Multimeter Recommendations

[Fazer]

The big difference between cheap and expensive multimeters is associated with meter input impedance. This property defines how much the meter will alter the behaviour of the circuit which is being tested. Ideally you’d want a meter that doesn’t affect the behaviour of the circuit at all, but that’s not possible.

On voltage measurements you want the impedance to be as high as possible so that the current through the meter is very small and therefore doesn’t significantly increase the current through any circuit components in series with meter.

On current measurements you want the meter impedance to be as small as possible so that the meter doesn’t restrict the current through the circuit being tested. Cheaper meters may also have very restricted current ranges.

If you are checking similarly priced meters then, if possible, choose one which has the highest impedance on voltage measurement, lowest impedance on current measurement and widest current range.

Having said all that, if you’re only using the meter for simple voltage, current and resistance measurements on motorcycle electrics then it probably doesn’t matter too much. However, once you get more confident in using your meter you may start to use it more widely and these specifications will then assume more importance.

[AvgBear]

On some economy multimeters the LCD isn't backlit -- if given a choice, choose a backlighted display.

[GlasgowTiger]

Thank you all for your suggestions, you have helped me so much! I've ordered a Draper multimeter which has the majority of the functions recommended by everyone on this post -

https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/draper-41820-digital-multimeter/

Fingers crossed I can eventually get my head round the electrical side of things! 

[tauzero]

Originally Posted by Fazer

The big difference between cheap and expensive multimeters is associated with meter input impedance. This property defines how much the meter will alter the behaviour of the circuit which is being tested. Ideally you’d want a meter that doesn’t affect the behaviour of the circuit at all, but that’s not possible.

Since the coming of DVMs, is that still true? In the old days of analogue meters, you'd get the cheap ones which were 10kohm/V or worse and the expensive ones which might be 50kohm/V, digital meters are in the megohms/V range.

[pme]

A point to note is that with 12volt dc electrics the currents are in 100's of mA. High impedance dvm's will give you a "good" 12 volt reading, BUT because the current draw in the meter is soooo low it will not always identify a poor connection. So you may measure 12volts with no load but as soon as the circuit is loaded it may fall.