owon bench multimeter?

[paulbt]

Hi Paulbt:

I'll try and recreate the issue in the video with my Owon and let you know.  I saw it ages ago but have not yet tripped over it when using the meter, that I've noticed 

Oh, that will be great for me!
I'm planning next week to buy a 5 1/2 digit one, but rebranded as "Multicomp Pro MP730028".
Waiting for your test results, or even a small video if you can...
Thanks!

[Mouse69]

From the Video, I can't get the Owon to read bad resistance values (it was left to warm up for thirty minutes, but it still read the right value from 'cold'), I've tried switching between VDC/VAC, Current, Ohm's/continuity/diode, Capacitance, Frequency and Temp and back.  I've tried high, middle and low update speeds as well:
My BM869s


The XDM3041


There is another video of 'features':
     

Now this I did get some consistency from, the main input terminal acts like an ariel and messes with the resistance value (it should be open circuit) but reads odd values:

Flickering from 'overload' to 72Mohm with both leads connected:


With the 'Input' lead connected (does not happen with the 'LO' lead connected only), I then get the half value:


It does not do this if using four wire (with kelvin clips connected)


The unit is firmware version 2.12.0, not there appears to be any other firmware (that I can find)

Hope this helps

[paulbt]

@Mouse69

Hi, thank you for your sharings!
This week arrived my unit, which is a rebranded Farnell MulticompPro MP730028 5 1/2 digits.
I tried the same things as in the two youtube videos posted previously and gladly my unit does not behave weird. Then I tried and played with all it's features and everything seems to work very well. The only odd thing about it was somewhere in the menu, a little typo "Cancle" instead of "Cancel". My unit has version V2.12.0.
I also brought it to my workplace where I have a calibrated 6 1/2 digit Agilent and compared them: DCV measurement was identical on all ranges, ohms was lower by very little on all scales, DCI was higher by very little only for currents greater than few hundred mA. I didn't check AC stuff.
Other thing I liked was the fact that it can count up to 238'000. As the Agilent is able of ~1'100'000 counts, it was a nice sight for me to see the same amount of digits while measuring voltages between roughly 11V and 24V.
The only downside from my point of view (and I hope it will remain the only one) is the continuous noisy fan, which is very noticeable in a silent room/lab.

[paulbt]

Hello, guys!

In my last reply here I had only good things to say about this DMM, but this week I saw (heard) something interesting and decided to share it with you. It does not bother me very much, but maybe someone else is planning to buy this unit and it may be his decisive factor not to do it. Please read the video description.

[paulbt]

Hello !

I'm back with some teardown photos. The overall build quality looks cheap, I only liked that I saw Omron relays and many AD ICs.
The current listing price on farnell is ~520 EUR including VAT 
You can judge yourself if it's worth the money. I bought it second-hand almost new for about half of that and I am glad I did it.
Enjoy the photos!

[Hydron]

Thanks for the pictures of the 5.5 digit meter. Might consider one if the price is right (as in your case), though I'd need to look at improving the noisy fan, even if it meant a slight downgrade in achieved specs.

Have you got any comments on what the continuity, diode tests etc are like? Does it pick up brief contact, latch for a sensible time etc?
Buzzing stuff out is not what you buy a bench DMM for, but DMMs in general use spend a lot of time in these modes so it's still important that they work well.

[paulbt]

Thanks for the pictures of the 5.5 digit meter. Might consider one if the price is right (as in your case), though I'd need to look at improving the noisy fan, even if it meant a slight downgrade in achieved specs.

Have you got any comments on what the continuity, diode tests etc are like? Does it pick up brief contact, latch for a sensible time etc?
Buzzing stuff out is not what you buy a bench DMM for, but DMMs in general use spend a lot of time in these modes so it's still important that they work well.

Hi,

I decided to do a quick video which maybe will answer some of your questions.

Comments:

- first I wanted to show that this rebranded unit does not behave weird like in the videos from previous posts;
- in ohms mode I wanted to show you how fast it auto-ranges from OL to dead short while being set to "High" and "Low" sample rate;
- in continuity mode I wanted to show you how the threshold value influences the beep;
- in diode mode it can light up a blue LED (for me it's not useful, but I see people testing this during reviews);
- in capacitance mode I just wanted to show you the time it takes to measure;
- in temp mode it has a big offset, maybe because I removed the annoying fan and that 24C is the temperature of the cold junction (air) inside. It also has a menu where you can choose different types of sensors. When I first powered on this evening, I switched immediately to temp and with shorted inputs it displayed about 16-17C and slowly rising.

If you have any other curiosity/question about it, please let me know.

[Hydron]

Thanks, that was very useful. Not so impressed by continuity speed (at low threshold) unfortunately.

Was the room temperature correct on the handheld meter? I assume it was cooler than ~24C given the time of year! If the small meter was accurate then yeah that's a pretty major error.

As for diode mode - I find it quite useful for testing connections to ICs etc, which normally have ESD diodes that will give a diode drop to either rail upon measurement. I don't care so much about LEDs, though that is also sometimes useful (I get out my 121GW when I need a higher voltage diode test mode).

Sadly it's looking like you get what you pay for - I might have to look at second hand HP/Agilent/KS units (e.g. 34401A/34410A) or a little higher up the scale of new meters (the newer KS meters are too pricey for a hobby purchase unfortunately).

[paulbt]

Thanks, that was very useful. Not so impressed by continuity speed (at low threshold) unfortunately.

Was the room temperature correct on the handheld meter? I assume it was cooler than ~24C given the time of year! If the small meter was accurate then yeah that's a pretty major error.

As for diode mode - I find it quite useful for testing connections to ICs etc, which normally have ESD diodes that will give a diode drop to either rail upon measurement. I don't care so much about LEDs, though that is also sometimes useful (I get out my 121GW when I need a higher voltage diode test mode).

Sadly it's looking like you get what you pay for - I might have to look at second hand HP/Agilent/KS units (e.g. 34401A/34410A) or a little higher up the scale of new meters (the newer KS meters are too pricey for a hobby purchase unfortunately).

Hi again!

In the room where I have my mini-lab setup, there are no hot water radiators and I was wearing sweater and trousers and still felt cool. I guess it was between 15C and 20C, but no way it was 24C. So...yup...it has a significant offset error even with other K-type probes. Maybe if I put the fan back in, it will change the situation. To be honest, I will rarely use the features I showed in the video. Mostly I use it on DCV, DCI, 4W resistance, trend chart, dual display and data-logging via USB. It has nice performance/accuracy and I'm happy with it so far.

[Neper]

though I'd need to look at improving the noisy fan

Do the OWON XDM3041/2041 have a built-in fan?

Ralf

[MetricMe]

No fan for XDM3041… it is silent and resistance is accurate compared to LCR ET4410 tho the it only have 0.00 ohm range while LCR has 0.0000 range. I just use LCR for extremely low resistance measurements.

Got my own XDM3041 for 145 usd.
Use it for hobby work… I like it.

[pcbcrew]

I bought an Owon NDM3051 (Chinese local version of XDM3o51) a few years ago.
(~200 USD equivalent at that time).
I asked the seller to change its firmware for "global" version.
So, it has same firmware as XDM3051. And the seller said that the only difference was UI language.

If you're not Chinese but visiting China, you can buy such local versions and Owon salesmen support such firmware upgrade for free.

Two thins I disliked:

• long boot time
• noisy fan

I could get rid of its noise after disconnecting the fan connector.
Even after fan disconnected, I could feel (almost) no heat on the instrument.
But there was no way to improve the very slow booting.

I also bought Owon's NDS1104 at that time.
It was silent. It was having same firmware as XDS1104, (because it's having language selection menu?)
But it also had very slow booting issue.

For about ~1 year using it, I could not watch its boot time anymore, and decided to move to other brands.
Finally I packed them all and put somewhere in my storeroom.

Now I own Iwatsu VOAC7520 that I bought at ~150 USD last year in the second-hand market.
I'm quite happy with VOAC7520, not only because it's silent and fast-booting.