I followed Stuart's link and bought one of the compact Radio Shack meters.
It arrived today. I really like it for its practicality. You can fold it up
and not worry about the cords getting snagged and messed up, which is what
happens to most I carry around in a toolbox. It's great for what it is. I
also have Harbor Freight digital and old-school d'arsenval meters, they are
all useful for something. If I had to pick one to keep, it would be a top
of the line Harbor Freight digital or maybe a big 1980s Radio Shack meter,
hard to say. Sometimes it is better to watch a meter fluctuate than to read
a bunch of numbers.

Anyway, they all know a lot more about electronics than I do.

Jim

On Fri, Jan 6, 2017 at 6:42 PM Stuart MacMillan <stuartmacm@gmail.com>
wrote:

> Good ole Harbor Freight!  Some for $4.99, which one do you like?
> http://www.harborfreight.com/catalogsearch/result?q=multimeter
>
>
>
> Stuart
>
>
>
> From: dbeierl@gmail.com [mailto:dbeierl@gmail.com] On Behalf Of David
> Beierl
> Sent: Friday, January 06, 2017 4:24 PM
> To: Stuart MacMillan
> Cc: vanagonlist a
> Subject: Re: Dang driver lowbeam and front driver turnsignal
>
>
>
> Stuart, Harbor Freight has $6 (sometimes free) meters that are perfectly
> adequate for almost all van electrical stuff (better than the RS folding
> one  in some ways) and easier to find/use for one fifth the price.
>
> What you need in a van digital multimeter are:
>
> Banana jacks so you can use different test leads or adapters.
>
> Power switch that is not a pushbutton that could get turned on in your
> toolbox.
>
> Manual ranges -- auto-ranging is nice, but if you can't turn it off it can
> drive you nuts in some circumstances.  Much better to not have it than have
> one that can't be turned off (most auto-ranging *can* be turned off).
>
>
>
> Accuracy -- the cheapest digital meter is more accurate than all but
> extremely expensive analog meters, and accuracy is specified in terms of
> the reading rather than the meter full scale.  It will be good enough,
> sight unseen, until you are advanced enough to work out the ramifications
> yourself.
>
>
>
> High impedance -- the standard input impedance for electronic voltmeters
> is ten megohms, which is excellent.  The lowest I've seen on a digital
> multimeter is one megohm, which is still plenty for any normal van
> purposes. Cheap analog meters have an impedance of 2,000 ohms for every
> volt on the scale, so a ten-volt scale would have 20,000 ohms.  Sounds like
> a lot, but it will drag your oxygen sensor practically to ground.  Huge win
> for digital in this case.
>
>
> DC Volts -- 20, 2, 200 mV (fancier meters with more "counts" may read up
> to 3999 or 4999 on a range instead of 1999).
>
>
>
> DC Amps -- Ten or twenty amps and a milliamp range of some sort.  Note
> that the high-amp range on cheap meters is usually un-fused, so if you try
> to read volts with the leads connected for amps you will smoke the meter
> shunt and maybe melt the meter case.  OTOH the fuses on my fancy Fluke
> meter cost more (each) than the entire HF meter...
>
>
>
> Ohms -- 200 ohms to at least two megohms ranges.  You won't actually use
> these often, as you'll mostly be concerned with resistances that are too
> small to measure accurately (or at all) by this technique.  Instead you'll
> be using the 200 mV scale on live circuits to get voltage drops directly,
> which is the number that matters in any case.  In effect you are turning
> the van and meter together into an extremely fancy ohmmeter that can
> measure milliohms or even microohms.
>
>
>
> Diode Test -- Like ohms, but shows voltage across a semiconductor that's
> conducting.  Modern digital ohmmeters use too low a voltage to turn on a
> semiconductor junction, so they have a special function that will.  It's
> nice if this function has enough voltage to turn on blue/white LEDs -- some
> do, some don't.  Pretty much all of them will work with red/yellow/green
> LEDs, and all will work with germanium or silicon diodes.
>
> Your $6/free HF meter does all this.  For an extra buck or two you can get
> one with a light.
>
> Things that are nice:
>
>
>
> Continuity buzzer -- nice, but can bite you since they usually beep
> somewhere between 50 and 150 ohms.  That's ok if you're looking at a
> circuit with an incandescent light installed in it, but not for wires
> connected together, switches and so forth.  But if you ever get a chance at
> an old Hickok meter with ?Vari-Trak? (audio beeper that changes pitch with
> the meter reading) grab it.  It's a huge pity they went out of business and
> nobody has picked up this idea.
>
>
>
> Bar graph display -- digital meters typically take 2-4 readings per
> second, and average the reading over the measuring period which will be
> roughly one-third of the cycle time.  For rapidly changing readings (like
> the oxygen sensor on the van) this can lead to readings that appear
> random.  Slightly fancier meters often have a secondary bar graph display
> that isn't precise but responds much more quickly than the main display.
>
> Illumination -- can be very handy.  If I had to pick between continuity
> buzzer and light I'd probably pick the light.
>
>
>
> Display hold -- lets you make a measurement and capture the reading to
> look at in better conditions.
>
>
>
> Min/Max -- captures the highest and lowest values of a reading.  Handy for
> example when measuring voltage drop during cranking.
>
>
>
> Frequency/duty cycle -- good for PWM (pulse width modulated) signals like
> the 2.1l Idle Control Unit output, LED dimmers and such.
>
> DC+AC -- digital meters on DC ranges typically ignore AC.  This function
> gives a separate reading for any AC component of a DC signal, like ripple
> and hash on the alternator output.  Probably only on quite fancy meters.
>
> Type K thermocouple input for temperature.  Even nicer if you can switch
> the reading for F or C.
>
>
>
> Auto-timeout on light and meter power -- can save your battery.  Can also
> be a nuisance, so even nicer if you can shut if off.
>
>
>
> Yours,
>
> David
>
>
>
>
>
> On Sun, Jan 1, 2017 at 11:19 PM, Stuart MacMillan <stuartmacm@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> No, you are not being obnoxious, basic electrical troubleshooting requires
> one.  At least get of one these, I give them away to my friends and family:
> https://www.radioshack.com/products/radioshack-22-range-pocket-digital-multimeter
> I now have a Fluke meter, but I still have the Radio Shack pocket VM I
> bought at least 30 years ago in my Vanagon on-board toolkit.
>
> Stuart
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf
> Of Dennis Haynes
> Sent: Sunday, January 01, 2017 7:43 PM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Re: Dang driver lowbeam and front driver turnsignal
>
> I’ll ask for forgiveness in advance for sounding obnoxious. Besides
> changing parts did you consider using a meter? Each headlight high and low
> bam does have its own fuse, yes 4 fuses for the lights. They are after the
> switches in the headlight circuit. The turn signal sounds like a bad
> ground, probably at the socket itself.  The 4 way flasher is not an
> independent circuit. The flasher will not flash unless it sees enough
> current being drawn for two bulbs. High resistance in the working or a bad
> bulb will prevent the flasher from working.  This acts as an indicator of a
> turn signal being out. The 4 ways connect 4 lamps so if one or two were out
> it will still flash. Headlight grounds are also a common problem. There are
> grounding clusters above the fuse box. It is common for the quick slide
> connecters to both corrode and also break just from heat and age. As the
> headlights are higher current items new ground connections near the
> headlamps are a good idea.
>
> Dennis
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf
> Of C B
> Sent: Sunday, January 1, 2017 7:48 PM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Dang driver lowbeam and front driver turnsignal
>
> My driver lowbeam won't work at all.
> What didn't help:
> Swapped bulbs.
> Replaced turnsignal ring & stalk.
> Replaced dash headlight switch.
> Traced wires and pulled apart the fuse block and driver's side wiring
> stars connectors. (Should I try the passenger side one?)
>
> In addition, the driver front turnsignal stays on and won't flash whether
> just parking  lamps, or either headlight combination is on.
> BUT the driver front flasher works in emergency 4-way flasher mode
> regardless of parking light/headlight configuration.
> I know the 4-way flasher is its own circuit, so where in the
> parking/headlight circuits are likely culprits?
>
> Other than that, Cunegonde finally home and ready for visual restoration.
> It's been a long several years since the engine debacle.
>
>
> CUNEGONDE  1985.5 2,1l WBX 4sp Westfalia
>
>
>