help pls...measuring AC frequency

news-server.mn.rr.com · 2006-11-28T06:43:50+00:00

This may be way too easy for you folks, but it would sure help me if someone could answer.I have a generator at an off-grid cabin hooked to a charger/inverter system with 4 golf cart batteries. Works great to get 110v 24x7 only running the generator ~2 hours daily.Recently I upgraded my charger to a unit that has tighter power quality tolerances.....specifically, it requires input AC voltage to be within 5v of 120v and frequency to be within 5Hz of 60Hz. The diagnostic on the charger is telling me my generator has "bad AC" and is putting out 67Hz.I have the generator at home now and want to measure frequency with my multimeter....it is a Radio Shack 22-812. Bear with me now please, because I don't understand electricity and electronics all that well. The user instruction manual is very cryptic but I think that I set the main control on one of the V (voltage) settings, probe the 110v outlet with red on hot and black on neutral (not on ground, right?), and then after I get the voltage reading, I press the Hz/Duty/Width button to cycle thru the various settings, specifically here to get the frequency from the Hz option.Does this seem right? There is also another option on the main (round) control that says Logic/Hz, but I am reading an ambiguous comment in another place in the manual that that setting should not be used for any circuit with significant voltage (maybe that option is for getting frequencies say off of an audio signal, or ?).I have searched all over the internet to try to understand how to make this measurement, but I ham having problems figuring it out. Can someone help?Also, on the main control, for the voltage options, there are two given. One says 1) dBm~V, while the other says 2) C/F_V, where in the latter, the _ is a flat bar with three dashes below. One place in the manual says these options mean 1) "selects AC voltage measurement in dBm or volts", and 2) displays temperature and measures DC volts. It seems quite obvious that if I want to...

Nov 28, 2006 22 Replies

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Glenn Gundlach 19 years ago

JoeBloe wrote: On Wed, 29 Nov 2006 00:15:26 +1100, "Phil Allison" > Gave us: >

Sorry, Allison wins on this one. The AC line frequency IS by far more acccurate than the crystals in cheap clocks. Line counting digital clocks or synchronous motor mechanical clocks are dead on all the time. You haven't noticed those cheapies always need to be reset?

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JoeBloe 19 years ago

On 10 Dec 2006 20:09:04 -0800, "Glenn Gundlach" Gave us:

Double posting retard.

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Glenn Gundlach 19 years ago

JoeBloe wrote: > On 10 Dec 2006 20:09:04 -0800, "Glenn Gundlach"

Yup. I accidentally hit the send button a second time. I see you're no longer claiming that a quartz crystal is a better time base than the power line for an electric clock.

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