Sub-$20 Multimeter Recommendation: Uni-T UT136B

[FSFIan]

If you want to choose a decent low-cost multimeter, there are many excellent resources on the internet, such as

and

. But what if you want to spend even less and don't care if the thing might blow up if you try to measure a wall outlet because all you want to do is basic electronics work?

 

Shopping for any multimeter without relying on reviews is a challenge, because one of the most important questions is not answered by the spec sheet: does it have a decent continuity tester? After all, it will likely be the function you use the most.

 

If you have a crappy continuity tester, you might miss a short caused by a small solder bridge or a tiny bit of copper shaving that's hard to spot with the naked eye. If you want to see the difference between horrible and excellent continuity test modes, see

and

.

 

I can recommend the Uni-T UT136B if you are looking for a cheap meter that is sufficient for working on your Arduino-powered panels. It's available from eBay or AliExpress for less than $20 shipped.

 

I got one after stumbling upon this thread on the EEVBlog forums.

 

Pros:

• auto ranging
  
• the continuity tester, while "scratchy" due to not being latched, is reasonably fast
  
• usable tilting bale (depending on the surface of your table you may need two hands to adjust the range switch, but the meter won't fall over easily just from a small tug on the probe leads)
  
• The frequency measurement function can be handy to verify that a DCS-BIOS RS-485 bus is working by measuring the TXENABLE pin on a slave device (using the multimeter for a quick check is more convenient than breaking out your logic analyzer or oscilloscope)
  
• accurate enough (you don't need more than 4000 counts for this kind of work)
  
• milliamp range measures up to 400 mA (many other low-cost meters force you to the 10A range above 200 mA already), that should be good enough to decide if you need an external power supply for your Arduino or if you can still power it over USB
  

 

Cons:

• At this price, I wouldn't trust the claimed safety rating (CAT II 600V), so only use this for low-voltage work
  
• To get to the continuity test mode, you have to select diode test and then press the SELECT button, which is acknowledged by a short beep. But I guess you get used to the extra step and if you are in an environment where that acknowledgement beep would annoy other people, you wouldn't use the continuity buzzer anyway.
  
• The test voltage on the diode test mode is not high enough for LEDs
  
• On my unit, one of the input jacks wobbles slightly
  

Edited June 14, 2016 by [FSF]Ian

[hansangb]

It's odd that so many don't know how to use one. When I took out my trusty RadioShack multimeter to fix something, people looked at me funny. "You can't stick that into the socket....."

 

"Uh....yeah, that's what it's design to do!" LOL

[cichlidfan]

I learned how to use, and how to build, a multimeter when I was twelve or thirteen. Education has changed a lot since then 1971.

 

Good post Ian.

[Rangi]

Great timing, thanks Ian. I just broke the dial on my old one so will pick one of these up.