Got told I was using my multimeter wrong for 5 years

So last month at the hangar in Miami, my lead walks over and watches me trace a short on a 737 nav unit. He just says "you're putting the test leads on backwards." I've been doing it this way since I started avionics 3 years ago and never had a problem. But I tried it his way and the reading was way cleaner. Anybody else get told they've been doing some basic thing wrong for years?

2 comments

2 Comments

rodriguez.cora13d ago

18 years in automotive electrical and I always put red on positive because that's just how you do it in cars. Last year a guy from the radar shop showed me swapping them on a transistor test gives you the forward voltage drop without flipping the dial. I felt like a total idiot but it actually makes perfect sense now.

logan_white5913d ago

@rodriguez.cora I feel your pain man (or woman, sorry). Had a similar moment with my Fluke 87V - been testing diodes 'wrong' for years until a senior guy showed me the same trick. Felt like a caveman discovering fire.