Racal Dana 1992 / 1991 / 1999 - Can it time

[mendip_discovery]

I have been offered a Racal Dana 1991 / 1992 / 1999 and I believe they can be used as a high accuracy time for the checking of stopwatch etc.

Anyone able to confirm they can do this and which one is the better?

I remember I used to have a counter/timer in a lab I worked in before and we could use it to count time which was handy.

It is been offered at the right price and I plan to get a cert and use it for some of the general stopwatch/timers as a traceable bit of kit.

[NivagSwerdna]

I have been offered a Racal Dana 1991 / 1992 / 1999 and I believe they can be used as a high accuracy time for the checking of stopwatch etc.

It will only be as accurate as it's internal time base... some have an ovenised option. https://accusrc.com/uploads/datasheets/racal-dana-1992-datasheet.PDF has some specs.

It is been offered at the right price

How much?

[bdunham7]

Yes, they are a counter/timer, but for high speed electronic circuits.   I'm not at all sure how you would use them to calibrate a manually-operated stopwatch, if that is what you are doing.  But all that aside, the main problem will be that if the front switches aren't already rubbish, they likely will be as soon as you start using it.

[mendip_discovery]

I did just spot a video on YT[1] of a chap using a 1Hz from a frequency generator and just counting the numbers.

Price ~£200 but the boss will only let me buy 1 so I have to be definitive on it. I work at a cal lab and looking for stuff that will grow the capabilities and traceability.

Just reading manuals and I think we had a 9902 which had a stop/start button on the front and using the Time Interval Function.

The 1992 has the option to count the time between A and B channels firing (switch). The 1nsec resolution with a time range of 8 x 10⁵






Jack
[1]

[Andy Watson]

The 1992 has the option to count the time between A and B channels firing (switch). The 1nsec resolution with a time range of 8 x 10⁵

They can resolve to 1ns, however, the display is only 9 digits.

The 199x series are good devices, but note the following deficiencies:
Unlike some of the previous Racal counters they do not have a "contact" setting. I.e. you can't wire-up a push button to the inputs and expect it to work - you have to provide an active signal. And speaking of contacts, the counters have limited facility for dealing with contact-bounce - this may or may not affect you.
They do not remember any digital settings when the power is removed - every time you turn them on you will have to set/reset it to the state that you want. In the case of the 1991/1992 this includes setting the trigger levels (I believe some of the other models have analogue pots to set the trigger - but it's still a PITA).
The 199x series are decades old now - most of them will be desperately trying to climb out of the bathtub of reliability.

[NivagSwerdna]

Price ~£200

I have a 1992 (I think) in the loft that I could probably let you have for £100+P&P.  I doubt it's worth much more than that.  If you are interested I will dig it out and send some photos