Who does, who doesn't?
 

This is the best kind of thread. :) One that can be fun and serious too. That's not a common combination.

I had a conversation in chat about checking something simple on a power supply in a friends computer that is giving him grief. I mentioned using a multimeter and was a little surprised to hear he didn't own one. That started a conversation about what common household tools are normally found in the home.

We all have different areas of expertise and interests, but I believe there are some common tools that would be found in the majority of households in 'developed countries'. I assume I'm safe to say most people (households) own a few screwdrivers, a hammer and pliers. I also know that not everybody's profession is technical, but in the 21st century, electricity is part of most environment and everything we do from making breakfast to opening the garage door to turning on your puter. To me, the common tire pump in 'every' household of fifty years ago is now a cheap air compressor and the cheapie multimeter is as basic a necessity for everyday functioning as a flashlight.

If you become stymied when a light bulb burns out, tell us that. If you built your own home and car, share that with us. It's not about what you do or don't enjoy doing personally or professionally, but about what you readily have to do some basic things with. Primarily, do you have a multimeter in the house? Also what do you just consider the normal 'lawn mower and duct tape' type items around a home.

Common tools ... Hammer, screwdrivers, wrenches, keyhole saw, assortments of screws and nails, ... but, alas ... no multimeter. Since my wife decided to turn our garage into a backup closet, I haven't done nearly as many "build 'em" things. But, in the past, I've replaced doors, built a trellis for ourback yard and do a lot of the odds and ends kind of things on the cars (like inflate tires, recharge batteries ... stuff like that).

I need to replace a window ... but I haven't quite got up the courage to try that yet. One of these days. :(

Yes I own a multi-meter, two in fact.

One for vehicles (no longer used except when charging a car battery) and one common (Radio Shack equivalent).

I am a gadget magnet.

I have married a 'handyman'. Cobalt has pretty much every tool available to man and woman.. lol. And if he doesn't have something, he has other stuff to make that something. I do know he doesn't have one of the computer thingies that is hooked up the the newer vehicles to diagnose an issue with the cars. THAT he doesn't have.

He is sooooooo sexy when he wears his tool belt... ;)

Sexy................tool belt.....................where's the pics!!!!!!!!!

We have basic tools and a few extra. We have most outdoor tools and it always surprises me when new people move in to the rental next door and don't have a lawn mower yet. We also have a lot of office type equipment /tools but no adding machine and sometimes I really need one.

We have a multimeter...and an oscilloscope. We have every type of pliers and wrench known to man. We have an IR reader that measures temperature. Hammers, nails, duct tape, vacuums, shop vacs, saws, electric drills, etc. And we never so anything more advanced with any of them than design and solder circuit boards and hang the occasional picture... :rofl:

If you name the tool,I probabaly have,at least,two of them.I have worked as a mechanic & done mechanical & electrical work since I was 15/16 plus I ran two of my own motorcycle repair,customizing,& building businesses. Irish :)

Multimeter... check! Although I'd really like a new one. The one I have is old and you have to press on just the right place for it to work. :rolleyes2

Also have a variety of hammers, screwdrivers, saws, drills, and files. Plus a Dremel tool. :)

I do *not* have a multi-meter,and I'm not happy about it. I've often needed one, and not having it around is a bitch.

Hey, I'm 45+1/2 years old today. Maybe that's a good excuse into cajoling someone into getting me one.

After starting this thread I thought maybe my prospective is narrower than I presumed. I'm happy to see that I'm not alone in thinking a basic multimeter is as handy as a yard stick around the home. You don't have to be IEEE certified or a NEC electrician to need or use one. It simply measures a couple features (properties) of something we can't see (electricity) but is part of every aspect of our daily life.

To check if a battery is good, or an outlet has power, or is this fancy-smancy, expensive light bulb really burned out, are just common situations we run into daily without being (or wanting to be) technicians. After watching my granddaughter grab a meter to check an outdoor outlet for something she was trying to plug in last summer, (and after an inner smug pride that I had started passing something down through my kids :cool: ) I thought of just how basic it is today.

Because this tool is as handy and versatile as a hammer that can hang a picture or chisel out a David in the right hands, how can a society so involved with electric energy not have one? Good old Wikipedia states the basics in the first couple paragraphs and they are available in almost throwaway form today. I happen to have 4 of them laying around from a junkie in the kitchen drawer to a good recording unit I use in my work. We must have a dozen of varying quality in the 3 households of my family.

Knowing Cobalt a little bit, I bet he has one of some sort, Cheyanne. :) The diagnostic code reader for the modern car is different than a standard multimeter, but that is a good reason to have to buy another tool. :roflmao:

The sheet that comes with EVERY meter is enough to let you use it to check the most basic things a home owner (or occupier) may run into. There are a ton of sites ranging from in-depth specialty applications to the 'wall nut cracking hammer' use, available on the web.

If you think your car and computer are essential parts of your life, your tire iron and multimeter are too. :nod:





PS
I hope you get fluked good for your 45.5 birthday, GG. ;)

Tire Iron, I use an air compressor and impact wrench. As for checking an outlet I just stick my finger in it. :yikes:


I must have three multimeters, it's just finding one when I need it.

Sweet Mary, have I got tools?!? I got tools out the ass, Pedro...
I view my old multimeter with a combo of pride & shame...pride, because it was nearly state-of-the-art when I bought it at Radio Shack way back in nineteen-mumblty-mumble (Looks a lot like the analog example pic in the Wiki article), shame because I haven't gotten around to upgrading to nice little digital number (like the cheapie from Harbor Freight)...the connector plugs are a little wobbly from the time some dumbass dropped it once :rolleyes2 , but it still tests nearly everything I've ever asked it too. Radio Shack used to sell a lot of these, plus they had an almost identical model in kit form...I wanted badly to build it myself, but they put the off the shelf model on sale at a price I couldn't pass up. Since I seldom work with small scale electronic projects anymore (I used to build my own "stomp-box" effects pedals for my guitars), I don't have as much use for it now, but it still comes in handy when something stops working around the house (as they often do) & I don't have the $$$ to buy a new one...I've kept a 20-yr-old clothes dryer limping along for years with just a multimeter, power screwdriver, & the phone# & address of the local appliance parts shop :)

I'll have to revisit this thread soon, I can't let this go w/o some further documentation...

Well I've done all aspects of home building except for the wiring and plumbing,yes I do have a multi -meter and I used to have curly hair,till i used said multimeter ! But my son-in-law says that bailing wire,an ampmeter guage and a flashlight bulb and non-conductive duct tape dosent make a multimeter who would have thought that?

But I just shake the light bulb to make sure it is burnt. :D

^^^
^^
^ :roflmao:










:thumbs:

Now seems like a good time to bring up a perhaps less versitile device, but all the more important for anyone who doesn't see a need for a multitester...the simple outlet tester. Nowhere nearly as talented, but a great thing to have handy when it becomes neccessary to check an outlet for juice. Is the light/device/appliance DOA, or have I just popped a breaker? That old switch cover is nasty looking, how 'bout a new one from Home Depot? The outlet tester might save you a few bucks, save your life, or just keep you from trying a new hairstyle...

Another makeshift device for checking to see which breaker controls which circuit is a good ole fashioned plug in radio...plug it in, tune to a strong station & crank it up...that way you can hear for yourself if you've cut power to an outlet without running back & forth from one end of the house (or up & down the stairs)...

Good items Zoid. I think you're talking about a 'wiggy' or Voltage Tester. Handy pocket item to check for live lines, but be careful with switches. You only have two ends of the hot side and you won't get a reading unless you can ground one side of your wiggy for each one to see which is hot and which goes to the appliance. You are safer making your test at the appliance and trying the switch 'on' and 'off'.

I've used your radio setup more than once when I was only trying to locate one outlet breaker.:thumb: Saves a lot of steps as most service panels are in the basement. If you have to identify all the breakers in a box, you can pay for a 'sniffer' or Circuit Breaker Finder with the first couple uses. Talk about a lot of running in a three story house. :faint:

She has an oscilloscope, does breadboard work, has a yummy ass, wears silky candy wrappers and most important, has a sexy mind. :tongue:





















I love you! :loveshowe

i married a carpenter turned engineer. we got some shit. :p

I love you too, Mr. Kindred Spirit. :x:

Both the links you put in come up for me as "item not availible", but I think you got the idea. The reason I like my "wiggy" (if that's what you wanna call it!) is because like you said, it's a pocket item...a multimeter actually does a better job, but I want to carry all the neccessary tools to the work area in 2 trips or less, & when I open up the vipers' pit & need to figure out which of the snakes might bite me, I don't have a third hand to juggle the 'meter & its two leads :yikes:

I must be tired cause I thought Scotz just said he don't have a third hand to juggle the meter & its two heads.

:rofl:

Actually it's the live wires that are like snakes with two heads...

Well ya know Mr. Lixy's got one for all occasions!

More specifically...he's even got one just for blasting!

My father is an airplane mechanic, my brother is a car mechanic, and I just like taking shit apart and putting it back together again.

I've got at least two multimeters, as well as a couple of circuit testers. I've got all the basic tools I need to work on my SUV. In the past year I've replaced every part of the electrical system except the alternator. Changed front and rear brakes, and some other minor repairs. As long as I have instructions I have found there are very few things I can't fix.

I also built the computer I'm currently using. I loved doing that and I've been trying to talk friends into letting me build them one for the past year because I had so much fun doing this one. I just made a parts list for a friend this morning on newegg.com which I got to come in at under $500 with an OS.

I was up to 3 separate tool boxes by 1990, & when my father passed away in '92 I aquired at least a couple more. He also left me some very special hand woodworking tools (he apprenticed as a carpenter back in the late 1920s when there were few power tools avaalible, & he also seemed to be suspicious of them, having seen some fellows alter their fingers in them :yikes: )...one item I can't let go of despite never finding a use for is a 7 foot long 2-man buck saw...he once had me help him use it to cut down an old tree, & when he thought I wasn't putting enough elbow grease to it he said, "If you're gonna ride, get a saddle!" He later admitted his father had admonished him the same way, so it was kind of passing on a family tradition...if I have any tree cutting or trimming to do now, I don't have the time or energy to do it by hand, when chain saws are so cheap & widely available...although I do share some of Daddy's distrust of anything that can turn ugly on me so fast...

I have my grandfathers tool box he carried working for the WPA,some of my most cherished tools,that he took the time to teach me to use and how to care for them. One was a 2-man crosscut saw,I recentlly sharpened and took to a tractor show on school day.Watch a couple of 8-10 yr olds try to use it never laughed so hard !

I can't imagine life without my multimeter!

Or my wiggy, for that matter. :D

^^^ :thumbs:

I've got a multimeter and a zillion other tools, everything from wallpaper hanging tools to metric wrenches to three different kinds of wood planes. The joys of living on a farm!

:p

That sounds like a job for .... MUMTIMETER MAN. :cool:



I TOLD you that you can't get along without it. ;)

I have several Bikes
Depending on if you want to count the ones that are not fully assembled 4-6
But I have No compressor (what for? a floor pump and a mini pump in my bag)
Nope never had nor used a multi meter...
I just got the Basics All I need for my bike and general stuffs...
Oh and I got Knives lots of Knives
All the better to carve you, um your turkey with...