The UT804 bench multimeter.. It's got Farrari racing red! Ebay item 270516514042
But it's $275 with free shipping off Ebay.. :( mmmmmm
imo it's got a beautiful front panel design including the display.
I might buy it.
-- D from BC British Columbia
If it's anything like it's little brother, don't waste your money, it's awful:
Note the Ohms jack is shared with the current jack, probably the most annoying feature in the history of multimeter features.
Dave.
-- --------------------------------------------- Check out my Electronics Engineering Video Blog & Podcast: http://www.eevblog.com
Yeah, I have one of those. The first one made a loud bang and fried itself the first time I tried to measure mains with the USB connected to my computer.
I was very lucky not to lose my computer or fry myself.
Also, one of the LEDs in the display started flickering after about 13 months.
No it isn't, but having volts and ohms on separate jacks makes for a lot of lead swapping.
The jacks are:[10A] - [uA/mA] - [Hz/Ohms/mV] - [Com] - [V]
-- - Mike
From Hong Kong? A cheap chinese knockoff? Buying something like that takes guts!
Hey, the Keithley 2100 is a cheap Chinese knockoff!
John
Slightly off-topic, but... does anyone know of a multimeter that can read out in dBm and lets you specify the reference impedance?
The only multimeter that I'm aware of that does this (but I haven't looked that much yet) is a Tektronix TX3, but its reference impedance is forever set at 600ohms (audio work), whereas usually I'm after 50ohms as the reference. Same with the analog meters I've seen that had a dBm scale.
I do realize that the difference between 50ohms and 600ohm reference impedances is just an offset of 10.8dB, I'm just lazy enough that I don't want to have to perform the addition. :-)
Thanks,
---Joel
Yes, the Agilent U1253A or U1252A:
Dave.
-- --------------------------------------------- Check out my Electronics Engineering Video Blog & Podcast: http://www.eevblog.com
Thanks Dave, I'll check it out.
---Joel
I spotted a Keithley 2000 bench multimeter 6.5digit on ebay selling for $850US. For general use, I suspect this is not cheap.
Now I'm scared to buy the UT804. :( My 2nd choice (I'll admit I do pick by aesthetics first, specs 2nd.) is the Mastech MS8050. This also on ebay.
I just don't like rotary switches and this design doesn't have one like the UT804, The MS8050 has a serious tech looking front panel that I like. I say that cause there are bench multimeter designs out there that remind me of kids toys. Example:
-- D from BC British Columbia
D from BC wrote in news:MPG.25d26f49d606f283989683@209.197.12.12:
11 years ago,the HP 14401A 6.5 digit DMM was only $900,ISTR. It was a pretty good meter.-- Jim Yanik jyanik at localnet dot com
D from BC a écrit :
HP34401A usually sell for $350/400 on ebay. There's one BIN at $425.
Why is it that you want to buy cheap crap when you can buy good meters for just a bit more?
-- Thanks, Fred.
Mike Warren wibbled on Tuesday 02 February 2010 13:31
That's bad.
Mike: is that a metal case the switch is bolted to? Did the instrument have an earth connection?
Just thinking that if so on both, why didn't it go bang when you applied mains to the probes?
-- Tim Watts Managers, politicians and environmentalists: Nature's carbon buffer.
Yup. A Keithley 2000 will do that. A beautiful meter - it's what's on my bench. Picked it up for $300 on Ebay.
The back panel is metal but not grounded except though the USB cable.
It did.
-- - Mike
Mike Warren wibbled on Wednesday 03 February 2010 13:52
That is clearly a fundamentally unsafe design - sounds to me that it should be defined like UK "Class I" - [extraneous conductive parts] and thus suitably grounded... Presumably there is a similar distinction of metal cased[1] vs double insulated stuff in Oz?
[1] But without secondary insulation internally, to be pedantic...-- Tim Watts Managers, politicians and environmentalists: Nature's carbon buffer.
Thanks... given the rather poor battery life of HP's U1253A (8 hours), perhaps it is better to just get a plug-in meter anyway.
Then get the identical U1252A. Same meter and specs but with an LCD instead of OLED and a better battery life (36 hours). Even the U1251A still has the selectable dB reference I believe, and that's got 72 hours life.
Also remember you can put an Alkaline or Lithium primary 9V battery in it which should give decent usage when used intermittently.
Dave.
-- --------------------------------------------- Check out my Electronics Engineering Video Blog & Podcast: http://www.eevblog.com
Hey Dave,
In your review of the U1253A, when you took it outside, it wasn't clear to me... was there no visible display because the sunlight completely washes it out? Or because the batteries had become completely discharged?
Any idea what the "B" models are going to have different?
Thanks,
---Joel
The display completely washes out. Not surprising for OLED I guess, and to be fair Agilent admit in their advertising this model is for indoor use. That's why they still offer the LCD version too.
Agilent tell me it's just the case colour and some firmware upgrades, whatever that entails.
Dave.
-- --------------------------------------------- Check out my Electronics Engineering Video Blog & Podcast: http://www.eevblog.com
ElectronDepot website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.