Don't test a dog collar with a meter.
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The shock is a pulse of a few hundred volts at least, probably exceeded the maximum voltage of the meter. 
He obviously needs a bigger jolt to get his attention. 
Did you consider maybe just wearing the collar?
I did one to a rather expensive meter once...I connected it across the line on my bench to see what the line voltage was and mistakenly had the "hot" lead plugged into AMPS. It should have just blown the fuse but it made carbon out of a good area of the circuit board inside.
I once checked for 120vac with a Fluke 87 set to ohms. Luckily it just blew the fuse. A guy I was working with told me he had all the power shut off in a huge control panel and handed me the meter and said check and make sure. So I did, never thought to check the meter's setting? 
Mark, those collars come with a test lamp to use on the probes. They are typically forgotten once set up and left in the packaging or tossed away.
It only took my buddies dog a few days to figure out the remote that came with one was responsible for the shocks...and so he ate it (chewed not swallowed) then attacked the wires. Then the control box on the distance based replacement. Then he stopped leaving the yard when he got a regular collar again.
After that, he ate a couple of boxes of BBs/pellets for the varment gun and a few car remotes; "all black boxes and key fob remotes must die".
Just don't underestimate him figuring out what the source is
We had some fun cooking old meters with 440v when they lost calibration (440v was my regional supervisors favorite way to dispose of bad equipment). I've lost a few fuses too, but never cooked one unintentionally...
yet.
I think the most common way people destroy vom multlimeter's is what some one mentioned earlier checking volts while the leads are plugged in for checking current that will destroy the meter circuits quicker then any way I have ever heard of.!
Always check where your leads are plugged into the meter correctly PRIOR to checking the voltage or current you wanting to check!
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of CURE!!!
Alan
banjoflyer posted:My dog wears one of those "Wireless Fence" collars. You've seen them before...the animal gets a mild shock if it leaves the area within the "electronic signal" supplied by the base unit. The collar was set to low correction and the base was set to maximum range...~90 feet from the base in all directions. Anyway the dog twice "escaped" from the yard. Had never done that in 10 years. So I thought being the electrical genius that I ain't..."I'll check the function of the collar with a meter!" I attached the meter leads to the collar terminals, set the meter to the 200VDC setting (thinking it's probably high volts/low amps) and walked away from the base to see what would happen. Well when I hit the "boundary" the meter began showing all kinds of numbers and letters and for all I know language symbols from aliens in outer space when it finally showed "lo batt" and promptly quit. When I opened it up the 9v battery showed about 8.7 VDC (checked with a throw-away Harbor Freight meter) and had a blown fuse which I replaced. Long story short? "It's dead Jim!" So being the "jenyous" that I am I did it all over again with the Harbor Freight meter! it's now also dead Jim.
The moral of the story is don't be afraid to destroy things when you don't know what you're doing...Go for it and see what you can blow up! It'll help the economy with increased sales of meters!
Mark
At least you did not put the collar around your neck to see if it was working. LOL 
banjoflyer posted:RonH posted:At least you did not put the collar around your neck to see if it was working. LOL
Like I said above I had my son do that first and now he doesn't need a flashlight at night anymore...
Mark
I see Mark, poor kid the lights must keep everyone awake a night.
}Good way to save electricity?
gunrunnerjohn posted:The shock is a pulse of a few hundred volts at least, probably exceeded the maximum voltage of the meter.
He obviously needs a bigger jolt to get his attention.
GRJ,
How does the collar convert the 9volt battery into hundreds of volts? Is it charging capacitors? It seems too small for a transformer. I assume that means the amps are very low, maybe 10 milliamps?
George
George S posted:gunrunnerjohn posted:The shock is a pulse of a few hundred volts at least, probably exceeded the maximum voltage of the meter.
He obviously needs a bigger jolt to get his attention.
GRJ,
How does the collar convert the 9volt battery into hundreds of volts? Is it charging capacitors? It seems too small for a transformer. I assume that means the amps are very low, maybe 10 milliamps?
George
My guess it it's a flyback transformer, similar to how old TV's developed the 20kv for the anode of the picture tube. Kettering ignition (points and coil) systems worked with the same principle, put 12V at high current across a primary of a transformer with few turns, a secondary with many turns will develop many thousands of volts at low current, and you get a spark at the spark plug. The induced current in the secondary is produced by the collapsing field of the primary when you open the points and kill the current flow.
All you ever wanted to know: Flyback Inductor & Transformer Theory
The turns ratio of an ignition coil is only a hundred to one. But hundreds of volts are produced by the stored energy in the coil creating a voltage acting as a source to try to maintain the collapsing current that occurs when the points opened. Generally, that voltage for ignition coils is around 400 volts. Multiplied by the turns ratio of 100 yields 40,000 volts. This is an application of Faraday’s law.
gunrunnerjohn posted:George S posted:gunrunnerjohn posted:The shock is a pulse of a few hundred volts at least, probably exceeded the maximum voltage of the meter.
He obviously needs a bigger jolt to get his attention.
GRJ,
How does the collar convert the 9volt battery into hundreds of volts? Is it charging capacitors? It seems too small for a transformer. I assume that means the amps are very low, maybe 10 milliamps?
George
My guess it it's a flyback transformer, similar to how old TV's developed the 20kv for the anode of the picture tube. Kettering ignition (points and coil) systems worked with the same principle, put 12V at high current across a primary of a transformer with few turns, a secondary with many turns will develop many thousands of volts at low current, and you get a spark at the spark plug. The induced current in the secondary is produced by the collapsing field of the primary when you open the points and kill the current flow.
All you ever wanted to know: Flyback Inductor & Transformer Theory
Awesome! Thank you. I only have two high school electronics courses under my belt and some model train experience.
I love to learn how this stuff works.
George
cjack posted:The turns ratio of an ignition coil is only a hundred to one. But hundreds of volts are produced by the stored energy in the coil creating a voltage acting as a source to try to maintain the collapsing current that occurs when the points opened. Generally, that voltage for ignition coils is around 400 volts. Multiplied by the turns ratio of 100 yields 40,000 volts. This is an application of Faraday’s law.
Thanks Chuck. I should have learned that one but was probably daydreaming in class about the girl I would meet that afternoon.
That makes a lot of sense...
George
Hey Mark ever heard of a leash? Or even better... a fence? If you're going to force your dog to wear a shock collar at least have the cashews to put it around your neck a few times. I thought this was a train forum?
Thanks for posting the link to that EEVBlog stuff.
He's got some interesting presentations.
The older analog meters seem to survive misuse better. I have been using one to "spark out" magnetos. Tried that with the digital Harbor Freight cheapie (a good meter) and now it says 4v when reading 12v batteries.
C W Burfle posted:Thanks for posting the link to that EEVBlog stuff.
He's got some interesting presentations.
He has a bunch of tutorials on different electronic components and circuits too. Not sure he still does those, but they should still be on his youtube channel somewhere.
banjoflyer posted:Todd Knoll posted:Hey Mark ever heard of a leash? Or even better... a fence? If you're going to force your dog to wear a shock collar at least have the cashews to put it around your neck a few times. I thought this was a train forum?
Wow. tough crowd!
Fences cant hold some dogs. I've seen a 35lb female eat out of a metal kennel in twenty minutes. Filmed quickly rocking bar and working welds with the front teeth till the work hardened metal snaps. She needs 24hr supervion.
A 7th generation Rin Tin Tin police dog I helped raise for a few months as a kid eventually needed an extra thick fence double lined, kennel ceiling included, underground too. It was only good for 8-10 hours unattended. He gave up night breakouts knowing the household hours prevented it.
I don't use one, but I know of a FEW dogs that are likely only still alive or lived longer and better lives because of them. It's not my intention to be online judge.
...but lots of cops take that taser hit before they use them 
...Ive been hit by a shock collar and been shocked by "joke" lighters, shock-buzzers/(handshake) and gum. Not any different really. Not fun, but not torture. Some collars have an intesity adjustment.
I've heard first hand you might rather get shot nonlethal, than tasered. They both have both scars 
.
Maybe you can power a strobe bulb for lightning or use the contacts in a welding vignette .
Agree about fences, my daughter has a husky that is an escape artist. Not sure they make a fence that can hold that dog if she wants to get out? She is a really nice dog too, very sweet and loving and great with kids.
Some folks I know have dogs that learn spots to get through the electronic fence. Others have dogs that will just go through.
Used to work with a lady who raised and showed labs. She hated electronic fences. She told me that if I wanted to get one for my dog, that I should use it as a training aid. That just putting it on the dog and letting him have at it would not work well. We did not get one.
I also know dogs that were conditioned with the electronic fence, and now obey the boundries without wearing the collar.
