Welcome to a new Voltlog, today it’s a multimeter review because we haven’t done one in a while and here I have the Smart Digital Multimeter which sounds like a generic name, no obvious branding on the box but granted it is featuring the multimeter on the box, it’s a color image which is not often seen on these cheap meters. On the back, the meter is shown in full black holster and we get a model number sticker, AN-V01 so this probably indicates the Aneng brand.
We’ve looked at Aneng multimeters in the past in Voltlog #114 and others and I’m gonna say this again, Aneng does not make multimeters, Aneng is just a company that rebrands existing multimeters made by other companies.
Welcome to a new voltlog, today we’re going to test a range of pocket multimeters by applying transient voltages to their inputs and we’re also going to talk a bit about CAT ratings and what they mean.
CAT ratings is something we often see marked on measurement tools and they refer to the measurement category, a method of classification published by IEC (the International Electrotechnical Commission). Different types of circuits will require a different measurement category based on the total energy available in that circuit. For example:
CAT I: is for measurements performed on secondary circuits not directly connected to mains.
CAT II: is for measurements performed on local electrical distribution, such as that provided by a standard wall outlet 110VAC in the US or 240VAC in the EU.
CAT III: is for measurements performed on hard wired building installation, for example distribution boards, circuit-breakers, bus-bars, junction boxes and industrial equipment.
CAT IV: is for measurements performed on the source of the low voltage installation, like the power input to your home, your electricity meter or the primary overcurrent protection device.
As you can see a higher CAT number refers to a circuit with higher available power and higher potential energy transients. Within each of these categories we have voltage ratings and a higher voltage rating means the ability to withstand a higher transient.
Welectron.com which is an authorized Brymen distributor, loaned me the BM887 Insulation Multimeter to perform some testing on the pocket meters. I will be using this meter to apply 1KV to the pocket meters and see how they survive. The BM887 is made for measuring insulation resistance in industrial machines, certainly not for testing multimeter input protection but we can think of it as an abnormal voltage spike that might come rushing through a circuit you are measuring.
If you remember Voltlog #117 in that video we analysed some ebay Bussmann fuses to try and figure out if they are fake or real fuses. The ebay fuses we’re way cheaper than anywhere else so that made me suspect they are not genuine.
It’s good to know if the ebay fuses are real or not because they are selling allot of them and people might be relying on these to perform as required when in fact they might be out of spec. For the average bench user which only occasionally goes up to 240VAC it might not be an issue if the fuse is slightly outside the specs but if you are probing some high energy circuit and relying on the ebay fuse to perform according to the datasheet at it is not then something serious might happen, like the multimeter could explode because of a high energy discharge or it could simply damage the meter which is to be avoided.
Links for the products and test equipment shown in this video:
Got this cheap power socket with usb charging ports from ebay. I don’t plan to use it, I was only curious about the quality of the power supply inside.
If you were following my InTheMail videos you probably seen these green rechargeable batteries that I got from ebay quite cheap, I think they were like 50 cents a piece. I got 4 pcs in AA size and 4 pieces in AAA size and little did I know about how crappy these could be.
