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Coffee House => Coffee House Boards => CH / General => Topic started by: Super TWiT on September 28, 2010, 03:53:42 PM

Title: Calibrate Digital Multimeter??
Post by: Super TWiT on September 28, 2010, 03:53:42 PM

I just wondered, why the manual says that my Digital multimeter needs to be sent in to them annually for re calibration.  Are they just looking for more ways to make money?

Title: Re: Calibrate Digital Multimeter??
Post by: Zac67 on September 28, 2010, 06:30:56 PM

Depends on what accuracy you need - if you require accurate readings (a good multimeter is +/- 0.1% or better) it needs to be calibrated regularly. Features like true RMS are more sensitive.

Usually you can use it for many years though.

Title: Re: Calibrate Digital Multimeter??
Post by: Tenacious on September 29, 2010, 05:05:18 AM

Quote from: Super TWiT;581746

I just wondered, why the manual says that my Digital multimeter needs to be sent in to them annually for re calibration.  Are they just looking for more ways to make money?

The recalibration is for absolute accuracy, 5.000 volts really reads out as 5.000.  For most use, this high accuracy is not needed.  An uncalibrated digital meter is still great for comparing values or tracking slow trends.  Digital meters are generally more accurate than analog types, which everyone had for general use just a few years ago.  I have a half dozen meters and none read exactly the same for a given signal.