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B&K Precision bench multimeters, good?

J

Joerg

Jan 1, 1970
0
Be prepared for an annoying whirring fan. Adding a Zener in series
with the fan (5V IIRC) helps a lot.

Ugh, that is not so nice. Why can't they get it into their heads that a
fan can be temperature-controlled?

Also, my 34410A powers up in 1000V DC mode about half the time, for no
apparent reason. So I have to hit the "DC V" button or the
"Autorange" button to get any usable precision.

That's a bit odd. Wouldn't bother me but it does not instill confidence.

Overall the 34410A is fine, but the 34401A has some ergonomic
advantages. Don't spend extra money on a 34410A unless you need it to
do something the 34401A can't do.

I wure won't. If they honor the web price of $949 it won't cost more
than the old one. The cap sensing feature is nice, on a 6-1/2 digit
meter I should be able to see 0.0-something picofarad trending in
capacitance if I make the wiring super-quiet (and don't move ...). AFAIK
the 34401A can't do that.
 
J

Joerg

Jan 1, 1970
0
John said:
The 34401A kicked a hige bunch of spikes out of its input terminals, apparently
coupled from the VF display.

Yikes. I hope they fixed that.
 
N

Nico Coesel

Jan 1, 1970
0
Spehro Pefhany said:
They should be able to- they're not paying eBay's rather substantial
cut and probably getting a better deal on the CC cut than PP.

The problem is that many equipment dealers think they sell gold. Some
buyers still fall for NIST traceable calibration and 'waranty'. In
reality you are buying old equipment that usually isn't even cleaned.

And there is also a lot of equipment for which equipment dealers want
insane prices while there are several Chinese manufacturers with
similar instruments which cost about 1/3 of the price brand new.
 
J

Joerg

Jan 1, 1970
0
John said:
For one, it powered up taking about a zillion measurements per second,
so the display was a blur. It took a lot of menu flogging to get the
rate down to human levels, and that setup couldn't be saved. And one
of the three units crashed, just displayed some goofy diagnostic
message.

My Fluke 8845A is great.

Amazon has got them for $932 plus tax, free shipping:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-list...355011189&sr=1-2&keywords=8845A&condition=new

But the bummer is 3-5 weeks leadtime. Didn't they make enough? Don't
they know that much of such gear has to be shipped before Dec-31?
 
J

josephkk

Jan 1, 1970
0
B&K and Bruel and Kjaer are NOTHING like each other. If their meters
are like their power supplies that I've seen they're just rebranded
Chinese (probably Taiwan invested Chinese) product.

They so were never similar. The US based B&K is third tier most of the
time, sometimes worse sometimes better. Kind of Muntz or similar.
Bruel and Kjaer has never produced crap as far as the very little i do
know about them.

?-)
 
J

josephkk

Jan 1, 1970
0
"Klaus Bahner" wrote in message



It does have excellent AC True-RMS accuracy of 0.04% RDG + 0.02% Range, but
it is AC coupled. The Fluke 45 uses a calculated AC+DC measurement whichis
sqrt(AC^2+DC^2).

The 8845/6 also has Kelvin resistance measurement which is lacking on the
45. I think that is a very important feature, especially measuring low ohms
or to compensate for lead and clip resistance.

Paul

An interesting thing to note. Below about 100 Ohms they (Kelvin clips)
become essential for 6.5 digits, and favored below 1k. Of course for some
meters and resistors the on/off current for 6.5 digit measurements
disrupts the reading. I was involved with solutions to this issue for 7.5
digit measurements where the resistor self heating during measurement
wiped out proper repeatability beyond 5 digits. Had to go to a massively
expensive mercury wetted latching relay system and full Standard resistor
based ratiometric 12 terminal measurement. The DUT as well as the
standard resistors were kept powered at operating current at all times
(other then relay switching times (about 2 milliseconds).

?-)
 
K

Klaus Kragelund

Jan 1, 1970
0
Oh, I also bought a Keithley 2401 source/measurement unit.



It does this,



https://dl.dropbox.com/u/53724080/Gear/2401.JPG



and if you grab one of the insulated test leads, it does this:



https://dl.dropbox.com/u/53724080/Gear/2401_EMI.JPG



It has a CE sticker, but there's no way it really passed the EMI

tests.



Sent it back too.

We use the Keithley 2400. Its ok, but has quirks.

x Using the GPIB to read back the voltage at the terminals returns the current instead

x One model we had would display the terminal voltage, but verifying with external meter it was offset by 150mV

x The annoying beep when pressing keys needs to be turned off after each power-up.

Regards

Klaus
 
J

Joerg

Jan 1, 1970
0
Klaus Kragelund wrote:

[...]

x The annoying beep when pressing keys needs to be turned off after each power-up.

Yes, that is always annoying. My general solution to that is pretty
straightforward and "surgical": Snip ... beep gone, and it never comes
back :)
 
J

Joerg

Jan 1, 1970
0
John said:
Klaus Kragelund wrote:

[...]

x The annoying beep when pressing keys needs to be turned off after each power-up.
Yes, that is always annoying. My general solution to that is pretty
straightforward and "surgical": Snip ... beep gone, and it never comes
back :)

Whenever I buy a microwave oven, first thing I do is open it up and break the
piezo beeper. Most have a "wire bond" type attachment to the ceramic wafer that
you can snap off easily with a long screwdriver.

I don't need to be told that I pressed a button, and I don't need five long
beeps to tell me that it just shut off; that's obvious.

Keithley is a mess lately. They seem incapable of fixing code bugs. And the 2400
seems to have serious analog problems. Their old stuff was wonderful.

Aren't Tektronix, Fluke and Keithley now under the same roof (Danaher)?

This is a great gadget, cost me $80 or some such on ebay...

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/53724080/Gear/Keithley.JPG

There's a 100 Gohm 0805 resistor on that Pomoma plug.

I have something similar for RF signals from Rohde & Schwarz, bought at
a company auction. The meter is at least 3x that size.
 
N

Nico Coesel

Jan 1, 1970
0
Joerg said:
Oops, that looks just like the Uni-Trend meters. I think I'll buy the HP
from Spehro's link then unless they fail to honor their web price.



Sometimes I have to stick my probes into rather high-cost stuff so the
meter can't cause a meltdown there.

True but you never know the history of a used multi-meter... (or any
second hand gear). When buying used gear you need to test and check it
thouroughly to make sure there are no hidden defects. When I buy used
equipment I usually take it apart for a thourough cleaning and
(safety) inspection.
 
J

Joerg

Jan 1, 1970
0
Nico said:
True but you never know the history of a used multi-meter... (or any
second hand gear). When buying used gear you need to test and check it
thouroughly to make sure there are no hidden defects. When I buy used
equipment I usually take it apart for a thourough cleaning and
(safety) inspection.

I never buy multimeters used. Too risky. In fact, it could even become
dangerous depending on what you measure.
 
N

Nico Coesel

Jan 1, 1970
0
Joerg said:
I never buy multimeters used. Too risky. In fact, it could even become
dangerous depending on what you measure.

The one from Teknet is used.
 
J

Joerg

Jan 1, 1970
0
Spehro said:
Something is a bit fishy about that. I've also asked for a quote.

Well, waltzed into my office this morning is this is my "quote":

"Recent strong demand for the HP - Agilent 34410A has placed it on
backorder with no firm availability dates and pricing established by our
suppliers. Accordingly, no quotation for this equipment can be provided
at this time".

So, no Agilent I guess :-(
 
J

Joerg

Jan 1, 1970
0
Nico said:
The one from Teknet is used.

Not that I know of. But they just responded that there's backlog so they
can't sell me one anyhow. So, on to Fluke or some other company then I
guess.
 
S

Spehro Pefhany

Jan 1, 1970
0
Well, waltzed into my office this morning is this is my "quote":

"Recent strong demand for the HP - Agilent 34410A has placed it on
backorder with no firm availability dates and pricing established by our
suppliers. Accordingly, no quotation for this equipment can be provided
at this time".

So, no Agilent I guess :-(

Gee, he offered me an additional discount. ;-)

Okay, just joking. Looks like it's a come-on.

--sp


Reference: Request For Quotation - HP - Agilent 34410A


Dear Spehro,

Thank you for your recent request for quotation.

Recent strong demand for the HP - Agilent 34410A has placed it on
backorder with no firm availability dates and pricing established by
our suppliers. Accordingly, no quotation for this equipment can be
provided at this time.

There may be other equipment choices which could satisfy your
immediate equipment needs. I will phone you shortly to discuss if an
alternative instru ment could be substituted.

TekNet Electronics appreciates the opportunity to serve you.


Best Regards,
 
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