Advice wanted on modellers tools [i.e multimeter].

[Chrissaf]

I'm also nebie here. Is it important too buy a expensive tools? I'm choosing multimeter now and it will be good if some of the 'olds' could help me.

[96RAF]

The link leads you to some decent kit, although expensive. You do not have to spend a fortune as there are several available for less than a tenner which are of decent spec. Try Lidl and Aldi as well as Amazon. 

 

When buying a multimeter make sure it can support reading up to 10 amps on both AC and DC ranges. Some are limited to 200mA on DC which makes them unsuitable for stall testing a loco motor. If you want a reasonably accurate DCC track voltage reading then you use the AC Volts scale but the higher the device sampling frequency rate the better the result. Look at the specs in that link listing.

 

 

[Chrissaf]

If you are going to spend 'megabucks' on a high end meter. Then the 'number one' feature you need to look for is a meter that is described as 'True RMS'. Anything less than 'True RMS' is not worth paying the extra for over the price of a 'bog standard' budget meter.

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I won't go into all the pros and cons of 'True RMS' ..... you can Goggle the term if you want to know more.

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But 'True RMS' is really beneficial if you want to measure fairly accurate voltages and currents on DCC powered layouts. Normal [non True RMS] meters are calibrated to read AC voltages that are pure sine waves. DCC is not a sine wave, it is a Bi-polar square wave. True RMS meters are able to read non Sine waveforms more accurately.

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In a 'True RMS' meter, you need to choose one with the highest 'sampling rate' and 'bandwidth' you can afford.

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TIP: As a newbie poster on the forum, just be aware that the 'Blue Button with the White Arrow' is not a 'Reply to this post' button. If you want to reply to any of the posts, scroll down and write your reply in the reply text box at the bottom of the page and click the Green 'Reply' button.

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See also – further TIPs on how to get the best user experience from this forum.

https://www.hornby.com/uk-en/forum/tips-on-using-the-forum/

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[Rog RJ]

Unless you are doing electrical testing on a regular basis,  a cheaper meter is all you need.  While you are building a model railway you may use it everyday but once the layout is built you will probably use it much less often.

[Rana Temporia]

If all you want is the basics as stated, there are perfectly good ones available for less than a tenner and to be honest I use mine nearly every week while my more complicated and expensive one probably hasn't seen the light of day for over a year. (In fact i'd better check the battery). 

 

I use mine for all sorts of things, testing batteries, checking continuity, checking polarity etc. And it sits with a box of jeweller's screwdrivers and some long nose pliers ready for use at all times. I think i got two for £10 from marlins years ago.

[Chrissaf]

As others have said, unless you want to pay for a 'True RMS' meter [see my earlier reply] a basic budget meter is more than adequate for 'model railway' related work. Budget meters can be purchased from eBay for less than £8 delivered.

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I have several meters including a 'True RMS' one (20,000 samples & 100Khz BW) and an old Fluke (circa 1980s), but my sub £10 eBay one is the one that gets most use for basic Voltage & Resistance measurements.

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[GWR 14xx Tank]

I am a DC person, so this sort of multimeter here should be fine (it can't measure AC current, but as already stated, I am DC only.) It has become incredibly handy to have one, and for £10, it really was worth it.

 

14xx Tank

[Jimbo1707820979]

"For a Few Dollars More" you can get a Dremel lookalike set which will be useful in a dozen times more tasks than a multimeter. That would be my advice. Also a pair of hardened cutting pliers extremely useful - not only for metal tasks but in making buldings for your layout  -- trimming off hard bits.     For Continuity tests  on your railway you could use a simple setup with an inexpensive LED light.      (Apologies to Chrissaf and  RAF 96 😆 )

[GWR 14xx Tank]

Another thing which I forgot to mention, a soldering iron is also a useful tool to have, I have been borrowing one for a while now but really need to get a proper one of my own.

 

Lidl have a cordless soldering iron that comes into stock on DIY weeks, as does a more powerful soldering station that also comes by once every few months.

 

You never know how much you need things like a soldering iron / glue gun until you use it the first time - then you start to notice broken things around the house that could be fixed in a spare 5 minutes.

 

Best add the soldering iron to my list of things to buy.

[ColinB]

Unless you are going to do serious electrical work the less than £10=00 one is ok. Most times you are just checking if you have 12 volts or a short circuit. So as long as it does volts and resistance you should be ok. If you want to measure current most locos only use at maximum 1 amp as for true RMS I was an electronics engineer for 40 plus years and have never used it. Unless you are into power engineering, I am not sure you will ever need it. I do have a state of the art Fluke as well, but I just bought that as a nice to have, the cheap one works just as well, the only thing the Fluke is good at, is it switches itself off when not being used, saving a fortune in batteries and the leads are better. Generally I use the multimeter for measuring point to point connections, short circuits, restances and to check whether I have a voltage on the rails. The soldering iron is probably a lot different, the better the soldering iron generally the better your soldering will be and you won't melt so much pastic soldering to tracks etc. I suppose it is a bit like the difference between an Aldi drill or a Dewalt one, they both do the same job.

[EnGee]

Another vote for the cheapo meters, I have several of them scattered around the house and the layout! I don't think a day goes by without using one of them for something. (Although I just love playing with electronics/electrics so I'm probably not your 'usual' user!)

 

As regards Lidl cordless soldering iron, I bought one of these a few months ago and would definitely not recommend it, especially for novices. The problem is that the heat is generated by a gas flame and whilst it does heat up the tip, all the surplus heat has to go somewhere so it also heats up a massive area around where you are soldering. It will quite happily set fire to worktops, fingers, insulation, the rest of the PCB, and anything else within a half mile radius. If you should drop it or knock it off the bench it's probably 'goodbye house'! It does come with a heat guard but that just gives you a much larger area to burn yourself on!!

I do use it occasionally and it does do a good job of soldering but you have to be so careful with it that I usually find it's just easier to use a normal iron on the end of an extesion lead. I suppose it's easier if you have as many soldering irons as meters lying around!

Others may disagree but that's my view of it.

 

If you want a cordless iron then go for a battery operated one, but 2 things, ensure the batteries are the rechargeable type and ensure it will get hot enough - some of the cheaper ones don't.

[Chrissaf]

I agree, gas based irons and also those electric gun 'instant heat' irons should be avoided for the type of soldering needed for model railways.

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Read my soldering tutorial.

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FAQ - How To Solder for Model Railways.

https://www.hornby.com/uk-en/forum/faq-how-to-solder-for-model-railways/

[GWR 14xx Tank]

My statement, yet again, did not give enough detail to determine which Lidl soldering iron I was discussing. I meant the battery powered rechargeable one, as shown

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"You have caused confusion and delay."

 

14xx Tank

[96RAF]

My statement, yet again, did not give enough detail to determine which Lidl soldering iron I was discussing. I meant the battery powered rechargeable one, as shown

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"You have caused confusion and delay."

 

I have three different make battery powered highlighter sized irons and they are all useless for more than a single tag before the batteries run down below par. They are OK for doing heat shrinks though. The only battery iron of any use in my drawer plugs is a Weller which plugs into a car 12 v socket and that is a good iron.

 

 

[AndyMac1707817969]

Have had the same Fluke meter for over 30 years now, not that I paid for it originally came as part of the job at the time.

 

The choice of soldering iron really depends on what you are soldering. Wires onto a circuit board you want something with not too high a wattage else for a novice it can be easy to burn the tracks off the board or damage the components. If you are soldering wires to rail then you need something with a higher wattage to get the heat into the joint as quickly as possible. The rail acts as a heatsink and conducts the heat away from the joint so with a lower wattage one you can be trying to heat it all day. If you want the best of both worlds then of course a temperature controlled one is the best option. I use a Weller WSD80. Picked it up on eBay for less than £100. Yes it’s expensive compared to a cheap one but suitable for any job, replacement parts are readily available and if I ever choose to sell it probably worth the same as I paid for it. It does depend on what you are soldering, might seem expensive but always believed in a good iron. I started off 30 years ago doing component level repairs on computer main boards (when they were about £2K) so an iron was cheap compared to what I was working on.

 

Stay away from anything battery powered for applications such as heating with high current draw as mean the battery will never last. You will spend more time charging it than using it.

 

I would only ever use gas for desoldering where it can heat multiple joints to remove a component in one go

[GWR 14xx Tank]

I don't do much solddering, mostly only 1-2 wires at a time, so the battery powered irons I have borrowed/used are perfectly fine for my applications. Again, it depends what you are asking the iron to do, to whether it is a suitable tool for the job.

[ColinB]

A few years ago you could go round a boot fair and pick up Weller Soldering Irons cheap as a lot of electronics forms used them . As the firms went bust so the Weller Irons became surplus to requirements. Trouble is EBay ruined that because people realised what they were worth. I have used one ever since I started as an Electronics Design Engineer, they are brilliant for working on circuit boards. The one thing I do a lot these days is change 8 pin DCC sockets, the manufacturers seem to use awful sockets that quite often give loose connections, so the iron is great at removing the socket without lifting the circuit board tracks off the PCB.

[The son of Triangman]

I have several digital and three analogue multimeters, the most expensive digital being a Fluke.  You can get a useful all singing all dancing digital multimeter which will test most things for less than £25.

 

As for soldering irons it's Antex all the way, you can get all the parts for them, I have just rebuilt a 45 year old Antex soldering iron and got all the parts.

 

I have found battery soldering irons are pretty hopeless as a rule, I have one dumped in a box in the garage, they drain the batteries far too quickly.  A temperature controlled soldering iron station is useful as is a 12V iron for low temperature soldering. A selection of tips for your iron and a spare element is handy too.

 

For SMT work a hot air system is useful for doing SMT repairs.

 

Lead free solder is a pain to re-work and you get the odd dry joint from it.  60/40 mix solder is the best.