Death & Destruction of a Fluke Multimeter

Ha! I thought you tied the multimeter to the back of the car and dragged it down the freeway. :P

Stopped at 3:20min. Had to continue life.

Got interesting up around 10:00 or so... 30 meters eh?

Screw you Dave, I wanna see that thing under a sledge. :) Or maybe a log splitter, or backhoe, or something...

Tim

-- Deep Friar: a very philosophical monk. Website:

On a sunny day (Sun, 7 Mar 2010 16:21:35 +1100) it happened "David L. Jones" wrote in :

Well, why bother, I have a 5 Euro multimeter, if it blows I will get an other 5 Euro multimeter. But it says it is 100% protected. Why burn so many $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$? Just for the show??? Makes no sense to me.

He got it for nuffin just to test.

If you had seen some of his earlier videos, you'd know why. By all means use your cheaper meter if you like, but there is such a thing as, "measurement confidence". If your work is important, perhaps with lots of money or even someone's life potentially at stake, which meter would I rather rely on? I think the answer is pretty obvious. I own meters large and small, el cheapos and better ones. But when I really need to know, right now and with no bullshit, I reach for the Fluke.

Mark Z.

David L. Jones Inscribed thus:

Nice field trip. Most impressive ! I did think that the LCD would have broken much sooner though. The inductor failure could have been prevented. Good one.

Absolutely the most idiotic video I've seen in months.

Fluke.

I bought an expensive Fluke multimeter 20 years. It continues to work well, and has only needed to have the LCD contacts cleaned (twice). I'm almost 63, and if I live to be 90, I expect it to continue to work.

Harbor Freight sometimes sells their cheap multimeter for $2 (!!!). I gave one to a friend for Christmas, because he needed one for occasional work. I can see taking such a meter into places it might be damaged or destroyed. But I wouldn't use it for daily work.

I bought a Univolt DT-830 around 1984, and it is still working well too. The only gripe is that the slide ON/OFF switch corroded and became intermittent (because I used to live by the sea, I think) so I replaced it with a toggle switch. The DT-830 uses a 40-pin DIL ICL7106 and other readily available components like LM324's etc on a normal (not surface mount) PCB, so if it does break down I should be able to fix it myself. It does lack auto-off, but it draws SFA power anyway.

"David L. Jones" kirjoitti viestissä:BJGkn.72617$ snipped-for-privacy@newsfe18.iad...

More multimeter torturing: Here is report about those $5 multimeters

Better to stay away from mains with those. I learned that hard way when I measured a water heater with some unknown cheap meter. First measured phase-to-ground 230 V fine... then phase to phase BANG instead of 380 V Fortunately only 16 A fuses on that circuit, so only damage was charred multimeter. Think if someone were dumb enough to measure something protected with 250 A fuses... Like if he forgot his own meter in car and sees nice looking meter lying somewhere and actually believes the "CAT III 600V" text printed on it. "Well, this meter should do the job" and then it shorts in his hands at about 1/10 voltage CAT III meter should withstand.

-E

On Sun, 7 Mar 2010 16:21:35 +1100, "David L. Jones" put finger to keyboard and composed:

My AUD$3K Fluke PM97 failed from normal use. The batteries wouldn't hold a charge from day 1, the AC adapter failed after only a short time, one of the probes failed soon after, and then the meter itself failed. The service manual was missing the power supply page (maybe some Fluke/Philips tech used it and forgot to replace it).

One day I'll step on it ... again, and again, and again.

- Franc Zabkar

Then why wasn't it repaired/replaced under warranty?

Dave,

You should make what was left the prize in a competition.

Nial

And you didn't send it back ?!!

geoff

use

ly

Agree.

I have had a fluke 87 for about 15 years, it has never let me down. It has survived drops, rough conditions and other abuse that happens in the trade. The only thing I have ever done is replace the probes once, and a fuse when I accidentally blew it once - and that is NOT the meter's fault. I cannot be stuck with dodgy equipment when I'm on a job 200km from the workshop. Been there, done that, when I started out many years ago.

To me, the cost of time and money and goodwill by having to go back would be excess of the cost of a decent meter.

I wouldn't hesitate to buy another, and Dave's reviews have confirmed my belief in their products. I can see also where the internal design has been improved a lot.

Im not just pushing Fluke products either, while I havent used or seen them, due to industry competition, Im sure that HP, TEK and others have made comparable quality meters.

Wonder if you could return it under warranty ? ;)

Amazing. I doubted the 3M drop spec. Not any more.

Ed

On Sun, 7 Mar 2010 16:44:21 -0800, "William Sommerwerck" put finger to keyboard and composed:

I bought it in Australia, but I took it to Singapore. I suppose I could have made the effort to have the batteries replaced, but I relied on the AC adapter, until it failed.

- Franc Zabkar

Is Dave about to be recruited to Fluke's "Dark Side" (ie marketing)?