A look at the Uni-T UT210E

[Martin72]

Don´t need to try this…

Today I´ve programmed a 93LC76 in DIL package with our universal programmer - So the chip is definitely programmed.
Take it at home, putting in the EZP2010...
Nothing, only FF in all lines, this damn thing is defective 
Ordering a different one (TL886 II+), should arrive until thursday.
With the EZP2010 programmer a smd-clip soic-8 was included.
This is a real crappy thing, it won´t fit really to the chip - Take it also today at work, our progammer "said" sometimes only 6 Pins are detected, mostly he warned about some pins which are not detected.
Really sucks, are there better ones in the market as this piece of china sh** ?

[Martin72]

This seems to be the better choice:

https://www.digikey.de/product-detail/de/3m/923655-08/923655-08-ND/30855

But no wonder, it costs more than the progammer ….

[brainwash]

The same clip costs a few $, I have one in my toolbox. If you cannot find them separately, they are often packaged with AVR-style programmers. I definitely paid less than 10$ for the full package. Incidentally, that's what I also used to program the meter.

[Martin72]

Hi,

This few $ clip I already got it with the EZP2010 programmer and this thing is pure crap, can´t grab the contacts of a soldered soic-8 chip.

Today my new programmer arrived, the TL886II+ .
And now I know definitely the EZP2010 was dead - The on work programmed 93LC76 was succesfully reading, also the eeprom from the uni-t 210e.
And now I must think about useful upgrades for my 210e, actually more counts seems the right thing for me.

[ziplock9000]

I just recieved this wonderful little meter recently and have a question. I notice to get to the 100A and 20A ranges you have to pass through the 2A range. Is it right to assume all of those are able to handle 100A and the selection is just a resolution/accuracy selector.. IE, if I draw 50A and pass through the 2A and 20A selection to get to the 100A one it wont kill it?

[Hydron]

Given this uses a hall-effect magnetic sensor for current measurement, it's probably basically impossible to kill it with excessive current (at least without cooking it from a hot conductor or something!).

This is quite different to meters which use a shunt, where the different ranges will have different limits (though with different sockets, which eliminates any issue switching through the low current ranges to get to the high ones), and can definitely be killed or at least blow a fuse.

What you may find however is that a large current will magnetise the clamp assembly and increase the offset before the zeroing function is used. This can be fixed by degaussing the clamp.

[Martin72]

Given this uses a hall-effect magnetic sensor for current measurement, it's probably basically impossible to kill it with excessive current

At work, we had blast away our current transformers (AC/DC, so it must be hall) because a colleague exceeded their maximum current measure ability for say 10 minutes.

Another thing:

I want only to change the maximum counts, nothing else - How does it going ?

Just like

https://youtu.be/fX-Fhq9R4uY?t=103

Until 2:16 ?

[RavenManiac]

Are all UT210E's the same? (i.e. same internal components) I see that Amazon U.S. has a few different suppliers and manufacturers of these meters, some with better availability than others. https://www.amazon.com/s?k=UT210E&ref=nb_sb_noss_2

Also, I'm assuming that a lot of the UT210E's are simply rebrands. Which manufacturer is the primary brand? Also, need I be concerned about fakes?

Thanks!

[Fennec]

I recently picked up a Uni-T UT210E clamp meter. It's an interesting device for electronics use, since its clamp can measure DC current, it has a 2A range which gives you 1 mA resolution, and it only costs 35 USD.

@RavenManiac I do not understand your question.

[Kbird]

Are all UT210E's the same? (i.e. same internal components) I see that Amazon U.S. has a few different suppliers and manufacturers of these meters, some with better availability than others. https://www.amazon.com/s?k=UT210E&ref=nb_sb_noss_2

Also, I'm assuming that a lot of the UT210E's are simply rebrands. Which manufacturer is the primary brand? Also, need I be concerned about fakes?

Thanks!

Uni-T is the Brand and Manufacturer of the UT210E , the rest are reSellers or Re-badged or are possibly Copies?  I have not Heard of counterfeits of this Meter but have not been looking either , but it was pretty popular 2-3 years ago so it is possible I guess. Seems to have gone up in Price some since I got mine....

Try to buy from one Fullfilled by Amazon so you don't need to wait for it from HongKong or further a field and can return easily if not the real deal. plenty of PCB pics etc here to compare too etc.

KB

[Tjuurko]

The meter is built around a Digital Multimeter (DMM) ASIC, two variants have been used at various times:
DTM0660L (older units), maximum count: 4000/6000 (9999 for frequency and capacitance)
DM1106EN (newer units), maximum count 9999

[Fennec]

Try to buy from one Fullfilled by Amazon so you don't need to wait for it from HongKong or further a field and can return easily if not the real deal. plenty of PCB pics etc here to compare too etc.

His own link
https://www.amazon.com/UNI-T-UT210E-Capacitance-Multimeter-Resolution/dp/B075ZHDQFP/ref=sr_1_8?dchild=1&keywords=UT210E&qid=1592905657&sr=8-8

Uni-T UT210E 18 left in stock -

Nothing with HongKong, warranty over Amazon, so I still not understand his question.

[shved]

I'm thinking of buying from here ( https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000626261640.html?spm=a2g0o.detail.1000060.1.63e74fe04KjYBj&gps-id=pcDetailBottomMoreThisSeller&scm=1007.13339.128609.0&scm_id=1007.13339.128609.0&scm-url=1007.13339.128609.0&pvid=e8d2e472-6a9b-48c2-a53b-898e3580e92d&_t=gps-id:pcDetailBottomMoreThisSeller,scm-url:1007.13339.128609.0,pvid:e8d2e472-6a9b-48c2-a53b-898e3580e92d,tpp_buckets:668%230%23177981%2314_668%23808%237756%23245_668%23888%233325%233_668%232846%238110%23315_668%232717%237567%23914_668%233164%239976%23467 ) . Is that a good deal? Or is it one of those scam ali-shops?

[brainwash]

Does anyone have a good way to demagnetize the sensor? Was thinking of 3D printing a drill insert with 4 alternating magnets.

[joeqsmith]

Does anyone have a good way to demagnetize the sensor? Was thinking of 3D printing a drill insert with 4 alternating magnets.

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/a-look-at-the-uni-t-ut210e/msg1040540/#msg1040540

You could try an old tape eraser.

[RoGeorge]

I demagnetized it a few times with this



More details:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/chat/demagnetizing-a-tweezer/msg2463231/#msg2463231

[brainwash]

Hi Joe, I bought the UT210E based on your videos Unfortunately I have never seen a tape eraser in my life, not that I remember.
RoGeorge: I gave all those chunky soldering irons away a long time ago
I'm 3d printing right now a 1/4" toolbit insert with 4 slots for 5x1.75mm magnets, hopefully this will do the trick.

[RoGeorge]

You can try with a strong transformer with a light bulb in series with the primary, and a few turns connected in secondary.

[cdev]

How is the UT-210E able to be used to capture data at higher frequencies, say for capturing control loop signals?  How fast can it capture signals?

[Martin72]

Unfortunately I have never seen a tape eraser in my life, not that I remember.

For example:

https://www.conrad.de/de/p/analogis-tonkopf-304856.html

[Martin72]

Does anyone try this one:

https://www.amazon.de/Entmagnetisierer-Reparatur-Entmagnetisierungswerkzeug-Magnetizer-Degaussing/dp/B07N853ZB6

[RoGeorge]

You can as well use a Neodymium magnet and swing it to alternate the pole exposed to the instrument.

Start from very close and slightly move the magnet further and further away, slowly, while alternating the poles until the magnet is a meter apart or so.  The idea is to have alternating N-S-N-S... exposure while the intensity of the magnetic field slowly fades away.

[cdev]

I have two degaussers, one is meant to be used with tape heads in a cassette tape deck, and the other is for bulk erasing tapes. Either one would likely work.

Back in the days of CRTs, it was also common to have large coils, shaped like a ring around the size of a tabourine, for for use in front of a CRT screen.

Many monitors also incorporated a degausser.

[joeqsmith]

Hi Joe, I bought the UT210E based on your videos Unfortunately I have never seen a tape eraser in my life, not that I remember.
RoGeorge: I gave all those chunky soldering irons away a long time ago
I'm 3d printing right now a 1/4" toolbit insert with 4 slots for 5x1.75mm magnets, hopefully this will do the trick.

After I magnetized the head the first time, I was able to get it close enough to use the null with just a magnet.  It took several attempts and still had a fairly high offset.  Someone else on the forum had posted about trying spinning magnets as well but I am not sure how it worked out for them.   

I wanted something similar to the one that is integrated with my old Tektronix clamp where the whole head is in the field and the decay was programmed.  In my case, just using PTCs and some number of turns based on our line voltage.    The video shows the waveforms and amplitudes I ended up with.   

How is the UT-210E able to be used to capture data at higher frequencies, say for capturing control loop signals?  How fast can it capture signals?

   Even if the 210E couple capture signals,  you would need to supply a LOT more information about your specific requirements.   From your post, it seems like the wrong application for this clamp.  Even if you added a buffered analog output like I have shown, you are still limited to about 2KHz.    It's possible to increase the BW of the 210E.  I managed to push the 3dB point up to about 100KHz but that's not a simple change for the novice.   Honestly you would be better off buying the right tool.   I would just start a new thread explaining your requirements.   

Depending on your requirements, you may be able to make something.

[brainwash]

I've ordered the Amazon demagnetizer - from a direct overseas reseller, it will take 1 month to get to me but it's not that critical.

I've designed and 3d printed this part: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4524771 - which I've used on the meter. It took a bit of practice on a magnetized screwdriver to get it to work. I've then adjusted the trimpot on the back. Not sure in which order it should be done, bur now I get about 100mA variation depending on meter orientation while it was only ~20mA a few months ago. I don't think the Earth has changed that much since then. That means, I get -60mA in one orientation and up to +60 or even 100mA on other orientations.

For relative measurements it's perfectly fine, but the annoying thing is that I always have to subtract that offset mentally. As soon as I zero the meter using the button, I lose the 6000 count and it reverts to 2000 counts with the "O.L." display. But it's a minor issue.

I've also slowly nulled out the meter using a magnet but was looking for something more reliable. I might resort to the transformer trick if the newly ordered demagnetizer doesn't do the job.

For other people, please see my post above about decreasing the continuity latency, it really improved on the meter's usabilitu.