Harbor Freight again has their DVM on sale for $3.99. Cannot go wrong.
Below is am adapter I made to monitor DCC voltage using the same type meter.
Rich
If you ever fall over in public, pick yourself up and say “sorry it’s been a while since I inhabited a body.” And just walk away.
Great deal.
Springfield PA
Considering I've seen the exact same meter (maybe with a different color case and a different name, but it's the exact same one) sold some places for as high as $15-$20 - yeah, stock up at HF. Actually mine happen to be red, but still labeled as Cen-Tec - I have like 3 of them.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Just looked down to my right. I see two and know I have a third for my planes. Still at 3 or four bucks...
Tilden
I have a "Fluke" multimeter that I use for major stuff and 3 of those Harbor Freight special $3.99 multimeters. I love those $3.99 meters...smoke it...toss it. I thought about panel meters for my control panel, instead I'm going to use the $3.99 special, mount it with velcro and run the leads through a 12 point contact rotary switch so I can measure voltages at various locations on the layout.
The Harbor Freight meters are a great deal! I bought one for my layout, one for the car, and put one in my toolbox. Just for fun, I checked the accuracy. I used a zinc-air battery cell to check voltage - good to +/- 0.1 volt. I checked some 10% resistors - good to 10%. Can't beat that with a stick!
What 'modifications' need to be made to enable the meter to read DCC voltages?
Tks for the heads up Rich. I just ordered two. And dito on "what modification" to monitor DCC track voltage. I ran across the info a couple of weeks ago but didn't have a spare DVM so I passed it by and can't remember where I saw it.
DCC voltmeter adapter. This originally was posted in the Yahoo NCE Group and the circuit is from NCE.
http://cs.trains.com/trccs/forums/p/172398/1892576.aspx#1892576