Hi everyone, I just got myself a new multimeter!
Isn't it a beauty!
When I got it, the needle was sticking a little, so I took the cover off and "adjusted" it. It appears the needle was actually bent, so a little, careful, tweak was all it needed to be as good as new.
It's an Aussie made piece of equipment!
This unit is almost 100% bakelite construction, and is without any breaks or modes replacements.
The rear looks like this:
It's hard to see, but there's something scratched into the bakelite.
A C Wilsher
Blomfield Av
Bega 7C
NSW
And inside, in ink in the bakelite (just as hard to read) is:
F C Wilsher
Bega
So... I got hold of the person I bought it from and asked if that name rang any bells. I got this response:
It's great to have some history about these pieces of equipment. It makes an item such as this just that but more special.
Back to the repairs... I noticed that the voltage range seemed ok, but the ohms range was very touchy, with the adjust pot being quite intermittent, and the needle unable to be set to 0.
Here are the innards. The owners name is ink on the tag strip. Under it are the switches and pot.
Do I see a battery there?
How old is it? How much has it leaked?
Removing a couple of screws reveals the D cell. Can't see any leakage
Well there's the reason! It has a miracle seal! So how old is that battery? Radio shack (trading as Tandy in Australia) opened in 1973, was acquired by another company in 2001 and finally closed in 2011. The battery is at least 10 years old, but I suspect it's much older. So while it's not really old, it's not new either!
I'm going to replace it with this
Dick Smith was an Australian Company that was also bought by the same company and run into the ground. As they went out of business I purchased a number of these very good cells for almost nothing (under $US1 each).
So let's uncover that pot. First we remove the tag strip revealing some interesting resistors
Anyone want to guess at the age of this meter?
Under it is the pot, partially obscured by a resistor of some sort (I think)
And there it is. Can anyone tell me the value of that pot? And why?
Anyway, a replacement was sourced and fitted
Note the difference in size. I hope there isn't a problem with power dissipation.
Fits nicely, but it's upsidedown
Old, and...
I
New. Pity it's not brass, but nobody will see it.
Ok, now, in the ohms range with the input shorted and the control all the way to the left:
And all the way to the right. The intermittent problem is gone!
But nowhere near zero :-(
However in the x3000 range with an external 45V power supply, the meter zeros.
I'm thinking that it's either very sensitive to voltage or some of the resistors have gone high. I'll have to get a non-rechargeable D cell to check that out.
While I had the 45V power supply (5 x 9V batteries) I compared the meter to one of my digital meters. It seems pretty close on the 50V range.
And on the 10V range (with a single 9V battery) it's also close.
So there's a bit more to do, but getting it going shouldn't be a huge problem.
I need to check the current ranges and the AC voltage ranges. But not today.
Isn't it a beauty!
When I got it, the needle was sticking a little, so I took the cover off and "adjusted" it. It appears the needle was actually bent, so a little, careful, tweak was all it needed to be as good as new.
It's an Aussie made piece of equipment!
This unit is almost 100% bakelite construction, and is without any breaks or modes replacements.
The rear looks like this:
It's hard to see, but there's something scratched into the bakelite.
A C Wilsher
Blomfield Av
Bega 7C
NSW
And inside, in ink in the bakelite (just as hard to read) is:
F C Wilsher
Bega
So... I got hold of the person I bought it from and asked if that name rang any bells. I got this response:
It's great to have some history about these pieces of equipment. It makes an item such as this just that but more special.
Back to the repairs... I noticed that the voltage range seemed ok, but the ohms range was very touchy, with the adjust pot being quite intermittent, and the needle unable to be set to 0.
Here are the innards. The owners name is ink on the tag strip. Under it are the switches and pot.
Do I see a battery there?
How old is it? How much has it leaked?
Removing a couple of screws reveals the D cell. Can't see any leakage
Well there's the reason! It has a miracle seal! So how old is that battery? Radio shack (trading as Tandy in Australia) opened in 1973, was acquired by another company in 2001 and finally closed in 2011. The battery is at least 10 years old, but I suspect it's much older. So while it's not really old, it's not new either!
I'm going to replace it with this
Dick Smith was an Australian Company that was also bought by the same company and run into the ground. As they went out of business I purchased a number of these very good cells for almost nothing (under $US1 each).
So let's uncover that pot. First we remove the tag strip revealing some interesting resistors
Anyone want to guess at the age of this meter?
Under it is the pot, partially obscured by a resistor of some sort (I think)
And there it is. Can anyone tell me the value of that pot? And why?
Anyway, a replacement was sourced and fitted
Note the difference in size. I hope there isn't a problem with power dissipation.
Fits nicely, but it's upsidedown
Old, and...
I
New. Pity it's not brass, but nobody will see it.
Ok, now, in the ohms range with the input shorted and the control all the way to the left:
And all the way to the right. The intermittent problem is gone!
But nowhere near zero :-(
However in the x3000 range with an external 45V power supply, the meter zeros.
I'm thinking that it's either very sensitive to voltage or some of the resistors have gone high. I'll have to get a non-rechargeable D cell to check that out.
While I had the 45V power supply (5 x 9V batteries) I compared the meter to one of my digital meters. It seems pretty close on the 50V range.
And on the 10V range (with a single 9V battery) it's also close.
So there's a bit more to do, but getting it going shouldn't be a huge problem.
I need to check the current ranges and the AC voltage ranges. But not today.
.
