Automotive Multimeter: Your New Favourite Multi-Purpose Diagnosing Tool

There’s no doubt cluttering can mess up with your life, starting from lack of space for all the things, to affecting your mood, and even lead to hoarding, so you might as well say I’m in favour of minimalists’ approach. But, when it comes to tools, there’s no such thing as “less is more” for me, simply because I’ve had numerous experiences where I required their help, so tools will always equal “just in case”.

One of the recent experiences that urged me to look more into the variety of testing equipment available for sale was having trouble with my car battery. You usually drive around thinking if there ever is some battery trouble, you’re going to be able to tell before something goes awry, and fix it, but it’s not always the case and that’s a lesson I learned the hard way.

After finding myself waiting for help to arrive for hours, almost in the middle of nowhere, I no longer leave my house before first making use of my automotive multimeter to do some battery checkups. Same as other types of testing equipment, the automotive multimeters have undergone a considerable amount of improvements, so now they aren’t only more affordable, they’re also more accurate (the digital option, not the analogue), practical, and offer versatility thanks to their many features.

You’d be surprised at just how many things you’d find this sort of tool useful for. The more functions it has, the more of a diagnostic tool it can be. The basic functions are the checking of AC/DC voltage, AC/DC current, and resistance, then there’s also duty cycle frequency, MS-pulse, temperature, diode check, dwell angle, and RPM (tach) among others. This is definitely the tool that makes me feel like I can be my own mechanic for diagnosing certain issues before they turn serious.

Apart from checking the battery, you’d find it useful with checking the car’s alternator (of course not without wearing appropriate gloves and glasses, same as for the battery), the temperature of the coolant, the fuel temperature sensor in the fuel pump, including the subwoofer and the speakers.

Trust me, this tool can save you from unnecessary trips to the mechanics’ for small fixes, and you’d be able to prevent a serious damage just in time. The best thing along with providing you with so many uses? They’re easy to store, and carry, as they’re lightweight. They are the sort of tools you wouldn’t want your shed to have a lack of.