I thought I’d share my recent multimeter lead experience.
It was apparent that I had an issue with my Fluke multimeter leads as I was getting some vague readings. This is unheard of on a trusty reliable “made in the USA” Fluke meter.
After some lead flexing I identified a break in the black lead in the stress relief where the silicone wire enters the straight shrouded banana plug which attaches to the probe.
So my first thought was… Oh well, these leads have been well used, so it’s probably timely for a replacement set.
Looking them up, the replacement leads are Fluke TL224. With these I’d just retain my existing probes, but have shiny new shrouded banana plug terminated silicone leads.
These leads are not overly cheap, but you expect that with Fluke, as there is an assumed level of “good quality”.
So I was about to place my order when my curiosity noticed the low “star rating” for these leads on Fluke’s own website.
Reading the customer reviews was an eye opener! It seems that the break in my lead was a common failure point. Not good!
So this got me doing some more research on what I’d always assumed was just a given…
ie. You have a quality Fluke meter, which you “obviously” pair with quality Fluke leads & probes.
It didn’t take me long to find some great reviews and discussion about a USA company called Probemaster.
It seems that if you want really good quality leads for your favorite multimeter, you really can’t go past Probemaster.
This lead to a few other learnings, which I should have already known! But then, I’d always just taken Fluke meter leads for granted, as being all that you need as the assumed best quality!
The first obvious learning was that expensive does not mean they’re necessarily the best!
Secondly, you really should match your meter leads / probes, to what your actual usage is.
eg. For some reason it had never occured to me that Fluke don’t appear to do gold plated probes, as these are not the best to use for high voltage / AC.
However, gold plated probes are what you do really want for optimum connectivity if you’re an electronics maker who is generally dealing with low voltage DC circuits and components.
For the full story, and a detailed review of my new Probemaster test lead set, check out my video here:
Very helpful thanks! 🙂