A look at the Uni-T UT210E

[R.Naresh]

Thanks it makes complete sence so more than 10k counts is not worth it right atleast we can't see it

[stj]

yes, that's why although it's 10,000 count, i often call it 9,999 count.
not enough digits to show the last 1.

[Macbeth]

yes, that's why although it's 10,000 count, i often call it 9,999 count.
not enough digits to show the last 1.

0 is one of its counts so going from 0-9999 is a 10,000 count. It would be a 10,001 count otherwise.

The same with old fashioned 3 and 1/2 count. They started calling meters 3.5 digit because 1/2 = 0.5 but this is bullshit, it just meant that the most significant digit was a 0 or a 1 with 999... trailing. When 4000 or 6000 count meters came about it would be better to say n digits 3/4 or 5/6 count rather than 3.75 or 3.8333333...

So a HP 3458 is an 8.5 digit meter but it isn't, it's an 8 1/2 digit meter, unless it measures 8 4/5 digits of course. 

[R.Naresh]

Anybody can guess if the unit official store on AliExpress see my eailer post. In the thread and tell if you know.......

[stj]

why not email UniTrend and ask?

[R.Naresh]

did it still no reply...................

[darmach]

Cheers, a quickie - I'm in need for an advice for last minute Christmas shopping.

This one vs UT204A http://www.uni-trend.com/productsdetail_1986_1109_1109.html

204A is hall sensor, is this using hall effect sensor too?

Which is better?

[Hydron]

I don't know about the 204, but I suspect they are different tools for different jobs rather than one being better.

The 210 is a baby clamp meter, more for electronics rather than electrical work, has the unique feature of milliamp resolution clamp current measurement, is very compact and can be hacked to at least 6000 count by flashing the eeprom.

[stj]

lowest current range on the 204A is 40A so it's only going to show in 10ma steps.

the 210e is probably better.

[Digital Corpus]

Here's your macro photos. Click to embiggen.

[R.Naresh]

Cheers, a quickie - I'm in need for an advice for last minute Christmas shopping.

This one vs UT204A http://www.uni-trend.com/productsdetail_1986_1109_1109.html

204A is hall sensor, is this using hall effect sensor too?

Which is better?

well the meter can measure probalbly from 10ma - 600 A in steps of 10mas and it costs about 
but the ut210e can measure form probably with deacent accuracy for its price from 3-5 ma to about 100 a you can get reading like 9.999A (3 decimal 10k counts if you buy the dm1106en chip and hack the eeprom....)

it depends weather you want to do more the 100A or wat some better accurant small dc current readings...

it is probably a straight forward choice


@digital corpus nice pics wonder which chinese  semiconductor manufacture made it LOL it looks like D: << EMOJI

[Digital Corpus]

Yep, just like the HW105A. Just waiting for confirmation.

[Hydron]

Well AKM is Japanese, but D:

Will have a look at some AKM parts in the first week of Jan to compare with the pics - thanks for taking some good ones!

[R.Naresh]

Can anyone video the normal ncv function and switching to ncv MV function and testing stuff on walls and near wires please becoz I need to convince my father in to buying it

[darmach]

Can anyone video the normal ncv function and switching to ncv MV function and testing stuff on walls and near wires please becoz I need to convince my father in to buying it

There's something, on them interwebs

[darmach]

Does anyone knows how can we distinguish between two IC versions when buying this meter? Some part number or something? I guess I need the newer one .)

[Lightning01]

Hi Everyone!

I Bought myself a UT211B at the German Reichelt online store.
It appears to be very similar to the UT210E but a few things are noticably different.

a) It has a different pinout on the plug (pins are reversed) -- See Image attached
b) The NCV in mV does not seem to work, at least with the settings from the post mentioned below
c) The only other modification I tried so far is the backlight timeout which works like on the UT210E

Does anyone know if the NCV mV option would also work on the UT211B.
One more thing I haven't completely understood is whether the NCV mV display is a second function which can be selected pressing the "select/V.F.C" button or if it is replacing the audible/dash/LED NCV function.


https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/a-look-at-the-uni-t-ut210e/msg1034969/#msg1034969

Code: [Select]

9C: 00 02
AC: 00 1D

The dump from my unit before any modifications where done was this:

Code: [Select]

FF FF FF FF FF 00 80 00 00 00 00 FA 00 00 BE 03
50 96 38 18 44 02 3D 3D 3C 3C FF FF 3E 05 9E FF
7B 99 DD 81 1E 00 1E 00 00 80 17 80 FB 7E 38 75
4E 02 09 16 01 09 DC FF 0A B5 16 0A 85 03 0A 00
00 01 00 01 00 07 98 00 64 00 64 00 64 00 00 00
0A 7C E2 70 71 76 00 80 00 00 00 00 EF FF 00 00
32 80 E0 80 01 00 90 2A 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
50 7F 00 80 28 82 E0 7C EA 04 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 80 00 00 00 00 19 00 00 00 1B 07 04 1E 17
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 18 00 00 00 1A 09 1F 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 0A 05 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 0B 00 00 00
0D 00 02 30 0D 00 03 20 20 00 03 20 20 00 03 10
41 00 03 08 41 00 03 05 41 00 03 05 0D 00 02 30
A7 E8 0B FF 00 80 00 80 00 80 00 80 00 80 00 80
CC 7E 00 80 00 80 00 80 5A C7 ED 0F 0F AF 00 00

For easier Modifcation, Restore and Backup I have adopted the Arduino Code floting around here to allow backup and restore of the data into two separate EEPROM banks of the ATMEGA168 on an ArduinoNano. It also has a feature for comparing the Meeters Data to the locally saved data. It should also work on any other ATMEGA based Arduino. The code is attached, sorry for the spagheti code, but I didn't want to invest more time into the INO code.

The Tool can be controled via Key commands like so:

Code: [Select]

UT21x Dumper and config Tool partly written by RDOB
Function Description:
[1]: Select local EEPROM Backup Bank (1 | 2)
[2]: Dump Local EEPROM Content [3]: Backup Meters EEPROM to local Bank
[4]: Restore Local EEPROM Bank to Meter
[5]: Show Diff between Meter and local backup
[a]: Enter Meters EEprom address to read/write; [r]: Read Byte from Meter
[b]: Enter Byte Data (to write to Meter); [w]: Write Byte to Meters EEPROM
[d]: Dump Meters EEprom to screen [?]: Print this Help!
[s]: Scan I2C Bus for available Devices

Scanning...
I2C device found at address 0x50  !
done

Enter 1 or 2 for local Backup EEPROM Bank: 1
Selected local EEPROM Bank: 1
Data @ Address 0xFC Local: 0x0F Meter: 0x4C
1 Bytes Different between local and meters EEPROM!
FF FF FF FF FF 00 80 00 00 00 00 FA 00 00 BE 03
50 96 38 18 44 02 3D 3D 3C 3C FF FF 3E 05 9E FF
7B 99 DD 81 1E 00 1E 00 00 80 17 80 FB 7E 38 75
4E 02 09 16 01 09 DC FF 0A B5 16 0A 85 03 0A 00
00 01 00 01 00 07 98 00 64 00 64 00 64 00 00 00
0A 7C E2 70 71 76 00 80 00 00 00 00 EF FF 00 00
32 80 E0 80 01 00 90 2A 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
50 7F 00 80 28 82 E0 7C EA 04 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 80 00 00 00 00 19 00 00 00 1B 07 04 1E 17
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 18 00 00 00 1A 09 1F 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 0A 05 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 0B 00 00 00
0D 00 02 30 0D 00 03 20 20 00 03 20 20 00 03 10
41 00 03 08 41 00 03 05 41 00 03 05 0D 00 02 30
A7 E8 0B FF 00 80 00 80 00 80 00 80 00 80 00 80
CC 7E 00 80 00 80 00 80 5A C7 ED 0F 0F AF 00 00

Enter Data Read/Write Address (HEX): fc
New EEPROM Read/Write Address: 0xFC
Enter Data Byte (HEX): 4b
New EEPROM Data: 0x4B
Enter "1234" to confirm writing:

No Data Entered
Enter Data Byte (HEX): 4d
New EEPROM Data: 0x4D
Enter "1234" to confirm writing: 1234
Data Written!
Data @ Address 0xFC Local: 0x0F Meter: 0x4D
1 Bytes Different between local and meters EEPROM!

best regards
Rupert

[DAP]

Hi folks from an EEVblog noob - I've read all of this UT210E thread, and I know it's a bit old now, but I got myself such a clamp meter on the strength of folks' opinions here. I decided to have a go at modifying the eeprom, which involved updating and then usng a PICkit2 programmer and making a connector to go in the UT210E prog header holes - this all worked fine, amazingly. I used the 'pull cpu rst low' method also, couldn't even read otherwise. I looked at stj's post #412 page 17 which has a summary of many mods. I didn't do the 6000 counts mod (2000 is fine for me), nor any of the 'dotless modes', did backlight t/o mod, NCV mV, default to dc ranges, and the 'remove 100A limit' mod - I went for a limit of 300A for no good reason - weirdly, the display now seems to show >2000 counts happily.

 After reading El Coyote's post about inaccuracy above about 150A, I twiddled the 100A alarm to 150A to remind me it under reads at >150A. In stj's mod list above, this alarm is at addr 1C, and seems to be in units of 10A not 1A, so the default is 1C=0A (100Amps) and I set it to 1C=0F (150Amps), and I've tested this using AC only, can't find that high a DC current here ! Using a Weller style current transformer soldering gun, with the bit swapped for a turn of copper tubing I could get 200A to flow, (checked using a current tx I have) and by opening the clamp jaws a bit I could ramp the reading up and down to check the alarm goes off at >150A on the display.  Don't forget the copper will get HOT soon if you try this - it's easy to forget whilst tinkering with the meter...yup, I did.

Also, I read a pile about joeqsmith's degaussing tests, and have bodged my own version using an old mains transformer with the laminations rebuilt to break the loop and expose the poles - beware of overheating if you try this ! Run a filament 100W lightbulb in series to reduce the current if so. Or use a PTC, but that needs more care as the current is high but in a short burst.  Degausses reasonably well with a slow pulling away of the clamp jaws. All my magnetic pliers have gone through it too...joy!

Many thanks to a bunch of EEVbloggers in this thread for all the testing/info/ideas/etc.
Dave

[RoGeorge]

@DAP you can "fake" a bigger current by making a coil. If you pass the same wire through the clamp multiple times, let say 5 times, then the displayed value will be 5 times bigger than the real current that is flowing through the coil.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Just got my UT210E delivered. USD $32.5 and free shipping. 

On the DCA range there was an offset of -1.467A. That indicates the clamp has some remnant magnetization. I guess it happened during the shipping. The DC Ampere offset came down to -0.476A after degaussing the clamp with a coil connected to my old faithful soldering gun. The coil was made from 3 turns of about 7 cm diameter of 1.85mm diameter copper wire. The measured current through the degaussing coil was about 60 Amps (with only one wire clamped).



If instead of a slow decaying AC magnetic field (obtained by slowly moving the clamp away from the degaussing coil) the trigger of the soldering gun is shortly pressed and released (so to set the remnant magnetisation to a random value), then the DCA offset can be set to almost any value between about -3 to +3A, but as soon as a correct degaussing with a slow decaying AC magnetic field is applied, then the -0.476A DC offset came back to the same value, so the coil have enough power to do the degaussing.

All non-clamp measurements were according to the UT210E specs, some of them are even better then the specs (i.e. the DCV accuracy is much better).

PCB is REV.1, the chipset is DM1106EN and analog front end has an OPA4330 (TI O4330A Zero-Drift CMOS Op Amp).

For the clamp measurements, there is always about 10-50 counts missing from the display, and if I hardly squeeze the clamp, then the displayed number comes closer to the real I value. It looks like the gap in the clamp is a little bigger. I suspect the clamp doesn't close well enough on the instrument side.

Is there any way to adjust the clamp gap?

[DAP]

RoGeorge:  Yes, I did actually make a 3 turn coil for my soldering gun as you suggest, made from 4mm copper tubing like the 1 turn coil, and this gave a current of 110A, so '330A' for all three turns - I measured these using a current transformer clamp which I know to be accurate - so along with the 200A for the single turn coil, high current tests (AC only) were:- 110A, 200A, '330A'. These measured on the Ut210E gave: 110A, 175A, '250A'. So you can see the meter does seem to read low above about 150A, as shown by El Coyote in this thread. (bear in mind that I've hacked the EEPROM in mine to raise the 100A limit to 300A. Actually it was set to 600A when I did these tests)

Below is my solder gun with the two coils made from 4mm tubing. Also my modified mains transformer with
exposed poles as a degausser.


I agree that the lower gap in the jaws looks a bit bigger than the upper one - this is to allow clearance for the jaws to open I think - joeqsmith posted pictures of the jaws dismantled earlier in this thread, (post #346 page 14)
and it looks like the jaw gap is set by the plastic jaw pivot mouldings - not adjustable without re-building that pivot I suspect ?  Is the pivot in your meter badly
assembled/formed so that there is much too big a gap maybe ? If I squeeze the lower part of the jaws together in mine,
I can only move them less than 0.5mm further together. Just an idea.
And as the plastic pivot wears, the gap will only get bigger I suspect, pushed apart by the spring
Have a close look at the upper jaw gap - I cut away a bit of flash with a sharp knife and got a slightly better fit...

Your meter does seem to have a fairly large DC offset even after you have degaussed though - are you clamping all 3 turns of your blue coil to degauss ? I have good degaussing results using either my modified transformer, or the soldering gun + 3 turn coil - I can get more or less degaussing with both methods depending on exactly how I do it My DC offset comes down to within about +or- 20mA usually.
If you can't get any further reduction in offset by degaussing, you may be into pot adjustments inside - have a look for joeqsmith's video about this - it isn't easy though, and I'm not certain I've got mine right now, however there IS an offset adjustment pot -if I can find that joeqsmith video/post again I'll link to it here. Here it is-
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/a-look-at-the-uni-t-ut210e/msg1106210/#msg1106210

Cheers, Dave

[Martini]

Hi,

Uni-T says in its tech specs it does min/max value but I only see "hold" on the pictures.

Can you actually display the max current?
(Say you want to know how much your starter motor draws when you crank your engine)

[macboy]

Hi,

Uni-T says in its tech specs it does min/max value but I only see "hold" on the pictures.

Can you actually display the max current?
(Say you want to know how much your starter motor draws when you crank your engine)

the UT210E does not do min/max. Other models might.

[Martini]

On one hand, I think there are way too many multimeter references, and on the other I can't find what I'd like (cheap, decent DC clamp and min/max).

[2N3055]

On one hand, I think there are way too many multimeter references, and on the other I can't find what I'd like (cheap, decent DC clamp and min/max).

UNI-T UT-213 C,  UT-219 E...

Maybe not exactly cheap, but good price for quality: Brymen BM157, BM089, BM079

[Martini]

On one hand, I think there are way too many multimeter references, and on the other I can't find what I'd like (cheap, decent DC clamp and min/max).

UNI-T UT-213 C

Not bad. I was hoping to spend 25-30€, though.

Isn't it the same chip in all these? Can't we hack a UT210E into a UT213C?