Dave demonstrates why gold plated multimeter probes matter, and why you should be using them for all your electronics measurements.
NOTE: Many people didn't understand the point of this video. It's about oxidisation of contacts, gold basically doesn't do this, other probes can.
Also gold probes are not necessarily recommended for regular high current, high power electrical use, that's what I mean by an "electronics use", as opposed to "electrical" use which is why Fluke for example don't offer gold plated leads.
And as always, YMMV.
Fluke offer fine top "electronics" gold probes: http://amzn.to/2fCuoSN
Probe Master probes: http://amzn.to/2vNUmc7
BM235 Probes: http://amzn.to/2vNUsR1
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NOTE: Many people didn't understand the point of this video. It's about oxidisation of contacts, gold basically doesn't do this, other probes can.
Also gold probes are not necessarily recommended for regular high current, high power electrical use, that's what I mean by an "electronics use", as opposed to "electrical" use which is why Fluke for example don't offer gold plated leads.
And as always, YMMV.
Fluke offer fine top "electronics" gold probes: http://amzn.to/2fCuoSN
Probe Master probes: http://amzn.to/2vNUmc7
BM235 Probes: http://amzn.to/2vNUsR1
Forum: http://www.eevblog.com/forum/blog/eevblab-33-why-gold-plated-probes-matter/'>http://www.eevblog.com/forum/blog/eevblab-33-why-gold-plated-probes-matter/
EEVblog Main Web Site: http://www.eevblog.com
The 2nd EEVblog Channel: http://www.youtube.com/EEVblog2
Support the EEVblog through Patreon!
http://www.patreon.com/eevblog
Donate With Bitcoin & Other Crypto Currencies!
https://www.eevblog.com/crypto-currency/
EEVblog Amazon Store (Dave gets a cut):
http://astore.amazon.com/eevblogstore-20
T-Shirts: http://teespring.com/stores/eevblog
💗 Likecoin – Coins for Likes: https://likecoin.pro/ @eevblog/dil9/hcq3
Hi Just a quick blurb video. I Just wanted to show you the difference between multimeter probes you. They come in two basic contact types. one is gold-plated and the other is, well.
I don't know what it is, some sort of nickel alloy plating or something like that. They're the two different types and I want to show you a practical example of how it makes a real difference to measurements in electronics and more specifically, continuity tests and and potentially other stuff in electronics. So let's have a look at it. I've got some gold-plated ones here.
These are the Bremen ones that I supply with my BM 2, 3, 5 and these are gold plated type and let's have a look at their continuity test right? Super quick. But let me lay this down on the bench and what I'll do here is I'll just I won't put any force on this I just let the weight of the probe Oh hold it down and you can see that it basically continually. It doesn't move. it continually makes contact like that.
So gold plating is excellent. Now let me compare this with the famous Fluke Tell 75 probes which are not gold-plated These ones have been around for decades. They're practically industry standard probes and look, I'm touching those with a fair bit of force and sometimes the cotton already doesn't go off or go really hard. Okay, and I put that down like that.
the weight of the probe. It's there. Probably there's similar sort of weight it's not making fire might depending on where you get it. I get a little ridges in the tip like that, but just on the contacts and see how poor that is compared to the gold-plated primer ones.
So let's try another set. These are keysight ones, but they're Agilent are branded. These are thirty four, one, three, eight A. Okay, so good quality.
Pros but not gold-plated They've got this some you know, silvery nickel alloy thing. Whatever it is, let's have a look. Okay, these ones are a bit better because the Fluke ones are quite old. Maybe they're you know, tarnished a bit with time.
That's a good thing about gold is it will not tarnish Okay, it will not react with anything. So but let's put it down and the weight of the probe barely barely. is that. See, it's it's not great.
I Can touch it like that and not have it go off at all. Absolutely hopeless. Now let's try these gold-plated probe master ones are you least? Some people say the best probes on the market and these are, you know, real expensive probes, but gold plated beautifully sharp. These are just.
yeah. six of a stick. these are and of course even lightly not putting any force on that at all. And they're touching.
and of course the weight of the probe. Beautiful. look at that. So there you go I Just thought I'd show you that practical difference between gold-plated probes and these.
whatever. right? You know, these are silver type. Our protest is a big difference for not only continuity measure but also when you're probing things like that, these can. Gold can just make much better contact. So yeah, next time you're in is shopping around for a multimeter. just consider the probes. Gold-plated ones are awesome and well worth any extras. like usually it's not much extra.
but I would consider that a good electronics multimeter should have gold-plated probes not only for fast continuity but just for better contact resistance. I Consider these general purpose silver ones to be more electrical ones you know, designed to be shoved into contacts really hard and things like that. I Don't like these the electronics use so I Hope you found that interesting and consider gold plated probes next time. Played, you liked it, found it interesting.
Catch you next time.
It's funny how actually gold is not the best metal conductor but it is used within the electronic industry with great success. All because of its stability. Electric conductivity is connected with the thermal conductivity of metals. Silver is better. But only the pure silver. Though it tarnish faster and is often not clean/pure enough. To add the insult to the injury, silver alloys are often worse conductors than pure copper. Often resulting in bad products. Certain water block company sells silver CPU water block that performs worse that their own pure copper nickel plated models that cost way cheaper. All because of the alloy. Gold alloys are behaving better and do not degrade golds native conductivity as much.
What probes you might use depends on what you are working on. If you are working on clean PCBs with gold probe points, gold makes perfect sense. However, for many uses the non-gold ones work just as fine or better.
Each metal plating type has a certain pressure that it takes to establish electrical contact, worse when surfaces are oxidized or corroded. When probing onto other objects (not just the probes upon themselves) gold may help, but if you are not probing onto a gold plated surface you still need to press hard enough to establish the pressure necessary for an electrical path. Notice I said pressure not force. When you use sharper tips it takes less force to provide the same pressure.
So if you are probing onto solder or other junky surfaces you may want to "save" your gold plated tips from unnecessary wear and use some lesser probes with sharper, harder tips instead. When probing onto non-gold surfaces you may actually get a better result using really sharp steel tips than blunt tipped gold ones. Especially if probing needs to break through flux or other dirt. Just be careful not to damage the components you are probing onto when using really sharp tips.
Take any cheap/crappy non-gold leads and give them a good rub down with an ink eraser (those blue or grey ones). Then finish it off with an alcohol wipe.
Guaranteed they'll now perform just as well as any gold-tipped leads on continuity.
What if you polish the lead tips ?
I love how he mocks other brands and talks high about his own brand, so obvious 😂😂😂 classic way to market own product…….
at work (im an electrician) i use the brymen included ones for troubleshooting machines and at home for my small electrical stuff/tinkering with electronics i got myself a pair of probemasters
$3 aliexpress gold plated probes will smash any non gold plated out of the park, seriously.
Where do I find this thread please
Thank you for this information. Great!
Good vídeo tks Master,.
you need to clean that cheap tips with Isopropyl alcohol …. so they will works fine for a few days
Rhodium plating definitely shall work better.
The gravity test does not seem fair for me because the probemaster has a little more weight and has more flexible cable than flukes tl75, so they will press harder against the lower probe, right?
I see a set of probe masters in my future,but 28.00 is a bit pricey but the seem to better then most all stock probes and my new fluke deserves a set .if anyone no where I can get a set of probe masters cheaper then 28.00 let me no.
How about testing cleaning methods? If it's oxidation, then with IPA remove it or what? as received, might have grease to prevent oxidation, so clean that off with IPA. Also, would be nice to show how it makes a real difference in use other than conductivity.
REALLY Excited
Gold is so soft, the tips will wear quickly removing the thin plating. But still way better than nickel plated probes
I love my gold ProMaster probes! I don't think $17.00 U.S.D. is really all that much. And the accessories that you can buy for them are off the hook!
This also shows that gold plated connectors are better. Especially USB and video connectors. They need to make solid contact.
Can you make a video on how you organize and store your probes? I’m dealing with a tangled mess right now
Can you donate that meter
I would think gold probes would be almost a necessity for very low millivolt testing as well
Why is gold plate probes not good for mains + voltages?
A set of the gold plated probemaster leads like Dave is showing are only $16.90 with free shipping, I bought a pair and they are amazing – ive have had them transform a so – so meters continuity response to very good and in some cases excellent. The improvement varies from meter to meter they wont transform a shit meter, but theyre the best quality probes ive ever handled, gold plated, sharp as a needle, soft supple silicone wire, integrated pliable strain relieved ends on the probe handles, somewhere around 44 inches long and nice fitting jack plugs. Best $16.90 youll ever spend.
I was thinking with probes and alligator clips the contact are must be miniscule.
Dave can come across as snobbish and sometimes he might be a little bias, but he usually calls it right and he calls it as he sees it. I mean think about it why do they use gold plated pins on anything that makes a friction contact. Well anything thats high quality. Think processors, ram, etc. Gold is the best metal for contact connections. I mean hes right I seen a set of these probe master probes for like 30 bucks if your serious about electronics 30 bucks isnt that much. I spend more than that on componets regularly. Hell some mosfets are like 4+ dollars a piece when do you need less than 10.
GOLD PROBES LIFES MATTER
It seems that some people missed the entire point of this video. It's not really about continuity, it's about showing that gold plated contacts don't really oxidise, and hence stand a better chance of producing a better contact. Either with another gold plated contact (PCB test pad, pin etc), or even with a non-gold possibly oxidised contact (e.g. one non-oxidised and one oxidised contact trumps two oxidised contacts)
This is why hard gold contacts are standard practice in all sorts of electronics connectors, PCB edge contacts, signal relay contacts, test pads etc etc. It's basic industry knowledge, yet some people think that it can't apply to multimeter probes as well? Strange.