Author Topic: New Agilent 34461A 6.5 Digit Bench Multimeter (Read 168142 times)

nctnico · « **Reply #300 on:** February 17, 2016, 11:26:03 pm »

Any other serious bugs they fixed? IMHO the continuity stutter is more like a cosmetic issue since the continuity beep on the 34461A is rather slow anyway.

Dr. Frank · « **Reply #301 on:** May 05, 2016, 08:00:48 am »

Firmware 2.14 has been released today.
This also should fix the continuity tone problem.
Please check that out.

Frank

LA7SJA · « **Reply #302 on:** May 05, 2016, 08:40:06 am »

The "stutter" in the beep that signals continuity has NOT been resolved on my 34461A @ 2.14
It still has a periodic "shirp" sounds but it is much better sounding than with the 2.11 version. When/if I get over the disappointment I will try to make an recording of the instrument and scope trace of the audio.

Johan-Fredrik

nctnico · « **Reply #303 on:** May 05, 2016, 10:26:20 am »

Any other improvements?

6thimage · « **Reply #304 on:** May 05, 2016, 12:34:00 pm »

The release notes are at http://www.keysight.com/upload/cmc_upload/All/Firmware_2.14_Release_Notes.pdf, but the listed changes for 2.14 are

Quote

34460A/34461A/34465A/34470A Revision 2.14 Enhancements and Fixes
1. Resolved a defect in the 34460A/34461A that caused an erratic rather than a consistent tone when continuity was detected using the continuity function.
2. Resolved a heater issue with the internal 10 M? divider that caused an accuracy shift of several PPM on the 100V and 500V ranges following an ACAL.
3. Optimized the firmware to eliminate potential race conditions internal to the instrument.

KE5FX · « **Reply #305 on:** May 05, 2016, 10:16:32 pm »

Quote from: LA7SJA on May 05, 2016, 08:40:06 am

The "stutter" in the beep that signals continuity has NOT been resolved on my 34461A @ 2.14
It still has a periodic "shirp" sounds but it is much better sounding than with the 2.11 version. When/if I get over the disappointment I will try to make an recording of the instrument and scope trace of the audio.

Johan-Fredrik

It's not perfect but I'd say it's "good enough" for most purposes now. To me it sounds like it did with its original firmware, before the problem occurred.

They seem to be driving the piezo transducer with pulses generated by a microcontroller that has a lot of interrupt activity to deal with. Given that, it won't ever be a perfectly clean tone, but it's much better than it was.

TheSteve · « **Reply #306 on:** May 06, 2016, 03:30:15 am »

Firmware update done. I don't mind the action of the beeper at all, it is a million times better then it was. In fact it seems more responsive and reliable.

Is it just me or are they running the fan faster by default now?

LA7SJA · « **Reply #307 on:** May 06, 2016, 04:12:19 am »

Quote

They seem to be driving the piezo transducer with pulses generated by a microcontroller that has a lot of interrupt activity to deal with. Given that, it won't ever be a perfectly clean tone, but it's much better than it was.

Try to program a highspeed CW tone generator in Windows without the MultiMedia system

. The sound is a high frequency switching type noise and I should try to stop it with a lowpass filter.

@VE7FM
I disagree with you, the new firmware is only 10³ better not 10⁶.

Johan-Fredrik

ytterligare · « **Reply #308 on:** May 06, 2016, 10:08:58 pm »

Did the update 10 minutes ago...compared to my Fluke 289 the result is rather embarassing, no kidding.

ytterligare · « **Reply #309 on:** May 06, 2016, 10:38:15 pm »

Ok, please forgive the shitty video quality...did throw a couple of quick&dirty test on both DMM ( better seen in full screen )

Keysight 34461a fw 2.14:

Fluke 289 :

A.

D3f1ant · « **Reply #310 on:** May 07, 2016, 12:29:08 am »

When I'm probing circuits for continuity I pretty much never just stab away at it randomly so don't care/notice how instantly it responds. The intermittent beeper was annoying, but it works fine now. Everybody uses stuff differently I guess.

bson · « **Reply #311 on:** May 07, 2016, 02:49:28 am »

That could just be a little contact resistance on the Keysight probes combined with a slightly higher threshold resistance for the continuity beep. Keysight DMM probes aren't the best. Try it with the Fluke probes also.

ytterligare · « **Reply #312 on:** May 07, 2016, 12:13:36 pm »

Quote from: bson on May 07, 2016, 02:49:28 am

That could just be a little contact resistance on the Keysight probes combined with a slightly higher threshold resistance for the continuity beep. Keysight DMM probes aren't the best. Try it with the Fluke probes also.

You're probably right : here are the test with switched probes, and while the Fluke didn't particularly suffer by using KS' ones, the Keysight is really much better now with Fluke's ( apart from a "cold start" )....I was wondering during the developement of the fw, which probes did KS engineers used for that task.

Keysight with Fluke probes :

Fluke with Keysight probes :

Anyway, and this can't be seen on the videos, I clearly felt a kind of latency while testing KS Continuity...it's like it is buffering the response before giving back the result, and this might be consistent with what KE5FX was supposing : "They seem to be driving the piezo transducer with pulses generated by a microcontroller that has a lot of interrupt activity to deal with."
That latency is amost negligible in the Fluke.

A.

Svuppe · « **Reply #313 on:** May 08, 2016, 10:30:51 am »

How do you even download the new firmware?
I can find it on keysight.com, but it asks me to login before downloading. No problem, I have an account..... But no. Once I enter my login details, I just end up in an endless redirection loop. And that happens all over keysight.com, so I can't even see their front page anymore. Same result with IE11, Chrome and from my android tablet.

D3f1ant · « **Reply #314 on:** May 09, 2016, 05:44:38 am »

Try here http://www.keysight.com/main/software.jspx?ckey=2367633

Although I am logged in

Svuppe · « **Reply #315 on:** May 09, 2016, 08:03:46 am »

Finally managed to download it by using the "Firmware Update 2.14 for Non-Windows Operating Systems" link (and after clearing cookies to be able to see keysight.com again). The "non-windows" link does not need any login or other details before downloading.

SupraWez · « **Reply #316 on:** June 04, 2016, 08:17:09 am »

Hello All,

I have a 34461A and never done a FW upgrade on it, its currently running 1.10 if I read it correctly.

Is it worth me upgrading and would the unit require re-calibration after the update?

Thanks

LA7SJA · « **Reply #317 on:** June 04, 2016, 08:43:09 am »

First watch/listen to the videos from user ytterligare and compare with your meter to see if the continuity sound on the new firmware is good enough.
Then read the combined release notes http://www.keysight.com/upload/cmc_upload/All/Firmware_2.14_Release_Notes.pdf and decide if you want to update or not.
No re-calibration should be required after the firmware upgrade.

Johan-Fredrik

Dr. Frank · « **Reply #318 on:** June 04, 2016, 08:45:49 am »

Quote from: SupraWez on June 04, 2016, 08:17:09 am

Hello All,

I have a 34461A and never done a FW upgrade on it, its currently running 1.10 if I read it correctly.

Is it worth me upgrading and would the unit require re-calibration after the update?

Thanks

FW updates do not harm the calibration at all! No re-calibration required, of course not.

There's a long list of bugs being fixed, see release notes 2.14.

Especially the beeper problem on 34460/461A instruments annoyed many users.

This update also enables Capacitance measurement.

So, an update is highly recommended.

Frank

TheSteve · « **Reply #319 on:** March 28, 2017, 06:55:59 am »

Just noticed this manual addendum for the 34460A/34461A/34465A/34470A series, it was released a few days ago.
http://literature.cdn.keysight.com/litweb/pdf/34460-90902.pdf?id=2848666

The maximum allowable measured voltage has been updated to:

DC 600 volts (was 1000)
AC 440 volts (was 750)

HighVoltage · « **Reply #320 on:** March 28, 2017, 07:38:42 am »

Quote from: TheSteve on March 28, 2017, 06:55:59 am

The maximum allowable measured voltage has been updated to:
DC 600 volts (was 1000)
AC 440 volts (was 750)

That sounds more like an April fools joke
What happened to the compatibility to the 34401A?

Hmm, Keysight must have found some weak spots and instead of changing the parts they are changing the datasheet
Unreal!

0xfede · « **Reply #321 on:** March 28, 2017, 07:45:30 am »

Thanks TheSteve for pointing out that. I'm wondering why I still haven't received that notice too (I own a 34465).
If this is true that's a major limitation for an instrument advertised for 1000VDC and 750VAC. These values are printed on the front panel too.
I'm very disappointed.

Best,
0xfede

Dr. Frank · « **Reply #322 on:** March 28, 2017, 08:01:00 am »

Obviously, that's not a joke.
The changed specification is also present prominently on the KS product site, and our German distributor DataTec already has an updated full data sheet with the reduced max. voltages.

Keysight does not have that updated, full datasheet, yet. There's the addendum only. Very strange.

Did some safety standards (norms) change recently, or did they really find a weakness for the input circuitry?

Anyhow, it's not ok, that owners were not informed directly.

Frank

Alex Nikitin · « **Reply #323 on:** March 28, 2017, 08:10:59 am »

From the notice:

Quote

Input values exceeding the maximum allowable measured voltage of 600 VDC or
440 VAC could, over the lifetime of the product, result in damage to the
instrument.

There should be a very good reason to issue an update like this. Most likely they have some actual failures in the field with multimeters working at high voltages for a prolonged time.

Cheers

Alex

0xfede · « **Reply #324 on:** March 28, 2017, 08:37:52 am »

The document clearly say damage so it must be an hardware problem, not safety.
Yet still cannot figure out how this is supposed to be my problem when it is their fault.
And I'm wondering how the other fellow on the forum reacts if a lower end brand (Rigol, Siglent and so on) do the same.

This is not HP/Agilent/Keysight.
And of course this is not professional, at all.


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Author Topic: New Agilent 34461A 6.5 Digit Bench Multimeter (Read 168142 times)

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