20 Sep
2010
20 Sep
'10
7:25 p.m.
On 20/09/10 22:01, Tony Duell wrote:
Given that I need the standard functions only
(including a good
continuity tester!), don't need excessive accuracy, and would like to be
able to fix it if anything goes wrong, does anyone have any
recomendatins? I am not conviced I should buy another Fluke, BTW.
I was going to suggest the Fluke 25 or 27 -- these can be had for about
?20 to ?30, do all the basics (current to 10A, voltage to about 750V,
resistance to 10M) and are ruggedised, so pretty difficult to break. Put
it this way: if you drop it on your foot, expect a trip to A&E.
If you want a true fix-it-yourself meter and can live with a bench DMM,
hunt down a Solartron 7150 Plus. They're >90% standard parts; only the
EAROM and maskROM CPU are likely to cause issues. In any case, they're
Hitachi 63B09s, so you could desolder them, kick them into Test mode on
a breadboard, and read out the entire mask ROM. Then all you need is a
"piggyback" (development/debug) 63B09 and an EPROM to replace it with.
If you're after modern, shiny and new, the Agilent U1251A and U1251B are
nice. Really, REALLY nice. Big display, 4.5-digit 50,000 count, true-RMS
voltage to 1kV, current to 10A, resistance to 500Megohms, capacitance,
diode check and continuity. Also does temperature measurement (internal
sensor or external K-type thermocouple) and data-logging with
RS232-over-infrared output, which is handy. I've been using it to track
reflow profiles during SMD soldering tests.
--
Phil.
classiccmp at philpem.me.uk
http://www.philpem.me.uk/