Show your Multimeter!

[Jinx]

Some of mine...

[hgjdwx]

Here's mine

First my main multimeter used for bench, Fluke 867B Graphical Multimeter that i can't live without, esp its Component Terst function for "power off" troubleshooting:



Then may analog with tautband movement, Wheeler W-599T and in my opinion is also a must in troubleshooting> I think this is only available here in my place.



And last, for my field work, Fluke 87III (LCD display says it all)

       Hello, your FLUKE867B use how are you feeling?You elaborate on the use of the online component testing capabilities please feel?

[jucole]

[SLJ]

I have the typical 8000 series bench Flukes and a trusty old 77 which I use but I'll bore you with a few unique early meters in my test equipment collection.

Supreme Instruments 1934  model 222 "Multometer".  Back then test equipment was functional art.


This one is just a Continuity Tester but interesting just the same.  It's from the late 1920s.
When a short is detected across the two chrome bars the red dot on the needle moves out of the window on the meter. If the dot does not move the item under test is open.


The Manhattan DC Polarity-Indicator was patented in 1905 and shows polarity in a DC circuit using a liquid in a glass tube that when current is passed through it, the liquid in the negative end turns red. They used a liquid filled glass tube that is in a hard rubber type case with a connector on each end. Electrodes inside the glass tube attach to the connectors. The metal sleeve can be rotated to cover the glass windows when carried in your pocket.

FYI:  They still work!

The Simpson 221 (around 1951) - Interesting as the meter scale mechanically rotates with the range selection knob so you don't read the wrong scale.


If your not bored here's more: http://www.stevenjohnson.com/testers-misc.htm

[PA4TIM]

Bored ? More like exited, what a fine collection you have there. As a capacitor junky I specially like this one http://www.stevenjohnson.com/pics/jackson650a.jpg
Am i correct if I think it is able to measure leakage current at a variable voltage ? Still hope to find something like that some day ( i use my homemade one  very much)

Today I received a micronta  digital voltmeter 22-199  including etui and manual. Made for Radio shack ( as far as I could find it was designed by sinclair)

[SLJ]

PA4TIM,  I like your site also.  I have the Tektronix TM-504 on my bench also with the following plug-ins:  function generator, DMM, Counter, and dual power supply.  On of these days I'd like to find the oscilloscope plug-in for it. Don't need it but I would like to see how well it works.

Here's the info on the 650A:  Made around 1940.  Pretty much a fixed voltage around 45 V for testing and variable for leakage tests.

USAGE NOTES
·  The "test voltage" control knob only applies to leakage tests. All capacitance
tests are done at around 45 volts a.c. combined with just over 10 volts d.c., so
don't test any capacitor on your 650A that's not rated for 50 or more volts.
·  On paper/mica leakage tests, it takes 3 microamps of leakage to keep the eye
tube from fully opening (~40 megohms of insulation resistance). If leakage is
under 3 microamps, the eye tube will open fully.
·  For electrolytic leakage tests, 0.5 milliamps is the leakage threshold at which the
eye tube will open.
·  The power factor control only applies to the CH and C1 ranges.
·  When all buttons are released (out), any capacitor attached to the terminals
discharges through a 200 ohm resistor. Let any capacitor you test discharge
before removing it, and make sure the buttons are fully released. Any button
being pressed or stuck in even by a small amount will keep the discharge circuit
from being completed, so be aware of potential voltages on your cap's if your
buttons don't release fully.
·  The higher the value and higher the voltage used for leakage tests, the longer it
will take for the eye tube to open. Be patient with large caps, it can take a few
seconds.

I actually use a Sprague  TO-5 on my bench.

[Rick]

And last, for my field work, Fluke 87III (LCD display says it all)

I think it is the lens which is broken not the LCD.
If only somebody could explain me an easy method to remove those lenses... I need to replace two such lenses on my multimeters.

[SeanB]

First order them from Fluke as spare parts......................

[Rick]

First order them from Fluke as spare parts......................

Do you think they still sell original spare parts for fluke 27 ?

[SeanB]

They probably do have them in a warehouse as spare parts for the repair of meters sent in by large organisations with a service repair calibration agreement. they might be expensive though.

To replace you just take the meter apart and gently pop the old one out ( or brute force it out without breaking the front housing) and glue the new one in. Or you order the whole front casing half as a unit.

[Rick]

OK thanks. I tried to force them but they resisted well. I was afraid to break the whole front housing. How about heating the front housing gently with a hot air gun from a certain distance? I mean just the region where the lens is and especially the borders of the lens.

[PA4TIM]

I actually use a Sprague  TO-5 on my bench.

Sure, make me even more jealous  I have once see a very nice simpson, I think it was or looked like the Capacohmeter 383A

[dr_p]

Romanian built MAVO-35   But mostly using an Amprobe AM-270 and a UNI-T 58C.

[SherlockOhms]

I think it's pretty funny that I ended up with so many red meters.   

The larger Craftsman is actually a re-badged Fluke 15b. I believe the small Craftsman are actually made by Extech.

After reading some of the threads here, I'd like to get an Amprobe 270. Notice the red theme continuing, hmmm?

[Edit to add - It's not that I'm a die-hard Craftsman fan, but I couldn't resist when I saw those going for dirt-cheap on flea-bay a few years ago. I didn't know nearly as much about electronics or meters back then, but in hind-sight I'm satisfied with the purchases.  And, I did just order an Amprobe 530, it has the features I wanted, non-contact voltage, capacitance and temperature probe for about $42.50.]

[mzacharias]

OK, couldn't help myself any longer. Here's a "class photo" of my current best multimeters, subject to change, of course! Yes - I am a "junkie"...

[jancumps]

My favorite, since 1983 or 4, a Tandy Micronta 22-203 that I still use most of the time:


A digital one, the sturdy high accuracy MX 562 from Metrix (ITT):


And a DMM embedded in the 4-in-1 signal generator - frequency counter - power suply - multimeter unit MS-9150 from Metex
(this one suffers from the slow continuity test beep syndrom, but measurements are accurate and I like its mmory and min/max capabilities)


I also use my oscilloscope as voltmeter if I'm in the mood.

disclaimer: all photo's are from the internet. Thy are not my photos.

[PA4TIM]

Also a Microna. Got it yesterday, Sadly, not working yet. Gives only zeros in all modes.  It is said to be made by Sinclair for radio shack.

[G7PSK]

Also a Microna. Got it yesterday, Sadly, not working yet. Gives only zeros in all modes.  It is said to be made by Sinclair for radio shack.

It certainly looks like the Sinclair meter I had, The one that put me off DMM for years. If you look inside the case you will see that it started life as a calculator case and is modified with a stuck on front.

[PA4TIM]

Yep, that correct, it is a funny thing, nice lensed led dsplay in a purple color but a bit crapy build. Feels like when you drop it it will not survive and if you plug a banana in, you think it will come out on the other side. And it is hilarious to see that housing from the inside, they just took a calculator and hobbyed a multimeer in it.

[G7PSK]

I think that is exactly what they did, had surplus cases from the Sinclair calculator and put the meter into it. The switch slot looks like they just put a saw through the keyboard.
But that was Sinclair all over, use what ever was cheap and at hand, i grew up in Cambridge and met Clive Sinclair a couple of times when returning faulty goods, I found that about one in five units would work correctly when buying his audio amplifiers, he was getting the reject transistors from a company called Newmarket Transistors which were also in Cambridge and making his amplifier modules and the micro radio from the ones he could coax to work.

[Achilles]

....jumping onto that one here
These are my Handheld tools.....they fit nicely in my Backpack if needed and don't need a plug

Back: hantek DSO1202B
Left to right: Agilent U1253B, Agilent U1272A, GMC Metrahit CAL (not a meter though), Voltcraft VC670 (my first self bought meter...back in 1999)

....well, all of them were used or on a special deal...so I didin't pay the suggested retail price (would be sliiiightly too much )

[T4P]

Can i post a meter (but it isn't a DMM!) ?

[Achilles]

Nice!..... I am still having a look if they will buy and replace some of our old Psychrometers, so that I could grab one...

T4P, has is a logging mode or sth. like that? I often used my U1272A as Thermometer within the last few weeks when we measured at night. A reasonable Thermometer would be useful .

[Circuitous]

BK 5491B, Agilent 34410A, Rigol DM3068, Fluke 289, Sinometer IT803, BK 2709B, Extech43 & 505, BK 879B, and my 23 year old Metex M-3650B.

[Wartex]

Fluke 8840A
Agilent 34405A
Agilent U1272A
Fluke 179
Fluke 289
Fluke 117
Extech 530
Amprobe 38XR x2
Mastech Pen DMM
Fluke PM6304 LCR