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Forum 141

Workshop How long have you had--and used your Multimeter regularly?

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Mark Hennessy
(@markh)
Posts: 410
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My first was an Altai HM-102BZ from Tandy - I guess 1984 or thereabouts. I still have it, and it still works. It's in the workshop, but mostly for sentimental reasons.

About 5 or 6 years later I was given an Advance DMM. Can't for the life of me remember the model number - it had just 3 digits - the tiny LED "bubble" type - and it chewed through PP9s. I put a highly dangerous mains power supply in a metal PP9 case, which I still have somewhere at work. I will have the DMM in the attic somewhere...

About 10 years after that, I bought a cheap no-name meter from CPC, and it wasn't bad - not like some of the junk you can buy today. It was auto-ranging, and was 4,000 count IIRC. Not very accurate though. I finally put it in the bin about a year back.

10 years ago I bought myself a Fluke 189 for my birthday. I'd wanted a Fluke for years, but never quite had the spare cash. Knowing that we were thinking about having kids soon, I decided that it was now or never! Of course, I didn't actually *need* a 189, which was the top of the range at the time, but knowing that this was a long-term purchase, it made sense to stretch to get the best I could afford. And I have used most of the functionality over the years, so I feel it was a wise purchase. The only problem with the 189 is that it has pretty poor battery life, especially if you use the backlight.

Over the last few years I've bought a few more Flukes on eBay - most of them fetch quite high prices these days, but with patience, there are bargains to be had. I tend to use an 87V for most day to day work, mostly because it has much better battery life than the 189. I also use a 79 (series II), which is a nice meter.

I have a couple of bench multimeters, but I use these much less. The extra precision over a hand-held is rarely needed, but for some R&D work it's invaluable. Also, I have a couple of Avo 8s; like the Altai, these don't get used, but are nice to have around the place.

One feature that is lacking from most multimeters is dB. Only the high-end hand-held Flukes (187/9, 287/9) do this. The old 8050A will, but it's not auto-ranging. Likewise the 8060A (I haven't got one of these - prices shot up after the original designer did a fascinating piece on the EEVblog and AmpHour sites). If you do audio engineering, it's absolutely invaluable - especially when chasing signals around a sound desk or similar.

Anyway, that's just a snapshot of a meter collection that is far too large and desperately needs slimming down. Mostly bought second-hand or rescued from skips, often found with a "BER" label attached...

 
Posted : 24/04/2014 5:17 pm
Herald1360
(@herald1360)
Posts: 294
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Around 1984 I was issued with a Fluke 77 at work, along with several other colleagues. I'm still with the same company(ish) and still using the Fluke which so far has always passed its annual calibration check. Several other 77s from that batch are still in use though not with their original keepers. I have the second meter I personally bought (around 1968) in a cupboard behind me as I type- one of the Russian offerings a U4317. AFAIK it still works OK, but hasn't been used in anger for a long while now. As received it didn't work on the ac ranges which I eventually traced to incorrect assembly of the detent on the selector switch (a slider with unequal throws) which meant that the middle latch position was wrong and no contacts were closed. Sorted by drilling out the plastic rivet heads,refitting the detent plate the right way round and melting the rivet remains with a soldering iron to fix things back together. Another personal oldie is the Gunsons Testune meter I got as a leaving present from colleagues when I left Racal at the end of 1981. That was last used on a Dolomite about five years ago- I mostly only used it for dwell angle checks- none of my present vehicles has any need of such a measurement.

.........._______
.....___/|__|__|____
.=.( _---__|___|_---_)
.........O...Chris....O

 
Posted : 25/04/2014 12:16 am
Marconi_MPT4
(@marconi_mpt4)
Posts: 375
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I have been using and still use a Post Office 12D/1 since mid to late 80's bought from a Radio Amateur Rally. It has a standard 20k ohm movement and according to the label made by AVO. However it is similar to the AVO 71 and 73 models but not the same as either, with restricted range settings. In use, the only problem I have is the lack of 1kV DC range when servicing valve gear. Measuring TV line drive g1 voltage seems to confuse it too! Manufacturers reference readings with a real AVO 8, this one just gives strange readings, probably due to action of the meter protection diodes. For every other aspect of servicing it is more than adequate and proved to be robust in everyday usage.

Latterly, I tend to use an old Fluke 79 Series II DMM for general fault investigation as modern equipment with dual polarity rails often have a surprise or two lurking under fault conditions which might damage a moving coil movement. Originally this Fluke was chucked out for scrap with a mangled wafer switch... but managed to bring it back to life by carefully bending the contacts back into position. The 'repair' seems to be lasting.

In the last five years for accurate bench work and development purposes, a Keithley 2000 series DMM is used. It has a useful logging facility via RS232 port and does true RMS measurement. Being mains operated, care is needed when making measurements on some equipment where more than 500V may exist between negative terminal and ground.

Cheers
Rich

 
Posted : 25/04/2014 12:45 pm
evingar
(@evingar)
Posts: 30
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Current meter is a Fluke 25. For those that don't know, it's a ruggidised military product. I have a further one in "reserve"(New Old Stock) complete with carrying case, leads (etc).... I think it's going to have a long wait for the first one to die thought. So far It's been with me for about a decade and has taken some serious abuse, both physical and electrical. Battery life is "Biblical" ! The last place I worked insisted on equipping me with a piece of Chinese junk - the worst load of rubbish I've ever used. I had to resort to buying a Fluke 75 off "The bay" to use at work. Since changing jobs this is now another "reserve" meter. Of course prior to the Fluke 25 I had the usual array of inferior products, Tandy, Maplin, Avo 8 (I'll get my tin hat WRT the last one)  Still have the Avo 8 - and it has it's (very) occasional uses ..... in warm summer weather I use it to keep the workshop door open I'm hoping it jets a lot of use this year

Chris

 
Posted : 29/04/2014 8:33 pm
Repairman 1234
(@repairman-1234)
Posts: 150
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I have been using and still use a Post Office 12D/1

Cheers
Rich

I also have one of these as well as an ex BBC nixie meter and a few el cheapo Digi meters, but the main meter that I have always used is my trusty old Avo 8.
I too started off with a Tandy special... first one was an Altai then I think my second one was an Eagle as well (it was yellow and had a carry handle over the top)
I can also remember some of the techs at Serviscope preferring a German made meter to the Avo can't remember what make they were but they came in a tan leather case and were about as tall as an avo but not as deep or wide and only had one selector dial as opposed to the two of the Avo.

I always liked Thandar mini scopes with the Digi meter that matched them.

Cheers
Chris.

I like fly by wire technology, and I like the wire to be about 1/4 of an inch thick.

 
Posted : 17/05/2014 1:37 pm
EDDINNING
(@eddinning)
Posts: 208
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AVO 8, 50 years, LG DM-333, 20 years, both still in daily use, with leanings towards the DVM now.

Also a set of RS test lamps for basic electrical work.

When using a scope I seldom use a voltmeter unless I need a precise figure. Trace jumps 1 div on 5v/div, I have 5v!!

Ed

 
Posted : 17/05/2014 9:02 pm
Doz
 Doz
(@doz)
Posts: 1485
Prominent Member Registered
 

Fluke 77 since 1990. Last UKAS cal 2007 when I stopped needing it calibrated. Been a superb workhorse over the years.  Philips PM2505 since ...? Never calibrated, but put up against a calibrated current and voltage source from time to time. Only used when I need to see a needle bobbing up and down. Did have a digital version of this too, but it got 50KV flashed across it, and never worked again!

 
Posted : 19/05/2014 2:19 pm
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