Multimeter... coil tester, whatever they are called

Where's a good place to buy one of these? I'm keen to move on to building my own coils and the tutorials I watch seem to suggest that testing is a good idea.

 

jaycar.com.com have a large range or quality and price points, lots of shops up this way.
Failing that, ebay or buy a vamo.

 

Admission here..... I don't know what I'm looking for. I've built all sorts of things, from jewellery to art installations to houses, but I've never really done anything that required testing ohms.

Throw me a bone...

 

Old Dog will be along soon You're after a multimeter ...

 

All jaycar bits, but similar stores stock similar
$10 works
Get one, I or someone else will write up instructions

 

Everybody has these. This is about the cheapest around ten bucks, then the sky is the limit

 

or the MadVapes thing, not as good as the ECD but serviceable and dedicated n easy.

 

And this one has a single button ohms test, and a 510 thread for $39.95

 

Cheers. Thats what I needed to know

 

This is what I use.

Test Equipment Micron® Multimeter.comtoranging True RMS DMMMTQ1074 | eBay

 

The ECD works the best IMO, pocket size, many tools in one. Bit hard to get ATM.
Multimeters can do the trick, only problem is getting some sort of accuracy at low Ohms. From one person to another, one Ohm could mean two or even three depending. Resolution and +/- is usually too low to mean much but ok relative comparo to an individual. Not too crash hot though from one person to another when sharing info etc.
Measure the voltage across the current is the way to go I reckon. (or maybe not if I'm being out of line)

 

When I was at jarcar purchasing my multimeter the person serving me was kind enough to open up about 5 different multimeters. We checked the resistance of what each multimeter had. The prices ranged from $4.95 - $69.95. The winner was... The $4.95 one at only .6ohm showing when joining the prongs together The $24.95 one had .8ohms Of course its missing a couple of features but will check ohms of an atomizer fine. I think the more expensive ones have some AC button or something? NFI. I don't know much about electronics but thats how I decided which was the best one

 

open up the $4.95 one you will likely find a trimpot that will adjust out the 0.8 as well. most of the cheap ones have a trimpot, the more expensive ones do not.
if there is a trimpot in there, i can pretty much guarantee its for nulling the resistance out ..

don;t shoot me if it reads everything wrong from then on though

grab a battery .. measure voltage and write it down first then recheck after twiddling pot, if its different .. then twiddle pot back to get the same reading then come back here and abuse me..

but generally, its not like you need 0.1Ω calculations on resistance, you just need to know if its wildy wrong

 

Yeah the quality on this feels cheap and nasty aswell - plastic like a toy. So if you want one to last you years on end then buy a more expensive one. I feel it does the job though.

 

using one of this.
View attachment 7092

 

Posted this before, but the cheapies are cheap enough to butcher and play around with. As stoney said, the trimpot will more than likely screw up other measurements but just do the play around and keep for quick resistance check.

 

Of course for the lazy among us, and if you dont want to pop the top of your new toy, you could recycle some of your bits and pieces. I would think most people have a marginal eGo or 510 battery lying around. The white thing is an adapter that allows connection of the battery. I have used new connectors, but they are easily recoverable from the dead bits.

For me, it was worth the effort to make these as negates the problem of poking and holding the probes into the battery connection and inadvertently shorting across the + and -.

 

If you want a simple resistance meter, check out USA Ohm Meters. They have really accurate ohm meters that cost just under $20. They're accurate to 0.018 ohms as opposed to other cheap ohm meters off amazon that are accurate to 0.4. And accuracy of ohm readings really count if you're building your own coils; firing a vape without taking precautions could be really dangerous