Funky multimeter readings
 

I wanted to check the battery voltage with my 127 running, but when I get my digital multimeter within a foot of the tractor the meter goes wacky and it just has numbers all over. I cant use it to get a reading, like there is an electrical field around the the engine.
Could it be something from the s/g???

My digital will sometimes bounce around in the .01 place from, presumably, stuff in the air (on the 20v scale that is). Is it bouncing around more than that? If so, I think your meter is torched.

Did you touch the battery with it?

I haven't had an issue with my craftsman meter measuring voltage on a running tractor. Did you try it on something away from the tractor, like a wall socket? I've had them go bonkers when the internal fuse blows. Problem is you need a working meter to check the fuse. :bigeyes:

Bill

It maybe EMI and the better digital meters shield against it. I have no problems with my Fluke.

I haven't used my Fluke on my 102 yet, but when I had my DSR jump box hooked up to it while running the voltmeter in it was acting a little funny. EMI is my guess, I am sure it has a good suppression wire on it :biggrin2:. I will try the Fluke this weekend out of curiosity.

We have a multi meter at work that is always jumping around until you touch it to something, its kinda annoying but works.

Are you on the right setting? I've never had that problem with any multimeter I've used for voltage checking.

The meter works fine, I have checked a car battery just a couple weeks ago and it worked fine. I tried a while back and thought the battery in the meter was going bad so I put a new battery in it and still got the same results.
I tried a couple different VDC settings and got the same readings everytime.
It would just start showing random numbers.

If those random numbers are all over the scale, then I would be concerned... Like I said, mine picks up EMI but its usually in the .01 or smaller decimal. I have a middle-of-the-road Craftsman and I'm sure its not as isolated as much more expensive meters.

Mine does the same when the engine is running. Works fine on trucks just every cub cadets 've tried testing it goes nuts

my meter did that until I found the coil was sending voltage into my frame and back into the Neg side of the battery.Make sure your high voltage is not leaking off. Get all it's componants,condenser and it's wire includeing sparkplug wire mounted correctly.Make sure the wire insulation is good the entire length and check the coil for any damage.I finally got a steady reading on my meter after chaseing down those issues.