My old Fluke meter started giving me crazy readings on a service call

It was a panel upgrade in a 1970s house last Tuesday. The thing kept showing 140 volts on a 120 leg, which obviously wasn't right. I had a backup Klein meter in the truck, so I swapped it out and finished the job. Has anyone else had a Fluke 87V just decide to quit like that? Wondering if it's worth fixing or if I should just replace it.

4 comments

4 Comments

henry10125d ago

Wait, did you actually check the voltage at the source before you blamed the meter? I've learned the hard way that old houses in the 70s have neutrals that like to play tricks. Val223 might be onto something. That high reading could've been real, not the Fluke acting up. I'd say verify with a known good load first before you toss that meter in the trash. Loose neutrals will make a meter look like it's drunk when it's really just showing you what's there.

val2231mo ago

You said it was showing 140 volts on a 120 leg, but that could have been a real reading. Old houses can have some wild voltage issues from bad neutrals. Might not have been the meter's fault.

umaprice1mo ago

Oh man, that's a good point. I had a bad neutral once that made my lights go crazy bright. I ended up checking voltage at the main panel and then at a few outlets to see where the drop was. It was a real pain to track down.

jamiesingh25d ago

lmao, my buddy had the exact same thing happen in his 70s ranch house. @umaprice, his lights would flicker and then just blast super bright for a few seconds-scared the crap out of him. We started at the panel, checking the main neutral, and then traced through every junction box till we found a loose connection in the attic. That thing was barely hanging on, lol. Took us like two hours to track down, but once we tightened it up, his voltage was steady again. Crazy how a simple loose wire can mess with everything like that.