I'm looking for a meter that will measure inductance and capacitance. I've come accross an AW Sperry DM-9100, used, for a decent price, I think:
Has anyone had any experience with this model? Please tell all.
Thanks,
-- DaveC me@privacy.net This is an invalid return address Please reply in the news group
Let me first say that I have absolutely no experience with this particular meter and I'm sure that it's more than adequate for many purposes. The larger question is what exactly do you want to use the meter for, at what skill level are you in terms of electrical measurements, where would you like them to be at some indeterminate time down the road, and how long do you want this instrument to last.
As a general rule, when you try to fit ten pounds of shit into a one pound bag, something's gotta give at the margins. Very often, it's reliability. Some of my best test equipment is thirty five years old and counting. Do you think the DM-9100 will last that long?...half that long?...a quarter than long?
Me? I would try to figure out what specific measurement was most important to me, and then get a piece of equipment dedicated toward that end, and screw the bells and whistles that some marketing guy decided would best sell the product.
I will second this, and add a round of applause! The 'minimalist' approach to test gear definitely has merit where multimeters are concerned.
Example: I bought my original Fluke 77 (this was LONG before the 'Series III') in 1984. Here it is, nearly 20 years later, and the thing is not only still working but it's still in calibration.
I believe, in that time, I've calibrated it twice and replaced the battery three times. It will probably outlast me at this rate.
Now THAT's reliability!
-- Dr. Anton Squeegee, Director, Dutch Surrealist Plumbing Institute (Known to some as Bruce Lane, KC7GR) kyrrin a/t bluefeathertech d-o=t c&o&m Motorola Radio Programming & Service Available - http://www.bluefeathertech.com/rf.html "Quando Omni Flunkus Moritati" (Red Green)
In article , snipped-for-privacy@no.spam.us mentioned...
I bought a brand-new Fluke 75 DMM and it worked fine for more than a year, with intermittent use, sometimes on weekends, not on a daily basis. Well, more than a year later, I turned it off but it wouldn't turn off. Something went wrong with the rotary switch. So I packed it up and shipped it to Fluke for repair since it was under warranty for 3 yrs. It came back repaired and cal'd, and has worked fine for more than a decade. So the moral of the story is that you can still get a dud even when buying a very reputable and well-made DMM. And it helps to have a good warranty.
And I would avoid those meters like the one that Radio Scrap sells, even tho they're okay for home use. If you read the back label, it says not for commercial use, or something to that effect. In other words, if you use it on the job, they won't warranty it. I assume that means it's light-weight and under-built.
I bought a half dozen DMMs from Futurlec for 6 bucks each, _with_ battery(!) I opened one of them and the test leads didn't have continuity, so I used some other leads laying around. The meter worked okay, but the test leads are crap. But at that price I didn't expect much. If one breaks, it ends up in the scrap heap. ;-) I still have five more. :-P
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A number of people on these groups, including me, have been happy with the AADE LC meter kit. Inexpensive, works well.
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Not wanting to be incredibly long winded about it, it's already been said. Buy a fluke unless you need some of the "elaborate" functions, even a second hand one they just work forever, properly.
second
Yes, and if they fail it's easy and reasonably priced to get them properly services from the factory. Fluke is truly excellent, their meters are the standard that everyone else compares to.
Get yourself a Fluke meter. It is a meter that will last you for life if you take proper care of it. They have an excellent warranty, and will be very stable for many years.
For light use, the 77 or equivalent is very good, and not expensive for the quality.
--
Greetings,
Jerry Greenberg GLG Technologies GLG ========================================= WebPage
Let me first say that I have absolutely no experience with this particular meter and I'm sure that it's more than adequate for many purposes. The larger question is what exactly do you want to use the meter for, at what skill level are you in terms of electrical measurements, where would you like them to be at some indeterminate time down the road, and how long do you want this instrument to last.
As a general rule, when you try to fit ten pounds of shit into a one pound bag, something's gotta give at the margins. Very often, it's reliability. Some of my best test equipment is thirty five years old and counting. Do you think the DM-9100 will last that long?...half that long?...a quarter than long?
Me? I would try to figure out what specific measurement was most important to me, and then get a piece of equipment dedicated toward that end, and screw the bells and whistles that some marketing guy decided would best sell the product.
On Sat, 6 Dec 2003 22:25:56 -0800, Jerry G. wrote (in message ):
For all the Flukies out there, I *have* a Fluke DMM, thank you very much.
It doesn't do what I need, however: measure inductance. Nor does any Fluke product. I checked with their sales department. No go. I'd considered Fluke first, before any other option popped into my head. (Does that make me a Flukie, too?), but I have to find another piece of equipment to do this.
Thanks,
-- DaveC me@privacy.net This is an invalid return address Please reply in the news group
My example: Fluke 25, bought at auction about a year ago, seems to be RAF (British Royal Air Force) surplus - it's covered in "RAF Form nn Calibration Seal" labels. The battery that was in there had completely corroded the battery clip. Twenty minutes, a few inches of solder, a new battery clip and a set of test probes (Maplin Precision Gold, nothing special) later and I had a meter that worked perfectly. Still in perfect calibration after all these years - I guess it's about twenty years old. Oh, and it's built like a tank - it looks like it would survive a drop from a moving car with nothing more than a few scratches. Heck, the plastic casing is at least 6mm thick! As for the battery, well, I've fitted it with an Eveready "Ultra Plus", soon to be replaced with a Duracell PROCELL.
Later.
-- Phil. | Acorn RiscPC600 Mk3, SA202, 64MB, 6GB, philpem@despammed.com (valid address)| ViewFinder, Ethernet (Acorn AEH62), http://www.philpem.dsl.pipex.com/ | 48xCD, ARCIN v6c, Teletext He's DEAD, Jim. You get the Tricorder, I'll get his wallet!
I've
The AADE LC meter works very well indeed, and to my knowledge the only reasonably priced unit that will measure very low capacitance (< 1pF) and inductance values (nH range), which is what I bought it for. If you need to measure above 1mH or 1uF, look elsewhere.
Mat Nieuwenhoven
It measures up to 150 mH and 1.5 uF. Are you saying that it is inaccurate when measuring these large values?
-- DaveC me@privacy.net This is an invalid return address Please reply in the news group
It only guarantees operation up to 100mH and 1uF. If you read the specs, it says "most units will measure up to" 150mH and 1.5uF.
On Tue, 9 Dec 2003 12:24:59 -0800, Walter Harley wrote (in message ):
Yeah. Which makes me wonder why he said to not measure values above 1mH with it... Maybe a misplaced decimal point?
-- DaveC me@privacy.net This is an invalid return address Please reply in the news group
specs, it
with
Oh, duh, I didn't see that either.
Yeah, I assume so. Certainly I've never had a problem using it on inductances larger than 1mH, although I wouldn't have detected it if it were (say) a few percent off.
The only problem i see with it is it dosent seem to have a lot of different ranges to select for each type of meausurement (ohms, amps, volts, etc).. im not such a big fan of auto ranging units..
Anyway, i own a BK Presicsion (sp) Tool Kit 2704B. It measures tsistors hFE for NPN and PNP, caps, resistors, ac/dc, amps, freq, conductance.. the only thing it dosent seeem to measure that you may want is inductance and temp measurements.. I think the next model up does that.. I got mine at frys electronics for
59.99 and it was worth every penny IMHO.. Only thing i wish it did was lower cap value measurements (it ranges from 20uF to 200pF, so no testing anything below 20uF) and no inductance setting..i highly reccomend checking to see what BK presicsion has to offer, just be sure to spell presicision right cuz im pretty sure im not spelling it correctly :)
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