subelect

Last month I fixed a grain bin ventilation fan for a farmer on a Saturday night when he was desperate to get it running.
He liked my Fluke 116 with its magnetic strap quite a bit.
He and his son farm a large amount of land and are getting annoyed with their current electrician. We are starting to get more and more of their electrical business.
The father wants to get his son a multimeter for Christmas. They do their own irrigation pivot repair work and right now they have a cheap hardware store multimeter.
He called this afternoon and wants me to find him a meter that is: auto-ranging, simple (AC volts, ohms, amps), clamp-on ammeter with a magnetic strap for when they are working on pivot towers 12' in the air.
I have always been partial to Fluke, but my 116 does not have a clamp-on ammeter feature. There might be something better out there.
What meter would you recommend? They are going to use this meter to check fuses, contactors, motors for grounds, voltage...etc. No need for Hz, temperature and the more expensive stuff.
Thanks,
Rick

wildleg

I recommend that they pay you to do all that work. It will save them a lot of money on a multimeter.

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subelect

Wild Leg,
I know what you are saying, but most of the farmers are pretty independent. Quite a few of them had some type of electrical training in the military and they want to be part of the solution instead of just calling and having you do everything for them.

Most of the time, it would be cheaper and faster to just install a new breaker box, fused disco, starter, ..(fill in your own answer), but the farmer will drag this ancient piece o' crud out of his barn and tell you that he bought this for next to nothing 15 years ago at some sale and he would appreciate it if you could put it to use.
So, you try to clean it up, fill in the multiple KOs that are open, use several reducing washers and try to make them happy by installing the rusty hunk o' junk.
I know that it would be a whole lot safer to not sell him a meter, but if a farmer sets his mind to something, he is going to get it done. If he wants to spend $200 on a meter so he can check fuses, I would rather sell him a quality one.
Thanks for the advice,
Rick

Aiken Colon

They could go with the new Fluke 233 (it does temp as well, which is very useful on farms) then add on Item # TPAK, that is a meter hanging kit with a magnet included, then throw on Item # i410 or i1010. i410 is 400 amp, 600V cat III. i1010 is 1000a/dc, 600a/ac, 600V cat III.

From what I know, I do not believe there is a hanging kit or a clamp amp with a magnetic strip.

JJ

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Thayer

Subelect, check out fluke's website, they have some great little meters that will do what they are looking for. The 322 or the 11x series could be a good choice, but it all depends on how much they want to spend. Unfortunately, I don't know of a manufacturer that make a meter that both has a clamp and a magnetic strap.

Grimlock

Check these:

http://us.fluke.com/usen/Products/Fluke+330.htm

nolabama

I think that its great to get his son involved in electrical. Get him an 87V

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