Fluke 101 calibration

[Chris Learing]

Does anyone have the adjustment procedure for the Fluke 101?

I bought one from Aliexpress expecting it to be at least useable. Every range is right on the limit of its specified tolerance range, so technically it does meet its spec, but in reality it's useless.

I'm comparing it against a voltage reference based on the AD584, and six (yes, really, six) other multimeters (three of them other Flukes). All of which agree with each other to within far better than 0.1%, or to the limit of their resolution, so I know it is indeed the Fluke 101 that is wrong. DC voltage readings with a 0.5% error aren't much use to me.

Can it even be adjusted or is it going in the bin?

I know it was cheap, but a £5.00 meter from the local DIY shop does better than this. I expected more from Fluke.

[coromonadalix]

small infos

but i think they are software calibrated  ??  or not ?

https://www.markhennessy.co.uk/budget_multimeters/fluke_101.htm

[Chris Learing]

Yes, they almost certainly are software calibrated, but I can't find any onfo anywhere on a procedure or software to do it.

[BeBuLamar]

Send it to Fluke for calibration but then if they found it meets the specs they won't calibrate. I think it's best for you to buy a different model. People used meters with toleraance of more than 1% for a lot of work so a 0.5% meter isn't useless. I would not buy the 101 if I expect its accuracy to be better than specs.

[mqsaharan]

Hi Chris,
When I bought mine it was also at its limits of tolerance. I didn't like that and calibrated it. I documented my procedure that I found by trial and error. Later on, I found some details for the calibration somewhere on the web but I forgot to note where. Anyway, this is how I calibrated my meter. And if I am not exactly forgetting, almost the same procedure applies to 107.

If you have a signal generator, and a multimeter you can trust, you can do a transfer calibration. The good thing with this meter is that any function can be aligned without disturbing others.

Open up 101 and push a side of the sticker from behind to carefully remove it. This way, it will remain unmarred and intact. If you don't care about that then just remove the sticker.
Turn on the meter by rotating the selector switch to the function you want to calibrate then short the S6 pads under the sticker and keep them shorted until a beep is heard and high voltage flash sign appears on the LCD.
Apply the input value for the function and press Hold to save the new value in NVRAM. Then either turn off the meter to get out of the calibration mode or move the selector switch to a new function.

Following are the input values that this meter requires for alignment.
For VDC, it requires 4.500V.
For VAC, it requires 4.500V at 50Hz.
For Capacitance, it requires 100uF capacitor.

I tried to align the Hz function but it didn't accept anything.
Also, I couldn't find anything in my notes about mVAC and Ohms functions. I guess these also not need to be aligned.

I hope it'll help you realign your meter.

[Chris Learing]

I hope it'll help you realign your meter.

Fantastic. Worked like a charm. Thank you very much. Though I can't begin to imagine how you worked that out by trial and error! Thanks again.

[mig_skyfighter]

I hope it'll help you too) 

[mqsaharan]

Thank you mig_skyfigher for the calibration manual.
I couldn't find it on fluke's website. Would you like to share where did you find it?
Also, I guess I was wrong with 4.500V input. Or perhaps, 101 needs 4.500 while 107 needs 5.000V input. I don't own a 107 so I cannot check.

[Fungus]

Thank you mig_skyfigher for the calibration manual.
I couldn't find it on fluke's website. Would you like to share where did you find it?
Also, I guess I was wrong with 4.500V input. Or perhaps, 101 needs 4.500 while 107 needs 5.000V input. I don't own a 107 so I cannot check.

I won't be difficult to try them both and find out.

[mig_skyfighter]

My source of information is this video.