Fluke 87 completely dead. Was working the other day !

[snoopy]

Yep switched it on today and it is as dead as a tack !

Was working perfectly the other day. Perhaps the cold weather here in Melbourne has had an effect.

Battery is OK. Any tips for checking it ?

cheers
david

[MosherIV]

Hi

Try looking here :
http://mrmodemhead.com/blog/tag/80series/

Try cleaning the rotary switch contacts and the pattern on the board.
Make sure the contacts springs are pushing down on the board.

Good luck 

[joeqsmith]

Rather than risk further damage, why wouldn't you just return it with their life time warranty?   

[retiredcaps]

Battery is OK.

Sorry if this seems like a basic question, but what is OK?  How did you test the battery?

The reason for asking is someone posted something similar saying the battery was okay and it ended up being the battery was not okay.  A fresh 9V battery fixed his problem.

[retiredcaps]

Any tips for checking it ?

If you hookup the Fluke 87 to a variable DC power supply set to 9V, how much current does the 87 draw?

[robert_]

Check the battery voltage at the board, quite often the wires break off inside the battery connector.

[alm]

If you hookup the Fluke 87 to a variable DC power supply set to 9V, how much current does the 87 draw?

And do not make the mistake I made a long time ago in an absent-minded moment: the polarity of the connector is reversed relative to that of the battery, i.e. the wider terminal is the positive terminal. That mistake (with a cheap DMM) only killed a CMOS hex inverter, fortunately.

[snoopy]

Thanks for all of the replies. Looks like it was the LCD rubber connector playing up again. This time I cleaned it with isopropyl alcohol rather than contact cleaner and now its better than ever   But may need a better fix in the future if it plays up again. Saw one dude on youtube using a thin layer of conductive grease.

As for a lifetime warranty I certainly don't have the original receipt nor am I the original owner of this meter.

cheers
david

[Fungus]

As for a lifetime warranty I certainly don't have the original receipt nor am I the original owner of this meter.

It doesn't matter.

[snoopy]

As for a lifetime warranty I certainly don't have the original receipt nor am I the original owner of this meter.

It doesn't matter.

Who are the agents for Fluke in Australia ? Has anyone taken advantage of the life time warranty ?

[Muttley Snickers]

As for a lifetime warranty I certainly don't have the original receipt nor am I the original owner of this meter.

Yep, I've been down that same path before and you cannot claim warranty down here without proof of purchase from a local authorised distributor or agent, purchases from online auction sites or overseas imports are not recognised and they will not honour the warranty.

It doesn't matter.

It does matter down here, read the local Fluke AU site for confirmation.
http://www.fluke.com/fluke/auen/support/warranties/default

Who are the agents for Fluke in Australia ? Has anyone taken advantage of the life time warranty ?

Celemetrix Australia Pty Ltd are the service agents and from my experience they are very good to deal with.
http://www.celemetrix.com.au
http://www.fluke.com/fluke/auen/support/service-technical-support/default

[Nusa]

Never looked before, but apprently "lifetime" is the manufacturing lifetime of the product + 7 years and only for the original purchaser, even in the US market: http://en-us.fluke.com/support/warranties/

Lifetime is defined as seven years after Fluke discontinues manufacturing the product, but the warranty period shall be at least ten years from date of purchase. *(Lifetime Warranty applies to products manufactured after October 1996). The warranty does not cover manuals, fuses, disposable batteries, damage from neglect, misuse, contamination, alteration, accident or abnormal conditions of operation or handling, including failures caused by use outside of the product's specifications, or normal wear and tear of mechanical components. This warranty covers the original purchaser only and is not transferable. This warranty covers the LCD for 10 years only (state-of-the-art for LCDs). To establish original ownership proof of purchase is required (20, 70, 80, 170, 180 and 280 models). THE FOLLOWING PRODUCTS ARE INTENDED FOR SALE AND USE IN THE CHINESE AND HIGH GROWTH MARKETS ONLY AND AVAILABLE FOR WARRANTY PROTECTION ONLY IF SOLD, PURCHASED AND USED SOLELY FROM AN AUTHORIZED DISTRIBUTOR WITHIN THESE TERRITORIES: 101, 106, 107, 15B+, 17B+ and 18B+. THE WARRANTY FOR THESE PRODUCTS IS VOID IF THE PRODUCT IS SOLD, PURCHASED OR USED OUTSIDE OF THESE TERRITORIES, OR FROM UNAUTHORIZED DISTRIBUTORS AND NO WARRANTY COVERAGE, SERVICE, REPAIR OR REPLACEMENT WILL BE PROVIDED.

And now you also know why the Chinesium Fluke models are so cheap...no warranty!

[retiredcaps]

Looks like it was the LCD rubber connector playing up again.

See

http://mrmodemhead.com/blog/fluke-8x-faded-lcd/

[Fungus]

It's weird that the entire display would go all at once. Normally it starts with single LCD segments.

[snoopy]

This dude does the LCD repair but pulls the rubbers off the LCD and cleans the rubbers and LCD glass contacts. Not seen this done before

[snoopy]

It's weird that the entire display would go all at once. Normally it starts with single LCD segments.

One of the wires had come off the battery but only after I had removed the board from the case. I was measuring voltage at the board prior and it was ok. Somehow when I removed the board it came back to life again so not sure exactly if it was the LCD but assumed so because when I pushed it is when it sprang to life again.

cheers

[snoopy]

Just a heads up. Removing the rubbers from the LCD glass and cleaning both the rubbers and the glass contacts with isop has made a big difference. Also using an eraser on the pcb contacts also helped There are no longer any faded segments and hopefully this has fixed the NO switching on problem

[snoopy]

It's weird that the entire display would go all at once. Normally it starts with single LCD segments.

You are right ! I spoke too soon.  Turned it on the other day and it was completely dead again but this time I could not get it to work The display issue was just a red herring and cleaning the switch contacts did nothing. Thought about ditching it but these are still a good meter and it came from my late father and I had just restored the LCD issue so its worth fixing. I'm printing out the manual and will investigate further !

regards

[snoopy]

Actually I fixed this unit last night The supply trace from the positive battery terminal was open circuit on the board right at the point at where the end of the W2 jumper (green colored jumper)  is soldered to the board and fans off to other parts of the circuit. It looked like the thin trace was corroded or had been burnt open perhaps by someone reversing the battery terminals at some stage and the reverse diode protection had resulted in excessive current vapourising or weakening the track. I managed to trace the track and find a via further down the track where I could solder a bit of wire wrap wire back to the end of the W2 jumper. The tracks on the board are so narrow probably of the order of 4-5 thou thick it's not surprising that something like this could happen !

[retiredcaps]

Actually I fixed this unit last night

Glad you got it fixed and shared the fix.

[snoopy]

Actually I fixed this unit last night

Glad you got it fixed and shared the fix.

A weakness in the design is the reverse protection diode (CR4-1N4007) located all of the way at the end of very thin pcb traces. Anyone with poor eyesight fumbling around with the battery and inadvertently reversing the connection could have easily cooked or weakened the traces at some point !

A possible mod is to put a reverse protection diode right at the battery entry point on the board.

[alm]

Maybe the traces were designed as deliberate fuses to protect the down stream circuit?

[snoopy]

Maybe the traces were designed as deliberate fuses to protect the down stream circuit?

The reverse protection diode is right at the end of that line so if the trace is burnt out near the diode all of the other circuity before it will be exposed to reverse polarity. This is not a well thought out layout