Agilent contest - I know, there's a separate thread for this but...

[mzacharias]

I received the following (shown here in part...) from Agilent the day before yesterday...

>Subject: Agilent Voice of Handheld User Contest (VOHU) Lucky Draw Winner

Hi Mark,

I am delighted to inform you that you are one of the lucky draw winners for Agilent Voice of Handheld User Contest. You have won ONE “Agilent U1253B Handheld Digital Multimeter, 4.5-digit, with Organic LED Display (OLED)” (Please click here or go to www.agilent.com for more information about U1253B). Please acknowledge by replying to this email address as well as providing details below within 2 weeks from April 2, 2012. We will pass the prize down to next lucky winner if we don’t receive any email reply from you by April 16, 2012.>

To those here who entered the contest, don't lose hope yet. I have confirmed with Agilent that I did indeed win a 1253B, though it may be 4 to 8 weeks to be delivered.

(I thought cross-posting was justified in this case.)

Yahoo!

 

[saturation]

Congtratulations!  Review your new 1253B for us, when it arrives, please.

[ModemHead]

The Multimeter Junkie is a lucky dog! The email wasn't dated April-1 was it?

[mzacharias]

The Multimeter Junkie is a lucky dog! The email wasn't dated April-1 was it?

Sent on April 2. (Phew!)

I plan to post pictures along with several of my other meters to that appropriate thread, but I don't know about a review. The "B" model is really no different than the "A" and I think Dave probably has that covered. I was also mighty impressed with Kiriako's written review of the 1272A and I'd be very hard pressed to come close to that either...

If I have something new or different to offer, maybe...

[ShiftRegister]

Congtratulations!  Review your new 1253B for us, when it arrives, please.

Yes please, I second that request and congrats on you new meter.

[saturation]

Yes, I understand ... I think the technical aspects have been covered,  but you could find something new both technical and ergonomic.  I have seen one or two 1253's with dead OLED displays sold on eBay,  and another user on eevblog with charging issues, so giving it a good testing should help you and us. 

The Multimeter Junkie is a lucky dog! The email wasn't dated April-1 was it?

Sent on April 2. (Phew!)

I plan to post pictures along with several of my other meters to that appropriate thread, but I don't know about a review. The "B" model is really no different than the "A" and I think Dave probably has that covered. I was also mighty impressed with Kiriako's written review of the 1272A and I'd be very hard pressed to come close to that either...

If I have something new or different to offer, maybe...

[mzacharias]

I have been considering battery-related issues for the 1253B, since I can be anal about battery consumption. It might be interesting to look at the battery charging current levels from start to finish; but I would need a logging multimeter to really evaluate the battery charging of this logging multimeter.

It never ends!

A good excuse to buy a Fluke 289, perhaps?

 

[saturation]

I don't see this DMM as the one and only you'll own, more like a lab bound DMM.  The OLED is best indoors and that 8 hour battery life can be concerning.  The charger then, can get used often.

I have a 1252a, which has all the measurement features of the 1253B, but its LCD and gets 40+ hours on a charge.  I basically charge it 1-2x a month, but when I'm on a project, its weekly.  8-9 months ago, the charger just died.  I'll post photos later of a tear down - construction quality is not the best, but its easy to rig a charger with a bench supply and the supplied probes.

I have been considering battery-related issues for the 1253B, since I can be anal about battery consumption. It might be interesting to look at the battery charging current levels from start to finish; but I would need a logging multimeter to really evaluate the battery charging of this logging multimeter.

It never ends!

A good excuse to buy a Fluke 289, perhaps?

 

[mzacharias]

Oh, by no means the one and only even in advance of receiving the 1253B. I have an 87-5, an 83-3, a Beckman HD-153, a Uni-T, a Simpson 360-2, and more than several other analog and digital models, just no logging models. I do think the Trendcapture feature of the 289 would be ideal for looking at the charging characteristics though.

[mzacharias]

Received the U1253B on Monday. Getting to know the meter at this time, will post more later. Already very impressed with readability and viewing angle in my fluorescent-lit shop and with the extended resolution on the DC milli-volts range.

[saturation]

Enjoy.  I posted 2 pics of the problematic PSU here:

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/product-reviews-photos-and-discussion/agilent-u1251b-multimeter/msg104014/#msg104014

[EEVblog]

I don't see this DMM as the one and only you'll own, more like a lab bound DMM.  The OLED is best indoors and that 8 hour battery life can be concerning.  The charger then, can get used often.

Or you can spare no expense and put a long life lithium 9V primary in it. If used only occasionally for precision work, the crippling 8 hour battery life could actually turn out to be quite reasonable. Perhaps many months.
If used as an everyday meter, you'd just have it connected almost permanently to the charger. So more like a portable short battery life bench meter.

Dave.

[Monkeh]

I don't see this DMM as the one and only you'll own, more like a lab bound DMM.  The OLED is best indoors and that 8 hour battery life can be concerning.  The charger then, can get used often.

Or you can spare no expense and put a long life lithium 9V primary in it.

You can actually pick those up pretty cheap if you want a good few of them. Not as cheap as alkaline, maybe, but a worthwhile expense if you go through a lot of them.

[mzacharias]

I don't see this DMM as the one and only you'll own, more like a lab bound DMM.  The OLED is best indoors and that 8 hour battery life can be concerning.  The charger then, can get used often.

Or you can spare no expense and put a long life lithium 9V primary in it. If used only occasionally for precision work, the crippling 8 hour battery life could actually turn out to be quite reasonable. Perhaps many months.
If used as an everyday meter, you'd just have it connected almost permanently to the charger. So more like a portable short battery life bench meter.

Dave.

I am provisionally planning to do just that - buy a couple lithium primaries at a time on eBay. The way I use meters, one should last at least a couple months.
Regarding the Agilent charger issue, I would suspect it would be beneficial not to leave it plugged in while not in use. Probably last much longer.
A bench supply capable of 24 volts at 500mA could replace it just fine - the "smart" portion of the charger is inside the meter after all. I believe that is what Saturation is doing.