How to Make Hands-free Probes From Broken Multimeter Probes

As hobbyist, we tend to use cheap multimeters, unlike professionals who prefer to use branded multimeters, as our needs are limited to tens of volts and not more than few amps.

Issue that I have faced over the years on using cheap multimeters is that their probes are very fragile, I recently broke one of many multimeter probes, so this time I decided to modify broken multimeter probes to make them hands free multimeter probes. lets get started.

Here is the link to small 3 min video, to get you through all steps in a shot.

click here to watch on youtube

Here is the list of tools needed for this small mod project-

1. Solder iron and wire
2. Wire stripper
3. Glue gun
4. Heat shrink tubes
5. Hot blade

Here is the list of components needed-

1. IC hook test clips
2. Of course broken multimeter probes.

First thing to do in to prepare the multimeter probes-

1. If multimeter probe has broken such that, probes have became asymmetric in length, cut red and black cable accordingly to make them symmetric in length. (as shown in image number- 1 and 2)
2. After cutting, now strip these probes using wire stripper. (as shown in image number- 3 and 4)

After multimeter probes are prepared, now we need to modify IC hook test clip's cap. Use hot blade to create grooves in cap of IC hook test clips as shown in image number 6.

Follow these steps to get your pair of hands free multimeter probes-

1. Cut two 3 cm long heat shrink tubes.
2. Pass stripped multimeter probes from these two segments of heat shrink tubes, one each.
3. Wrap stripped cable around the H-shaped metal that lies beneath the cap. (image no-1)
4. Solder the joint.(image no-2)
5. Put the cap back on, such that cable passed through the groove. (image no-3)
6. Apply some hot glue at the junction of cap and cable, making sure it does not touch the inside H-metal joint. (image no-4)
7. Finally drag the heat shrink tubes till the glue joint and apply heat using solder iron to shrink the tubes. (image no-5)

So there you have it.

Thanks for your time.