ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 10 ก.ย. 2024
- Originally recorded December 6, 2018.
Has your Harbor Freight Cen-Tech Multimeter simply quit out on you, and the display doesn't read anything you measure? It turns out it's a very simple fix that requires no special tools or soldering.
If you have a meter lead wire that has come out of the probe, please see my other video on how to fix that problem: • Broken Meter Lead On H...
Thank you for explaining this simply, quickly, and to the point. This is how videos should be done!
Thanks Gina!
Worked for me saved my day I was getting frustrated with the lil cheap multimeter then I saw this video and worked exactly as supposed to
Great to hear, thanks.
Was about to throw the damn thing away until found this video and find it super helpful! Thanks man! God bless you!
You're very welcome!
man i love the internet, such helpful videos for very specific problems. thanks!
You're welcome. I came to the realization one day that when I experience a problem, somebody, somewhere, has also encountered that same problem. That's when I turn on the camera. I wish it worked the other way around, when I need help with a problem.
This is amazing! I was ready to throw this cheap thing out and have to drop $40-50 on a new one just to test my oven! This fixed it!
Of course, just as shown. A simple problem deserves a simple solution.
changed the battery. its works. Thank for explanation of fuses. Learned something today!
That means my work is done for the day. Thank you!
Thank you for your videos. You make them very easy to follow and understand ~ much appreciated!
You are quite welcome!
Thank you very much for your video it’s very informative. I’ll check mine tomorrow the way you showed because it worked wonderfully the first time I used it, had it in my tool box for a couple of months and now that I need it, it doesn’t read the voltage and it’s useless. Lucky you got it for free I bought the damn thing for $7 bucks I think, don’t remember exactly.
Can you recommend any better one but not too expensive? Since I don’t use every day or often. I’m a DIYer and once in while run into electrical issues that I need to troubleshoot.
Thank you again.
Quite frankly, this meter is barely adequate. You can find one on Amazon for under 50 bucks that is way better and does a lot more. Just about any one will do. With meters, there's FLUKE, and there's everybody else.
You don't have to give up on this meter, there are other ways it can falter and I have covered the major ones.
I’ve got two of these, two good CEN-Tech ones, and one with a dial that seems to work well, it’s held up for around 5 years. Gotta love not having a screen!
I have a couple analog meters laying around. One will be appearing in a video someday. They certainly can visualize what digital meters can't.
So they even took out the replaceable fuse. I still have a couple of these and you can always change the fuse with out soldering. Just pop in a new bus fuse.
I hear the newer ones even went to 5 amp test instead of 10.
On top of that, they don't even have them free or free with purchase anymore.
You're both correct. 5A & $7. Bought about a yr ago, didn't have much use for it til recently & am going to try the blue Centech $20 one.
The red cheapo doesn't even have a tone for continuity & it's never once registered when set to anything less than 2000k straight out of the box. Yesterday's free is today's $7 😂
Nailed it! Ty!
You're welcome.
can i ask sir? my multimiter tester is not stable readi how to fix it. new battery i just don't know if testprove is the problem. reading but not stable thank you
It depends on what "not stable" you mean. For example, if you meter a regular AA battery that's 1.5 volts, and your meter reads 1.54, 1.56, 1.57, 1.55, 1.54, 1.55, 1.56 and just jumps around by a hundredth of a volt, it is working properly.
If it's really jumping all over the place, I found that turning the dial out of the current setting and back in can help. Or turn it just a tiny bit in that position, to make sure everything inside the meter is making contact.
Even the $40+ ones have issues.
DM 600 NEW BATTERY fuse's both good tested battery leads power to the board no visual damage....
NO DISPLAY!
Any ideas?
Probably a bad display, or, more accurately, a bad connection to the display.
@@jaykay18 I got it second hand so I was thinking maybe they shot the microprocessor.
I didn't take it down so far as to see both sides of the board. But yours is a thought..
It wouldn't do conuitty either.
@@red2965 Could be the microprocessor then. They may have measured the improper stuff with the wrong setting and blown it in such a way that it didn't burn up the fuse; the processor acted as the fuse.
Sir..i've bought the meter like yours too..first reading 0.00 it's ok.But...when i wanna check battery voltage.(20DCV) it does not reading, What's the problem sir?Tq
Using a working multimeter, you can troubleshoot yours.
Thank u it really helped
You're welcome.
Thanks Jay but as you said these are poorly made so I have to buy a better one. Can you suggest one for beginners?
This one is for beginners. If you want something better made, there's only one choice--Fluke. You'll pay an arm, leg, and another body part of your choosing.
Awesome, thx for the info!
You bet!
Worked. Thx
No problem.
i mhave a similar problem; exept instead of being stuck on 1 it shows zero after jumping up to the actual resistance for a split second. mine isn't a cen tech but its identical in every way and came from harbor freight too, just non descript branding. anyways the resistance and continuity are the only things i use that don't work. help anyone?
Easy things to try:
1. Change the battery in the meter. When the battery is low, it may not warn you, and can start doing weird stuff.
2. Spray deoxit on the control. If there's corrosion on it, it won't work properly and you'll get weird results.
3. Try new meter leads. If you don't have any, you'll have to get some. Or you could open it and try probing the circuit board with a resistor to see if you get a reading.
This is simple stuff, start with simple repairs.
@@jaykay18 ive already went through that checklist but not quite in that order with a few other additions. i'm really stumped at this point; its been like that since I got it so i assumed that's just how its supposed to work until i saw other youtubers be able to have the value stay on an excess of 3 minutes or more. if i record with my phone in at least 30 or 60 fps i can get the reading just fine but i would like the added convenience.
@@jaykay18 oh also turns out despite the lack of branding it is in fact a cen tech. i bought it in late 2020 iirc.
@@henrywadsworth7690 It's not worth anything to try any farther, just replace it.
@@jaykay18 thats what i was thinking, but its extremely rare for me to be awake during their business hours so thought i'd take a shot
Hi new subscriber
Thank you
You're welcome.
FIX PLODUCT? WALLENTY NOW VOID, WE SEND EXPRODE CODE NOW!
Nah, it'll just let out a small wisp of the magic smoke.
I soldered my probes directly to the board
That's one way to do it.
Why it don’t make the beep sound
It's the cheapest of the cheap, it doesn't have a beeper in it, it was never designed to.
I would have fixed it by adding some dense foam, to support the PCB.
More like a block of wood, dense foam would give too much.
@@jaykay18 Foam I have around is almost like wood, but has just a touch of give. Easier yet just lop off the ends and solder directly.
Not even worth the trouble to solder directly with how cheap those leads are!
So these don’t make the noise at all?
No, to do that would add a tenth of a cent to the cost of production.
I found me a Hyper tough Volt meter at Walmart unlike harbor freight it has a thermo couple Walmart doesn't sell their own Branded meter at their website and the meter I have has a non voltage contact tester and a built in light and a backlight
I think Harbor Freight sells one like that, but it's a lot more money than free.
@@jaykay18 the meter I have goes up to 300 volts I use it for batteries and checking for closed circuits
Two of the many things they're used for.
Yeah it's the DM600
too bad I’ve lost the black/red probes
now that I know what was wrong with it
You can find replacement probes online.
Nice shirt
Thank you!
My solution: don't buy it and get a decent one.. you get what you paid for. In their case $ 5 Dollars..... Or free..🤣
I paid nothing, it was free. I got plenty of other much better meters, but barely ever need to break them out for more exact measuring for the stuff I do. This meter had 4 different failures which I have successfully fixed, all without needing another meter.
These things are junk in my opinion, they always read inaccurately, but you can't really complain if they're free Mr Holmes.
They're good enough for most simple measurements. Not as inaccurate as you think; more expensive meters don't have the quality they once did. For free, these meters do a remarkable job.
@@jaykay18 I have a few of these free meters and all are 10+ years old and a couple with the original leads. After the second time the wire pulled out of the probe, I injected some epoxy into all the others. And when I replaced the probes on my Fluke with some Probe Masters, I used the Fluke probes on one of these meters and calibrated all of them to match my Fluke. I only use them for checking dc voltages up to 15v, but they have held up well over the years and have been used thousands of times.
@@craigs7181 Same here, I've had mine for a very long time and surprisingly they've held up. I've had the probes break, I've had the part where they plug into on the meter fail, I've had the strain relief at the other end of the probe fail, and have been able to fix all the problems. Great meter when exact precision isn't required, and when you know your nice meter might get beat up, damaged, or stolen.
Washing machine as a work bench? What if your mom wants to wash your jammies?
I got a wife for that, thank you. And _I_ do the laundry around here anyway.
I just bought this piece of shit and it didn’t work. Lmao. Wow. Did you get what you pay for
Did you try fixing it like I showed?
@@jaykay18 I held it down while pushing, the leads in. I thought I went by the $30 one at Walmart when I seen this for 4.99 am I using it for continuity testing. The board looks like it’s missing some solder points I’m not really sure! one thing certain, it’s not getting no connection
@@yodead369 Time to break out another meter and sure those leads are good first. If they are, and are making connection to the circuit board, verified by physically looking at it with the case open, it should theoretically work. It's also possible the meter is new defective, in which case HF will exchange it for you.
@@jaykay18 The pads on the main board were actually ripped off underneath from the little bored where the leads pushed into! Nice. So either the board just made so damn cheap at the solder melt at the pad right off of it. Perhaps it ripped off when I first opened it up and try to push them in to the whole! Haha I remember telling myself not to go back to Harbor freight
@@yodead369 Now you have a reason to go back. If only to get your money back.