Do multimeters "wear out" after so many years? Fluke vs. Ideal, Wavetek??

[[email protected]]

Butting in....

So what are you guys' favorite meters?

I mentioned my Beckman 223 died. I always liked the Fluke 77, and don't need
special stuff like frequency counter, computer connectivity or the like.

I had a beckman at one place I worked and I remember it was great for
battery life. Some other meters I was always replacing the 9v
battery.

 

[kip]

I do like the 73, I really don't like that newer tapered design, still
can't
figure out why they did that, it's just not as comfortable in my hand.

They change things just for the hell of it iam sure, take a look
at the Wellar Soldering Gun from the 60,s and look at the present day one.

kip

 

[[email protected]]

The analog and digital displays share the same space as in
Coherent's Fieldmaster:
http://www.cohr.com/Lasers/index.cfm?fuseaction=show.page&id=254&loc=830

It's hard to tell from the small picture, but it looks like the meter
scale is part of the LCD. That seems interesting, especially if there
are different scales on the LCD for different ranges. In other words,
when you set it to "foo x 10", the "0...10" scale lights up, and when
you set it to "foo x 1000", the "0...1000" scale lights up. The other
day, I played with a small Omron industrial timer that works this way...
the hash marks and setting pointer are dimensionless, but there are
little windows by the major hash marks. As you turn a switch to set
the range of the timer, the current value for that hash mark appears
in the window. There was also a window for the units, which would
change from seconds to minutes to hours by moving another switch. All
of the indications were done mechanically.

Having a scale like this would seem to fix a common problem of new analog
meter users: which scale to read and what to multiply it by. The reading
is still indicated by the moving needle, but the scale can be read
directly. Of course, the Coherent meter also has the direct digital
readout to eliminate this problem, but this might be an interesting way
to build a meter with just an analog display.

Matt Roberds

 

[Sam Goldwasser]

It's hard to tell from the small picture, but it looks like the meter
scale is part of the LCD. That seems interesting, especially if there
are different scales on the LCD for different ranges. In other words,
when you set it to "foo x 10", the "0...10" scale lights up, and when
you set it to "foo x 1000", the "0...1000" scale lights up. The other
day, I played with a small Omron industrial timer that works this way...
the hash marks and setting pointer are dimensionless, but there are
little windows by the major hash marks. As you turn a switch to set
the range of the timer, the current value for that hash mark appears
in the window. There was also a window for the units, which would
change from seconds to minutes to hours by moving another switch. All
of the indications were done mechanically.

Having a scale like this would seem to fix a common problem of new analog
meter users: which scale to read and what to multiply it by. The reading
is still indicated by the moving needle, but the scale can be read
directly. Of course, the Coherent meter also has the direct digital
readout to eliminate this problem, but this might be an interesting way
to build a meter with just an analog display.

The tick marks are fixed but the LCD tells you what the scale factor is.
The needle is real.

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[Mark D. Zacharias]

I had a beckman at one place I worked and I remember it was great for
battery life. Some other meters I was always replacing the 9v
battery.

Good point. How is the battery life on the Fluke meters?

Mark Z.

 

[JazzMan]

Good point. How is the battery life on the Fluke meters?

I replace mine every six months whether it needs it or
not. I've got two '87s and an '88.

JazzMan
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[Dave Plowman (News)]

Good point. How is the battery life on the Fluke meters?

I'd say my 179 is good, as it has auto power down. I've never had any
meter where battery life is poor - it's leaving them switched on
accidently which causes the problem.

 

[[email protected]]

I'd say my 179 is good, as it has auto power down. I've never had any
meter where battery life is poor - it's leaving them switched on
accidently which causes the problem.

The meters that were running through batteries were some off brand
model about $89 back in the early 90s. Our small company bought a
bunch and they had lots of features and worked ok, except they went
through batteries fast.

The old Beckman just made like an energizer bunny and kept going.