CAT III 600V Mooshimeter Can Do Simultaneous Volt And Amp Readings!

Saturday, December 03, 2016

The Mooshimeter is a remote controlled multimeter with surge protection that works via an app on Android phones, iPhones and tablets thanks to a built-in 2.4 GHz ISM band Bluetooth Low Energy transmitter. The Mooshimeter sends data over wireless Bluetooth to your smartphone or tablet device, turning your device into a professional CAT III multimeter capable of measuring electric current, diode drop, resistance, high voltages and low voltages (with a resolution as fine as 25nV per count and a noise floor as low as 1µV).

Aside from its small footprint, data logging capability and simultaneous volt and amp readings, the Mooshimeter speaks! It can read out values, which is pretty neat. Have a listen:

A video posted by Gadget Explained (@gadgetexplained) on Dec 4, 2016 at 2:18am PST

the Mooshimeter speaks

the Mooshimeter can read any two of its three channels at the same time

The Bluetooth range is pretty wide too so you can keep the CAT III 600V Mooshimeter away from your phone well over 50 feet, allowing you to place the Mooshimeter in places where you wouldn't normally be able to run the test leads all the way to a traditional multimeter.

you can check the Bluetooth range and battery levels via the Mooshimeter app

The CAT III 600V rating with 12 amp fuse means the Mooshimeter can withstand up to 6000V impulse voltage, making the Mooshimeter ideal for voltage measurements at electrical service installations. With a high CAT rating, you won't have to worry about unexpected high voltage surges exploding the Mooshimeter nor frying the test leads, which are also CAT III rated.

Being a CAT III multimeter, the Mooshimeter will protect you should you do something incredibly dangerous such as connecting the Mooshimeter in the Amps or Ohms ranges across a high voltage-high current source like the AC mains.

the Mooshimeter can measure 600 volts via the Volt jack and up to 2 volts via the Ohm jack

To connect your test leads you get four banana plug-in jacks, which include a Common (ground/ black test lead), Volts, Amps and Ohms (for resistance measurements).

the terminals are arranged with 0.75” spacing to fit BNC (Bayonet Neill–Concelman) connectors

Disassembling the Cat III 600 V Mooshimeter is pretty easy. Simply remove the screws at the bottom and take the plastic covers apart.

2x 1.5V batteries (included) provide 3V 100mA input power

the actual resistance of the fuse should be 20mΩ

The Mooshimeter uses a 3AG 12A Reomax 632.300.12 fuse that can hold 600V 10kA minimum interrupt. You want to perform a fuse test before using the internal current shunt (electrical) measurement mode. To do a fuse test, plug in the test leads into the C (Common) jack and Ω (ohms) jack. If the resistance measured is greater than 0.5Ω, the fuse needs to be replaced.

push with your fingers the banana jack pins to free the board from the casing

Microcontrollers: ADS1292, CC2540, CC2540F256

FAT32 formatted SD cards up to 32 gigabytes

On the side of the Mooshimeter, you'll find a SD card slot to log data to, as well as a Reset button

shrouded test lead connectors are great for safety

test lead protectors

alligator clips rated 10A/ 1000V max

CAT III shroud test probes (1000V/20A)

To start using the Mooshimeter, simply unlock it from "Shipping Mode" by connecting the test leads in the Common and Ohms jacks and shorting them (this essentially powers on the Mooshimeter). Then, download the Mooshimeter app (Android and Apple versions available), install it on your device, scan it and run it.

Mooshimeter settings include some practical options such as Shipping mode which allows you to turn off the Bluetooth radio transmitter.

From the Mooshimeter app, you'll also be available to change the multimeter's settings just like you would on a standard multimeter.

You can change Current AC to Current DC, Voltage DC to Voltage AC, check internal temperature, as well as adjust the amperage and voltage ranges, or set the ranges to auto-mode.

As mentioned earlier, the Mooshimeter can measure volts, amps and provide wattage, giving you a reading of actual power usage

graphic mode graphs voltage and current readings

As the Mooshimeter can measure voltage and current at the same time, it'll be interesting to see those two readings in action when hooked up to electronics. With that said, let's give the Mooshimeter a try and hook it up to a robot car and jumpstart/compressor unit.

The robot's battery pack puts out 5.5 volts and the robot draws 4 amps of current with voltage dropping to 5.3 volts under load. Note the vampire draw when the unit is powered off; hence why you always want to remove batteries from your gadgets when not in use.

When the Mooshimeter was hooked up to a jump-start/air compressor unit, I was able to see that the unit does not hold a full 12 volt charge. When I turn on the torch, voltage drops a bit but when I trun on the air compressor the voltage drops hugely!

Here are some pictures of the sturdy carrying case: