B&K Precision bench multimeters, good?

I've got a hand held B&K DMM. I like it, pretty much the same readings as a more expensive fluke, whenever I've checked. I've also got a bench voltmeter from Keithley (2100), 6/12 digits, not much more than the B&K.

George H.

There's a 5-1/2 digit Keithley 191 on eBay for $69 BIN. I have a couple, which I like very well. Only one has the AC board, and neither is true-RMS of course.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

when I saw B&K I thought Brüel & Kjær , but I guess it is not the same company

-Lasse

Thanks, good to know. The Keithley is more than 2x the price even as a refurb.

Yeah, I don't have a personal EBay account. And I really like the fact that the B&K has USB connectivity. I tend to use that a lot because then I can watch a trend from across the room, BIG numbers on the screen.

Thought the same a few years ago. However, this one is a US company (now branched out worldwide). The founder might have European roots, but more in Germany than in Denmark.

I like my Fluke 45, which has given me good service for over 20 years. Its true RMS accuracy is better than the B&K, and some are available on eBay for $250-$300:

The B&K is about 0.4% accuracy on true RMS:

The Fluke 45 is about 0.2%:

Paul

B&K and Bruel and Kjaer are NOTHING like each other. If their meters are like their power supplies that I've seen they're just rebranded Chinese (probably Taiwan invested Chinese) product.

Hmm, that's a bit concerning. Was the quality low?

Don't know the B&K, but if your budget is flexible I can recommend the Fluke 8845A/8846A. Excellent and extremely useful bench meter.

Only minuses are that it likes to stay connected to the mains even if switched off, perhaps to keep the reference heated. If completely disconnected it takes a long (say 30 sec) initializing phase before it can be used. Found it also annoying that the maximum logging length is limited to 50.000 measurements even if you store on an USB stick (8846A).

Regards, Klaus

Pretty standard for decent Chinese stuff (usuable but not overly impressive). Personally, I'd go for the Agilent 34401, but I know this is a fraction of the price.

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

The 2100 is a generic Chinese rebrand. You see it all over the place. I had three and sent them all back. I annoyed Keithley so much that they gave me 2000's instead.

Their 844USB device programmer is great. It's made by Elnec in Slovakia.

It's really overkill, I don't need 6-1/2 digits. 4-1/2 is fine for me.

can

limited

It does have excellent AC True-RMS accuracy of 0.04% RDG + 0.02% Range, but it is AC coupled. The Fluke 45 uses a calculated AC+DC measurement which is sqrt(AC^2+DC^2).

The 8845/6 also has Kelvin resistance measurement which is lacking on the

1. I think that is a very important feature, especially measuring low ohms or to compensate for lead and clip resistance.

Paul

Ok, so maybe I should take the plunge then.

Oh, I also bought a Keithley 2401 source/measurement unit.

It does this,

and if you grab one of the insulated test leads, it does this:

It has a CE sticker, but there's no way it really passed the EMI tests.

Sent it back too.

When I read all this it begs the question: Does it really matter anymore whether we buy gear from US manufacturers?

h,

..

ed text -

Hmm interesting, thanks.

I've used my 2100 for ~0.1% (four figure) measurements. (Mostly as an AC and DC voltmeter) Beyond that I don't have anything to compare it to. What was your problem?

George H.