Fluke 79 Series III Meter

[simonsez84]

Hi all,

I have a Fluke 79 series III meter that was given to me a couple months ago by a friend who was returning to live in the UK. I live in Canada. The meter is fine except that the LCD screen on it is shot. It was left out in the cold overnight before it was given to me so the screen is largely black and is no longer legible at all. I have scoured the internet trying to find a replacement LCD screen as I would really like to get this meter working again. Unfortunately I have come up empty handed. All I seem to come across is Fluke 79 series II screens. Is it possible to put one of those in to the meter? If so, what would the difference(s) be? Any light into this matter would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.

Regards,
Simon

[lowimpedance]

The series 2 and 3 are different so no.
Fluke themselves cannot help? (and not too expensive hopefully). I would think that's going to be your best bet.
Otherwise keep your eye out for a dead unit with a good LCD, but you may be waiting a 'loonnng' time!.

[retiredcaps]

I have never dealt with Fluke service, but it is my understanding, that you have to call Fluke with the correct part number before they give you a quote.  Since I can't find a 79 III service manual (yet), calling Fluke probably won't get very far. 

The only ebay seller that might have it is USA based a-fluke and he doesn't ship Internationally.

As I'm also in Canada, finding a dead Fluke 79 III to scrounge for a lcd is not zero %, but close to it.  While ebay offers more stuff to Canadians via the global shipping program, the odds of finding a 79 III for parts at a reasonable price considering taxes, custom/duties, exchange rate, etc, is not zero, but again close to it.

Fluke meters sold for parts can sometimes reach mind bending prices.   

The Fluke 79 II glass was sold off by a seller who had no clue to what they were worth.  He sold batches of 50 (fifty) starting at 99 cents.  I alerted someone here and he has a lifetime supply of lcds for 99 cents + $10 shipping.

Pretty soon all the Fluke refurbishers/resellers caught on and bought them around $10 for 50 lcds and resold them for an outrageous $15 each or more.  Sadly, many people bought them at $15 or more.

[retiredcaps]

No service manual, the the calibration manual

http://media.fluke.com/documents/7926____cieng0200.pdf

has the Fluke LCD part number and instructions on how to replace it.  With this information, a call to Fluke Canada might yield a replacement?