Yeah, same here. After I saw Misk's post, I send an email to OWON asking about it.... but no response (so far). I'll post if I hear anything
I did an interesting test yesterday using a Peltier element cooling an old heat sink = chunk of aluminium. I had a PT100, the unknown K-type I normally use for the XDM1041 and a known (RS-components) K-type which I use for my BM869S all attached to the same area on that heat sink. Long story short, it seems as if the XDM1041 was much closer tracking the PT100 when it used the RS-components K-type. That one, RS stock# 409-4920 costs nearly £8 (incl. VAT) and is still only rated as +- 1.5 degC, so I'd imagine the unknown one to be much worse. Side note. To use the RS K-type (or other more professional sensors) you need a K-type adapter. I use the Brymen BKB32 for around £5 from Telonic
I've been trying,
without any success, to obtain K-type to 4mm 19mm spaced banana plug adaptors that
do actually use chromel and alumel pins as per a set of four cheap mini K-Type plugs I'd bought to upgrade my collection of K type TCs and was wondering if that BKB32 adaptor would be worth buying.
I tried to track down information regarding the proper use of chromel/alumel pins in the BKB32 without any success. The only ones I've seen that boast the use of chromel/alumel pins are the rather ubiquitous cheap Chinese ones of which I'd purchased two on the strength of this claim (shown in the attached image below). Unfortunately, they both failed the magnet test rendering this boast a work of fiction.
![Face Palm :palm:](https://www.eevblog.com/forum/Smileys/default/xfacepalm.gif.pagespeed.ic.EBDwh1hCfo.png)
I suspect that, since there is no significant temperature differential with battery powered hand held meters, the BKB32 adaptor will very likely not be using chromel/alumel pins so I was wondering if you'd care to verify whether this is the case or not with a magnet test?
![Grin ;D](https://www.eevblog.com/forum/Smileys/default/xgrin.gif.pagespeed.ic.QVVz6XIT20.png)
Incidentally, I've just discovered that the HI socket runs 0.5K cooler than the LO socket which seems to be about 1.5K above ambient (the SDM3065X sockets both run within 0.1K of each other, about another 1.5K higher again).
Neither of these meters can really do any justice to K type thermocouples, the Owon because of its reliance on the meter behaving like a mW powered hand held with hopefully, some sort of calibration offset applied to approximate the difference between its internal temperature and ambient, and the expensive 6 1/2 digit Siglent for its reliance on seemingly very rare chromel/alumen K to banana plug adaptors to ensure that the isothermal reference extends all the way into the socket where it measures the reference temperature at the back of the LO banana jack inside of the meter's significantly warmer interior.
The Owon, once warmed up, performs almost as well as the Siglent in regard of K type thermocouple sensors. The Siglent has the potential for better accuracy if only a chromel/alumel adapter could be found to maximise the benefit of chromel/alumel mini K-type plug ended thermocouples.
![Face Palm :palm:](https://www.eevblog.com/forum/Smileys/default/xfacepalm.gif.pagespeed.ic.EBDwh1hCfo.png)
If you need a very fast response thermometer with better accuracy, those cheap Chinese TM-902C K type thermometers seem a cost effective way to go regardless of whether you use chrome/alumel mini-K plug ended thermocouples or not.
The later versions which use a pair of AAA cells, only draw 0,35mA from the battery, a mere 1.5mW, barely enough to raise the temperature by more than a few tens of mK which significantly simplifies the issue of reference end compensation and any need to use chromel/alumel in the mini K type socket or the thermocouple plug. The biggest source of uncertainty will most likely come from the warmth of your hands but you can always get round that issue by wearing winter weather gloves or an oven mitt,
![Smiley :)](https://www.eevblog.com/forum/Smileys/default/xsmiley.gif.pagespeed.ic.R8GFI-pF6f.png)