines whether there is a good electrical contact between two points or not (a beep is good - no beep is bad), like a wire, or a resistor, or whatever else, and resistance measures the actual resistance of a connection or resistor (or other components).
@@Sui778 OK. Makes sense. A lot of people use continuity and resistance interchangeably.
What does the duty cycle on the Hertz mean?
How often the signal is "high" vs "low".
@@larrybud K
Hi, great review! Can you please help me with something. I have the same meter and when I tried to test it's fuses by checking the resistance in the 10A and mA inputs, I got nearly 0 ohm in the 10A input, but about 16 mega ohms in the mA input. I believe this isn't good. Also on continuity mode I have beep in the 10A input, but no beep in mA input. I took out the fuses and checked them, they are good, there is continuity on both and the readings are nearly 0 ohm on both.. What resistance readings do you get in the mA input.. Thanks in advance.
@Svetlin Barzev Assuming you are measuring from the jacks on the HT118A with the fuses installed - I measured my HT118A from the jacks and on the 10A jack I get 0.1 ohms and on the mA jack I get 11.1 Megaohms. Be advised I had to replace my fuses as I had blown out the originals - but based on that I don't know that it would be a cause for alarm since my mA jack is drastically higher than the 10A jack (not quite as big a difference as yours but still pretty significant difference). I get the same results on the continuity test for the jacks as you do - 10A jack reports continuity, mA jack doesn't.
@@Sui778 thank you very much you did the test for me. Yes, I was measuring from the ht118a itself, with the fuses installed, same as you (only, when I disassembled the ht118a, I measured the fuses with another meter). So the situation with yours is the same at all(reading mega ohms). Maybe it is something about how this meter works? I hope it doesn't mean there is a problem with it. Because, as what I found in the Internet, the mA input should give about 1000 ohms if not the same as the 10A's 0.1 ohms, but it's still far less than a mega ohms reading.. And if there is not a continuity, it is considered as a problem, but my fuses are fine, as yours are. Thank you again for your reply.
@Svetlin Barzev I have done 17 DMM reviews on my channels - most of them in the sub $50 USD range and the HT118A is still one of the better DMM's I have reviewed in that category so I wouldn't worry too much. It's one of the most accurate budget meters I have and it has done quite well on my reference standard tests. Also keep in mind that this meter uses a resistor for its current shunt rather than a piece of metal and that may have something to do with all of this.
@@Sui778 it's a big relief you gave me, thank you :) I know I wouldn't worry that much, but I like the meter, I just bought it a few days ago :)
I've had mine for nearly a year and I still like it if that says anything about this DMM.
How did you get the backlight to stay on?
You just short press the backlight/flashlight button and it stays on. There's no trick to making the display stay backlit - you just turn it on or off.
@@Sui778 yes, I know this. I ask because I saw a video where the reviewer said the backlight stays on for only 45 seconds at a time. I was surprised to see yours stayed on!
@@koonley The HT118A has multiple firmware versions - the older ones had a light that would not stay on permanently and the other telltale sign is when you engage the voltage mode it defaults to AC voltage. The more recent versions it will default to DC voltage and the backlight stays on. Any newly purchased HT118A should have a backlight that stays on.
@@Sui778 Ahh, I see. Thanks for that bit of info
@@koonley No problem.
Great review!! Thanks!! I bought one last year based on price and my own analysis. Yay!!!!