Paper-ing my Stator: Or... Electricity confuses me

[koolaid_kid]

You need to set it on the table and go purchase a proper meter. Those are O.K. for general purposes, but you want a quality meter for something as important as this. Go to Sears and pay about $20 for one, that will be up to the task.

[posplayr]

BTW, I did measure leg-to-leg stator voltage, too, at about 4000 rpm and got about 13V from all three legs.

Oh, and I had set the meter for 200 VAC for this measurement, just in case I borked that up too.

check it on your house outlet. You should get about 117-120VAC and gauge your results from that. Right now with only 13VAC that is not going to get it.

And use $20 is not too much to spend on a meter

[Roostabunny]

You need to set it on the table and go purchase a proper meter. Those are O.K. for general purposes, but you want a quality meter for something as important as this. Go to Sears and pay about $20 for one, that will be up to the task.

Ha, fair enough (and at $4, I don't even begrudge the purchase to replace the $20 Craftsman I shorted out years ago by using the 10A terminal at the wrong time), but it seems clear that even a $120 meter would not have saved me from the ongoing operator error that contributed to these readings.

So is the 200 ohm setting good given a proper meter - should that setting give me the baseline of 0 ohms when I short the leads?

And is the 200VAC setting still OK for 5K Leg-->Leg and Leg-->ground tests?

Guys, thanks for sticking with me while I learn to buy and use a dang meter. Best I can say is that I don't think you'll have to teach me twice!

[koolaid_kid]

AFA the VAC, posplayr is the best to answer that. But as to the other, I have used that meter (I have a couple right here, actually) and at the low impedance readings I have found it very inaccurate.

[koolaid_kid]

And if you still have that Craftsman laying around, you might try replacing the fuse.

[posplayr]

AFA the VAC, posplayr is the best to answer that. But as to the other, I have used that meter (I have a couple right here, actually) and at the low impedance readings I have found it very inaccurate.

A $4 meter is going to be pretty crappy, but with it you can't do better than the 200 VAC scale. So calibrate it against a house outlet and make your assessment of your GS reading based on that.

[Roostabunny]

And if you still have that Craftsman laying around, you might try replacing the fuse.

Yeah, I damaged it more completely than that. There was smoke, and melting plastic. Pretty sure I tried to measure battery voltage with the red lead plugged into the current terminal. There was some charring and physical damage to the PCB including at least one separated solder joint.

So I'm in a bind. I can't exactly say - "of course I checked the fuse before I bought a new meter, I'm not an idiot", because that "not an idiot" part is still in committee to possibly be replaced with something like "and I'm lucky to be alive" or "also I'm a Darwin Award finalist".

[tom203]

I've fried a few meters myself (Did you ever wonder what the voltage was on a bug zapper ?). It's hard to read 1 ohm , but all my cheapie Craftsmans managed to, even thought none zeroed out touching probes together. They usually are on sale for about $20

[Roostabunny]

koolaid_kid and Tom203

Does the sale price that brings the newest version of the entry-level Craftsman below $20 disqualify it?

http://www.sears.com/craftsman-multimeter-digital-with-8-functions-and-20/p-03482141000P?prdNo=1&PDP_REDIRECT=false&s_tnt=39869:4:0

Edit: If so, they've got the same one at K-Mart for $22.

[posplayr]

I've fried a few meters myself (Did you ever wonder what the voltage was on a bug zapper ?). It's hard to read 1 ohm , but all my cheapie Craftsmans managed to, even thought none zeroed out touching probes together. They usually are on sale for about $20

meters usually have a fuse inside so that they are protected.

[koolaid_kid]

koolaid_kid and Tom203

Does the sale price that brings the newest version of the entry-level Craftsman below $20 disqualify it?

http://www.sears.com/craftsman-multimeter-digital-with-8-functions-and-20/p-03482141000P?prdNo=1&PDP_REDIRECT=false&s_tnt=39869:4:0

Edit: If so, they've got the same one at K-Mart for $22.

I have that Craftsman it is a decent unit. The only thing it does not have is auto-off, so you need to be sure and turn it off each time.

[tom203]

I have that Craftsman it is a decent unit. The only thing it does not have is auto-off, so you need to be sure and turn it off each time.

Me too- two years and it still works!

[robertbarr]

So is the 200 ohm setting good given a proper meter - should that setting give me the baseline of 0 ohms when I short the leads?

And is the 200VAC setting still OK for 5K Leg-->Leg and Leg-->ground tests?

Yes, and yes. As mentioned earlier, use that 200VAC setting to check line voltage, just to see if the results are reasonable. 110 - 125, maybe.

[tom203]

meters usually have a fuse inside so that they are protected.

They protect themselves by playing dead- like mice!

[koolaid_kid]

Well, it depends on what you did. If it was an EXTREMELY high current extremely fast, the fuse won't have time to melt and you will let the smoke out, as you found out.