Maker Pro
Maker Pro

Purchasing a new high end multimeter

J

John Fields

Jan 1, 1970
0
Yes, it's over 20W on the HP 3478A. You were saying? Also your amazing
bench meter has no better resolution than my Micronta on DC current
measurements (1uA).

I'll see your 1µA and raise you 100nA.
 
D

David L. Jones

Jan 1, 1970
0
Which one of my inverters operates just fine. Hell, I could probably
make a solar rig and circuit for it. I do not actually have to feed it
AC line voltage you know. I can go straight to the meat of the motion.

Hahahaha!

You said "I need to catch up with modern times" and here you are
talking about powering your ancient overkill 20W bench meter from
solar cells, some cobbled together inverter or butchering the thing
and powering it directly.
I can just picture you out in the field with a pole stuck to your back
and a big 50W solar panel mounted up high, proudly using your 5 1/2
digit bench meter when a 3.5 digit 2% pocket job like this Wavetek
would have done just fine.
LMAO!

http://www.testequipmentdepot.com/meterman/dmm/dm78a.htm

Dave :)
 
A

Anthony Fremont

Jan 1, 1970
0
David said:
You said "I need to catch up with modern times" and here you are
talking about powering your ancient overkill 20W bench meter from
solar cells, some cobbled together inverter or butchering the thing
and powering it directly.
I can just picture you out in the field with a pole stuck to your back
and a big 50W solar panel mounted up high, proudly using your 5 1/2
digit bench meter when a 3.5 digit 2% pocket job like this Wavetek
would have done just fine.
LMAO!

http://www.testequipmentdepot.com/meterman/dmm/dm78a.htm

Dave :)

Now I'm LMAO. :-D Too funny. I completely glossed over his comments about
making a solar panel for it. Glad I wasn't taking a drink of coffee just
now.
 
D

David L. Jones

Jan 1, 1970
0
MassiveProng said:
We bought ten, and only two have failed, and it was the LCD panel
for one, and a poor dope zapped the other.

Oh, and I have reduced the spring pressure on the knob's detent
mechanism, so HA HA HA on that one too. At less than $125 each, they
have worked fine for a lot of things, but sure, there are much better
quality jobs out there for the same price. Rat Shack is NOT one of
them.

Radio Shack actually used to make some good quality meters, ever owned
one or opened one?
I used my brains instead. Knowing how the things are constructed, I
had no problem reducing the detent pressure.

You bought a new $125 meter and had to take it apart to "fix" the
range switch because it's such a dog?!
LMAO!!

$125 could have got you a nice used Fluke 80 series, and much better
accuracy which you think it so essential.

Dave :)
 
K

krw

Jan 1, 1970
0
spam- said:
The HP? The cheapest one I saw was $500 and it didn't look all that great.


We? What have YOU designed?
A 100W light bulb that doesn't put 100W of heat into the room.
You've heard of "cool white" light bulbs? Dimbulb invented 'em.
 
A

Anthony Fremont

Jan 1, 1970
0
David said:
Radio Shack actually used to make some good quality meters, ever owned
one or opened one?

This one has been good.

You bought a new $125 meter and had to take it apart to "fix" the
range switch because it's such a dog?!
LMAO!!

$125 could have got you a nice used Fluke 80 series, and much better
accuracy which you think it so essential.

Dave :)

I was looking for something with better resolution and accuracy than my RS
meter. I'm looking for good moderately low current measurements (100's of
nA). I would use it mostly for hobby tinkerings. Would you recommend
something like the 83V or 87V for that? Or do you think investing in the
Agilent would be money better spent?
 
D

David L. Jones

Jan 1, 1970
0
This one has been good.





I was looking for something with better resolution and accuracy than my RS
meter. I'm looking for good moderately low current measurements (100's of
nA). I would use it mostly for hobby tinkerings. Would you recommend
something like the 83V or 87V for that? Or do you think investing in the
Agilent would be money better spent?

I recon it's a no-brainer when you are spending your own $$$ for home.
A used 80 Series III at under $150 gives you much greater bang-for-
buck than the Agilent which you won't find on the used market. You can
get practically brand new units on eBay with hardly a scratch on them.

If you really want a new meter then it's a harder choice. But I would
go for the Fluke based on battery life, the Agilent has a similar
consumption and feature set to the to the 189, i.e. <100hrs, so it's
not really fair to compare with the 80 series. Most people don't need
data logging features, so the Agilent (or 189) would be overkill as a
general use use meter.

An 87V will likely cost you more than an 87III, so you'd have to weigh
up the cost benefit there, but for home use I'd prefer to spend less
so I'd go with the 80 series III.
If you've been fairly happy with the Micronta all these years then the
80III will be more meter than you'll ever need.

All of them have 10nA DC current resolution, so not a problem there.

Dave :)
 
A

Anthony Fremont

Jan 1, 1970
0
David said:
I recon it's a no-brainer when you are spending your own $$$ for home.
A used 80 Series III at under $150 gives you much greater bang-for-
buck than the Agilent which you won't find on the used market. You can
get practically brand new units on eBay with hardly a scratch on them.

Is the "lifetime" warranty still good if I go for a used one?

If you really want a new meter then it's a harder choice. But I would
go for the Fluke based on battery life, the Agilent has a similar
consumption and feature set to the to the 189, i.e. <100hrs, so it's
not really fair to compare with the 80 series. Most people don't need
data logging features, so the Agilent (or 189) would be overkill as a
general use use meter.

Logging would probably be something I used only rarely, but the frequency
counter and generator functions would probably be fairly handy, especially
the counter.
An 87V will likely cost you more than an 87III, so you'd have to weigh
up the cost benefit there, but for home use I'd prefer to spend less
so I'd go with the 80 series III.
If you've been fairly happy with the Micronta all these years then the
80III will be more meter than you'll ever need.

I believe that I want 4 1/2 digits, so the 87V is looking decent, but new is
about $350, so the Ailent and the 189 are looking more atractive even with
the short battery life. So confusing. :-/ It looks like $350 - $400 is
the going price for a decent new meter. At that price I sure don't want to
have regrets later on. I'm thinking that for this kind of money, I should
probably get one that does logging and has a higher count, even though the
idea of a rechargeable battery muncher isn't all that appealing. Do you
know if the rechargeable batteries used in these are off the shelf types, or
did they take the laptop approach where one-size-fits-one.

Any idea why the 87V is only $10 more than the 83V? It has an extra digit
and true RMS. I really don't get this pricing strategy.
All of them have 10nA DC current resolution, so not a problem there.

This is what started my quest for a new meter last year, I just wanted to
measure finer than 1uA. The problem is that I keep falling into the "for
only a few dollars more" trap. I can't seem to find anything that's
significantly better than my old RS meter unless I want to spend several
hundred dollars. I would have thought that after all these years, $100
would really buy something awesome for a DMM, but I guess it's just not to
be.

Thanks for the info. :)
 
D

David L. Jones

Jan 1, 1970
0
Is the "lifetime" warranty still good if I go for a used one?

Never had to use it myself, but technically I think it's "first owner"
only (worth checking for sure).
However, I have heard of people getting their 2nd hand ones fixed no
problems, they just said they lost the receipt.
Logging would probably be something I used only rarely, but the frequency
counter and generator functions would probably be fairly handy, especially
the counter.

Then shoot for one with a decent counter. The 87V only has a 200KHz
counter.
I believe that I want 4 1/2 digits, so the 87V is looking decent, but new is
about $350, so the Ailent and the 189 are looking more atractive even with
the short battery life. So confusing. :-/ It looks like $350 - $400 is
the going price for a decent new meter. At that price I sure don't want to
have regrets later on. I'm thinking that for this kind of money, I should
probably get one that does logging and has a higher count, even though the
idea of a rechargeable battery muncher isn't all that appealing. Do you
know if the rechargeable batteries used in these are off the shelf types, or
did they take the laptop approach where one-size-fits-one.


Any idea why the 87V is only $10 more than the 83V? It has an extra digit
and true RMS. I really don't get this pricing strategy.

Don't know, strange.
This is what started my quest for a new meter last year, I just wanted to
measure finer than 1uA. The problem is that I keep falling into the "for
only a few dollars more" trap. I can't seem to find anything that's
significantly better than my old RS meter unless I want to spend several
hundred dollars. I would have thought that after all these years, $100
would really buy something awesome for a DMM, but I guess it's just not to
be.

Well, you can actually get a decent meter around that price range.
Take a look at say the Meterman 37XR at around $130
http://www.crawfordtool.com/wavetek.html
10,000 count display which is awesome. The 87-V might have a 4 1/2
digit display (selectable), but it's only 6,000 count normal and
20,000 count in 4 1/2 digit mode, not much better than the 37XR in
resolution.

37XR has 0.1% basic accuracy, 10nA DC current range, a 10MHz frequency
counter, cap, inductance, True RMS etc. 3 year warranty too. That's a
pretty decent meter, so good in fact that Fluke bought the company :->
Slight downside is the 150hour battery life.

For $20 more you can get the 38XR with a PC interface.

Compare the Fluke entry level model 112 at $170 with 6000 count 0.7%,
and no uA range, it's no contest. With the extra cash saved you can
throw a nice little Wavetek DM78A in your pocket too for an extra $35!

The 87V is a nice meter, but it's expensive, and something like the
37XR might be a much better buy for home use. Just stay clear of that
Protek 506! ;-)

Dave :)
 
A

Anthony Fremont

Jan 1, 1970
0
David said:
Never had to use it myself, but technically I think it's "first owner"
only (worth checking for sure).
However, I have heard of people getting their 2nd hand ones fixed no
problems, they just said they lost the receipt.


Then shoot for one with a decent counter. The 87V only has a 200KHz
counter.

Yeah, that's a pretty limit.
Don't know, strange.


Well, you can actually get a decent meter around that price range.
Take a look at say the Meterman 37XR at around $130
http://www.crawfordtool.com/wavetek.html
10,000 count display which is awesome. The 87-V might have a 4 1/2
digit display (selectable), but it's only 6,000 count normal and
20,000 count in 4 1/2 digit mode, not much better than the 37XR in
resolution.

37XR has 0.1% basic accuracy, 10nA DC current range, a 10MHz frequency
counter, cap, inductance, True RMS etc. 3 year warranty too. That's a
pretty decent meter, so good in fact that Fluke bought the company :->
Slight downside is the 150hour battery life.

For $20 more you can get the 38XR with a PC interface.

Wow, looks pretty good, but no inductance I believe. The current
measurement resolution is what I'm looking for. I'd like to see inductance
and a pulse generator, but I don't absolutely have to have that. I've been
spoiled by my RS meter in that touching a voltage source when in resistance
mode causes no damage, can I expect more of the same with this meter? Comes
with a thermocouple but not the PC software, go figure.

Compare the Fluke entry level model 112 at $170 with 6000 count 0.7%,
and no uA range, it's no contest. With the extra cash saved you can
throw a nice little Wavetek DM78A in your pocket too for an extra $35!
;-)

The 87V is a nice meter, but it's expensive, and something like the
37XR might be a much better buy for home use. Just stay clear of that
Protek 506! ;-)


I have to confess that I looked at the Protek 6800. ;-) At $200 it's not
too shabby looking with 80,000 counts. The dismal 36 hour battery life
really bites though. The dealbreaker (aside from the battery life) is the
1uA resolution on current measurements. Everything else looked pretty good.

This is worse than trying to find the "right" microcontroller. So far the
Wavetek 38XR is the front runner.

Thanks again. :)
 
A

Anthony Fremont

Jan 1, 1970
0
Anthony Fremont wrote:

Let's try this again
David L. Jones wrote:

Yeah, that's a pretty limit.

Yes, that's pretty limited.
 
M

MassiveProng

Jan 1, 1970
0
Wow, ONLY a 20% failure rate.

Looks like your BASIC math skills are intact. But then again, you
may have gotten help.
How did the one die that got "zapped"?

We make HV power supplies. Meters get zapped occasionally.
 
M

MassiveProng

Jan 1, 1970
0
No, but according to the specs I saw, it's testing ability on them sux.
You're the one that making a big deal out its capabilitys.
No, you fucking retard. I never made any big deal out of them at
all. In fact, in the same sentence I first mentioned them in, I
called them cheap.

Can you really be that fucking retarded? I THINK SO!
 
M

MassiveProng

Jan 1, 1970
0
You're really sticking your neck out now. Played on nine foot tables for
years.


And I could beat you WITHOUT even touching the table.

I have played since Woodstock, and whoopin' up bragtard twits like
you is a specialty. Doing so without touching the table is another.
I possess both capabilities.
 
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