Jaycars latest Multimeters

I have a 20odd year old Fluke 77 and I think I have replaced the battery (9volt) once or twice in that time. Why would you need any more energy than that, kinetic or not?

John G.

I wonder what kind of battery the solar powered rechargable uses.

All the rechargable batteries I've ever had have died sooner than a typical primary cell battery would have in this application.

Sylvia.

Bingo, it's a useless concept. Good auto power off and long battery life in a meter is not rocket science.

Dave.

Unless its a marketing / gimick ploy. But I'm sure Jaycar wouldn't venture into that arena.

ose

ctView.asp?ID=3DQM1546

Almost all cheapo "solar-powered" calculators in fact have "dummy" solar cells that are not even wired to the circuit. They just use the batteries all the time.

There was a flurry of fake "shake lights" that were actually not powered by shaking at all but by a couple of battteries.

My guess is that the energy requirement of a LCD DMM in voltage or current mode is trivially small and probably about the same as a LCD calculator. Put it in ohms mode, though, and I'm sure that some ranges take several mA.

Tim.

"John G." "David L. J****ff"

- the product blurb is a total wind-up.

... Phil

On a sunny day (Wed, 10 Jun 2009 06:26:42 -0700 (PDT)) it happened Tim Shoppa wrote in :

I ahd a credit card sized solar calculator, it had no batteries at all. Indoors it only worked directly onder a 100W desklamp...

And why do they seem to always have an "off" key?

Maybe they know something we don't. :-)

Ed

Good question. Maybe dumb people want that? Either on customer or manufacturer side...

My old solar powered Casio FX-991 only has an "on" key which works as a reset, in case the calc has hanged due to insufficient light... Got me through high school, although I remember one physics exam when there was a power outage. Good thing it was short, otherwise I would've been screwed... The calculator really doesn't work in dim light, but OK in normal lightning.

Shoppa

r th=3D

rodu=3D

Ever hear of "Daylight Savings"?

Gees, Phil, you've found you sense of humour. :-)