Hello Everyone,
This is my first post here!
I have an old 8060A that was given to me many moons ago because it appeared to be DOA, and it's been sitting in my junk box for at least 15 years untouched. When I received it, it probably had less than 20 hours of use, and since we moved on to something else in the shop, it was discarded.
It turns out that if you power it with the cable, it fires right up, although there are some issues. It looks like a nice meter. My question is should I try to repair it, or toss it.
I've worked on lots of equipment, so getting in there isn't a problem, and I have good tools, but I'm not all that familiar with working on test equipment. I was in broadcast, and when the test equipment broke down, we just sent it out for repair
I have the users manual with the schematics and such, and have read some of the blogs/Youtube repair videos on repairing these units, but I could use some help navigating the lay of the land so to speak when it comes to repairing it.
Here's what I know, and what I've done so far. I've got it to fire up. Display is good, passes the ratio test, and the switch logic test. Resistance somewhat works. Accuracy diminishes as the resistance increases. In the M ohm area it's out of whack by at least 20%. The continuity and buzzer button works. DC/AC voltage functions do not work at all, just gibberish, and the meter does not zero out. HiZ DC volts function operates/tracks normally following a variable supply on the 200mv and 2V scale as it should. I have not yet checked the ammeter section. I took the unit apart and it appears very clean on the inside and no capacitors are leaking, but I will do a more through investigation later to confirm. Leaking capacitors seem to be an issue with these units so I'll probably just shotgun them all when I do the repairs.
So to summarize:
Battery has a bad connection to the board.
AC/DC voltage function not working.
Amps, Hz, dB, REL functions are untested.
Voltages at the test points have not been checked.
Unit probably needs a total calibration after the repairs.
If anyone has seen these issues and can point me in the direction of some discussions that address the problems I would most appreciate the help! Also, I see the owners manual mentions several times about being careful about handling the boards because of sensitive components and static discharge, but I regularly see in the videos people with little or no protection handling them. Are they touchy? I always use a wrist strap, work on a wood benchtop, and have a good soldering station.
Well that's it for now, and thanks for your help!
Christine