Do multimeters "wear out" after so many years? Fluke vs. Ideal, Wavetek??

I have 2 8060A meters, an 8050 and 8000. The 8060As are the work horses. Very reliable and tough to break. Only problem with one after

15 years was the MAC chip (40 pin A/D and switching came partly unplugged and died) Fluke no longer repairs these and no parts are available. Got a broken one on eBay, which had a good MAC chip and all is well. I've used Waveteks at work and they're OK but I want my Fluke. GG

It's more a matter of reliability, durability, accuracy and serviceability. Meters don't so much "wear out", rather they tend to get zapped by excessive voltage, dropped, crushed, banged around, and calibration drifts with age. Just about anyone in the electronics field will tell you to get a Fluke.

That said, watch out for some of the new low end Fluke stuff, it's made in China these days.

although i've used fluke's for years... the last time a got a meter it was a wavetek

it had more features than the fluke and cost less... it's been running fine for many years and i use it in a very rough industrial application

my guess is that if both a fluke and a wavetek were dropped from a great height...the fluke would prob hold up better... but the wavetek is a good meter

On Sun, 27 Mar 2005 08:04:16 GMT, "James Sweet" put finger to keyboard and composed:

... except me. I have a PM97 Scopemeter which cost me AU$2750 but which has been a POS from day one. Just get yourself a cheap DMM and calibrate it against a 5.000V reference.

See this simple calibration circuit based on a MAX6350 5.000V reference IC. This chip has a claimed 0.02% accuracy (5.000 +/-

0.001V):

- Franc Zabkar

--
Please remove one 's' from my address when replying by email.

You are so right, there is lot's of good DMM,s on the market for less price than FLUKE but those FLUKE are good. I got 2 FLUKE 77 and I had them for I don't know how long maybe 15 years or more and they never seem to wear out. Even if you are a PRO you even try to measure high voltage with the range knob at ohm :) I've done this and they are still ok.

Bjorn

Buy a Fluke....if your serious about reliability...

-- melosenoway

My Beckman 223 died suddenly the other day.

Wa-ah!

I tried to turn it on, nothing. Hmmm. Had a fresh battery, I thought. Opened it up. Battery was fairly warm. Main processor IC, however, was almost hot enough to burn my finger.

Darn shame - it was a good one for 15 years or so.

Limping along with a Radio Shack meter 'til I decide what to buy.

Mark Z.

I had a trusty old Maplin (chain similar to Radio Shack?) blow up when measuring 240 volt AC. On opening it up, the cause was brass dust from the slip rings bridging tracks. And since it was rarely used on high voltage stuff it was ok until then. All it took was a couple of transistors - which of course had house markings only. Replaced them with a guess and re-calibrated it and it's been ok for none critical stuff.

But treated myself to a Fluke 179 which is super. In the UK it costs about 200 gbp. Bet it's half that in the US. ;-)

--
*Xerox and Wurlitzer will merge to market reproductive organs.  

    Dave Plowman        dave@davenoise.co.uk           London SW
                  To e-mail, change noise into sound.

My Lafayette VOM is about 35 years old and still going strong. It has a needle. :)

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I got a Fluke 83 brand new . It has seen little use and sits in a drawer in my desk & gets used a bit still & still looks like new .

the problem it has is .. when i turn it off it makes strange clicking sounds till i move the switch on then back off . many times when i turn it on it is on some wrong range , once again moving the switch one range then back clears it up . I have taken itapart & cleaned the switch and checked for loose solder e.t.c. & never found the problem . I took it to or local Fluke dealer repair center and they could not get it to act up .

But if a high impedance input, presumably a valve type so mains operated?

I love - and collect - old test gear, but the fact remains that you'll get modern equivalents which fit in the hand, rather than the bay, which are more accurate and work off a battery. ;-)

--
*How about "never"? Is "never" good for you?  

    Dave Plowman        dave@davenoise.co.uk           London SW 
                  To e-mail, change noise into sound.

I just checked, they're available over here for about $200, so yeah, almost exactly half. I would guess one could be ordered from a US supplier? I know a number of those places will ship overseas and I imagine you'd still come out ahead even with shipping.

I have an Eico I built in tech school which has a large analog meter.

20kOhms per volt. Measures a bit too high on DC voltages. Always have to switch leads around to measure different polarity voltages. Have to interpret readings of several dial scales, etc. Too lazy for this anymore. Just give me a good digital!

Mark Z.

No, 30,000 ohms/V, no active components, ohms use a battery.

The Lafayette get's used daily; my Fluke 89 usually stays in the closet. For a lot of things, accuracy isn't the main criteria.

--- sam | Sci.Electronics.Repair FAQ Mirror:

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That's good for an analogue meter. The UK equivalent would be the good ol' AVO Model 8 which only manages 20k ohms/volt on DC, but also lasts forever.

Indeed, a low input impedance meter has a lot going for it in many day to day measurements. And of course a swinging meter needle can often tell more than a digital readout. And is very difficult to blow into the middle of next week. ;-)

--
*If horrific means to make horrible, does terrific mean to make terrible?  

    Dave Plowman        dave@davenoise.co.uk           London SW 
                  To e-mail, change noise into sound.

This Lafayette appears to be very well protected. I've done numerous stupid things with it and the only casualties have been a couple blown resistors and a blown trace on the switch PCB. The meter itself was never affected.

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I used a DVM to check for leakage on an AC line and got false readings. A 'real' meter worked better.

--
N

to

middle

I much prefer digital for day to day work, though analog meters are still clearly superior for certain uses. I suppose it's kinda like manual transmissions in cars (which I very much prefer) though the rest of the world seems to be lazy and want an automatic but to each their own.

You could, of course, simply use a parallel resistor to bring a DVM more into line with a needle type. Something like 240k ohms for 240 volts.

--
*He who laughs last has just realised the joke. 

    Dave Plowman        dave@davenoise.co.uk           London SW 
                  To e-mail, change noise into sound.