Why should you need a Fan? This is a professional working tool, having to listen to a Fan (all day) is fatiguing.
Would it be possible to have a low speed mode or even being able to turn it of, maybe with some penalties is performance?
Yes, turning mostly to Brad O here.
Bit of a simple answer really, but the fan is needed to manage the heat of the internal components. The higher performing digital and analog circuits used in our modern DMMs generate more heat that needs to be managed compared to, say, a model 2000. A low speed mode is not likely (we looked into it), that would alter the box enough that it would require different specs, so the box would need two independent specifications for every function.
BUT, if it really bothers you, you can open the box and unplug it. As far as tear downs go, the DMM6500/DAQ6510 is pretty easy. Of course, opening the box voids your warranty and these directions I'm about to give should not be construed as a recommendation to open up your box and disable the fan.
The easiest way would be to remove the top panel, then the front display, which can slide out, but be careful of the terminal wire connections. If you then look into the box, underneath the analog board and behind the transformers, you'll see the 3 wires that make up the fan cable coming out of a little daughter board. Compare to the cable coming out of the fan on the left to be sure you have the right plug. You can remove that cable, put everything back together, and the box will function normally (throwing a fan error on startup that can be ignored). The box in this setup (obviously) may not meet specs, particularly on higher ranges and any digitize mode. To plug the fan back in, you will likely need to remove the analog board, which also isn't too difficult, just more work. You may find it easier to remove the analog board when unplugging the fan too if you're having difficulty finding or unplugging the fan cable.
@cozdas and others
A note on the digits, ALL digits past what is guaranteed by the specs have no value. Even if they look reasonable, they are only eyecandy and may be a different value in an hour/day/month. The way the instrument is calibrated and its design error budget / uncertainties mean you shouldn't use anything past what the specs say if you want to consider them valid. If we secretly designed an 8.5 digit meter into a 6.5 digit meter, you can be sure we would be charging an 8.5 meter price
I can share the script, sure. But before exposing my trick to display 7+ digits I want to make sure that spying( ) Keithley guys won't have this "feature" fixed in the new firmwares
Lol, don't worry, that's an intended feature. The primary reason you would use a writable buffer is to plot and display calculated or imported (from another instrument) data that could be any number of digits. This also means that, while writable buffers still specify their resolution with half digit notation, they allow full scale digits in each place since a calculated value could be anything. So a buffer.DIGITS_8_5 writable buffer is really 9 digits.
You can right click virtual front panel for screen only
There was actually an argument between a couple engineers debating whether right-clicking would be useful to people. Glad you like it!
Hey @analogRF I don’t know if you’ve bought a 6500 yet, but I put together that Probe hold script for you and anyone else (@MikeP). Also see the end for news on firmware.
It uses the App interface of the DMM so it behaves a little differently from a normal script. I put together some info below.
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Download the attached file and change the .txt ending to .tspa
2. Make sure your DMM’s command set is set to TSP in MENU > Settings
3. Put the script on a USB drive and insert into the DMM
4. Press the APPS key and go to the USB tab
5. You can either run the script here, or save it to local memory first (it will be added to local memory automatically)
6. Click Run
....
I like this script. When working in DCV mode, it helps to put the meter input impedance to 10 MOhm. In high impedance mode the probes can float above the threshold voltage by just laying on the table or being unconnected, in your hand, and add unwanted entries in the hold table when moving from testpoint to testpoint.
One thing I noticed is that the threshold label says that anything above it is captured, but if you enter 2 V, also -2.5 V is captured. Not an issue, but it seems contrary to what's labeled.
Ah yes, it was always my intention for that threshold to be symmetric about 0, so I can update the labeling. I'm planning to write another version that is more stable, but it requires features that aren't in the currently available firmware.
I will continue to ask about the 7510
Can you open a 7510 thread? These posts about another instrument in they DMM6500 and DAQ6510 thread are confusing.
Yes please! MegaVolt let me know what that other thread is so I can subscribe to it (I just checked and didn't see it). 7510 questions also take a bit more time to answer since some of the design engineers are on different projects now so I have to hunt them down more and they may have to look up design documents. The DMM6500/DAQ6510 engineers are all still together.