Hello everyone!
TL;DR: link to the device along with specs, etc
https://www.altonovus.com/nanoranger . Manual:
https://irp-cdn.multiscreensite.com/1b24b2b0/files/uploaded/20210220-NR_Instruction_Manual-V2_NdwgCNJnTiica1f6MpY1.8-FINAL.pdf .
Since a long time ago I was eyeballing nanoranger, an 8.5 decade ammeter. It was showing up regularly when I googled for a (reasonably) cheap sensitive ammeter, but, to my surprise, I didn't find any reviews. Because of lacking reviews I hesitated to buy this one. But after a year of hesitation I made my mind
Look and feel. It feels pretty solid, A bit bigger that I expected, but not too big. It's as wide as my smartphone (oneplus 8pro) but shorter, so it's not gonna take too much desk space. It has rubber grips on the side and comes with rubber feet. My only complain is that battery compartment is very tight (it fits two AA batteries).
Teardown. There is warranty sticker that I didn't want to destroy, so... I asked the company to give me pics of internals
. To my surprise they said that's possible. I'll post them as they give it to me. Update: see the post below for internals.
A tiny strange detail, I'd expect positive terminal to be on the right, and negative on the left, but it's the opposite. Although, now that I'm thinking about it, this way it might be easier and more intuitive to plug it into the circuit on high side (i.e. high-side current sensing).
Some specs and features. It has 9 ranges, 20na to 800mA. According to specs, it switches ranges within 30us, has a 12bit ADC and 0.6ksps which, with averaging, gives 16bit resolution internally. But it only displays 2500 counts max to suppress noise and 50/60Hz hum. It can be connected to PC, has an isolated usb port, supports up to 150 sps in fast sampling mode, supports SCPI commands,
Battery consumption (from specs): 15mA with backlight, 10mA without, but it's not very readable without backlight, imho. It has 10pA resolution at the lowest range. Comes with factory calibration.
Burden voltage: below 50mV. I guess that explains low resolution.
Documentation. I'd it's pretty comprehensive, check this out:
https://irp.cdn-website.com/1b24b2b0/files/uploaded/NR_Instruction_Manual-V2.9-FINAL.pdfSo far I'd say it's nice little device. There are only
two four things that I'd like to be different:
- it's uni-polar, it doesn't work with "negative" currents. Bipolar operation requires two nanorangers
- only 3.5 counts (ranges switch automatically at above 2150 counts and below 150 counts, over-range 2500 counts). But then again, burden voltage of 50mV probably is the limit here.
-
statistics (min/max values, etc): can only be reset by power cycling or by SCPI. Not a big deal, but would nice to have Enter button clears stats
- one more physical button to navigate menu. I think power button could be used for that (long press would power off, short press would work as "menu up" or reset stats, or, may be double tap would do that).
- may be a trend chart, but I think PC could be used for that. I haven't checked the PC program yet.
Those "issues" are not a show-stopper for me, and probably a design choice. I still would like to see one more digit of resolution, even if it is noisy.
Price. It's a bit pricey for a hobbyist (175 pounds/200euro before taxes and shipment), but also understandable, considering how much effort it was put into it.
My conclusion after 5 mins: the device does essentially one function and does it well. It feels solid, it has professional firmware, there is a lot attention to detail. In a sense, the device feels a bit like a transistor tester: it's handy, convenient to use, doesn't take much space. I think I'll use it a lot.
It's impossible to capture everything in such a short review, so please check the manual and follow the thread if interested.
PS I'm going on vacation next week, so, unfortunately, I won't have much time to add to this review, but may be other owners of this little device will something here.
EDIT: typos, moar typos, removed irrelevant information
EDIT2: enter button clears stats, didn't know that