Fluke 189 with leaking surface mount supercap (also Fluke 287, Fluke 289)

[amyk]

I think officially, they're supposed to leak slightly over their rated lifetime, according to the product datasheet.

[dr.diesel]

I think officially, they're supposed to leak slightly over their rated lifetime, according to the product datasheet.

That's disappointing.  As Bravo stated, there is plenty of physical room, heck that meter is HUGE, they should have used a more suitable cap, with hopefully no leakage.

[turbo!]

 
I opened my up and guess what, its doing it too

[turbo!]

is this leaking cap issue affecting all fluke 289? i'm disappointed with fluke how can this happen to their top of the line modal.

I'm thinking of buying 289, but now i guess i've to stick with 87v. fluke 289 is disappointing.. leaking cap, the ghosting dot matrix lcd, the poor battery life. expensive usb cable, and lack of thermal probe compared to 87v etc.

other than graphing are there advantages for 289 over 87v? ok i can see loz and crest factor calculation.

The user interface to use the peak min/max in 189 is crap and capacitor test algorithm (for which one of the 87V's patent is for) on 87V is better, but my 189 is plagued with this leaking cap and the 87V is plagued with GSM interference susceptibility.

Great eh?

[BravoV]

I opened my up and guess what, its doing it too

Looks like there are many variations of these Matshusita caps installed at Fluke DMM aren't they ?

Yours doesn't seem to have that brown goo sticking on it. Maybe that black shrinked plastic wrapper is protecting the outer shell ?

Is it dead ?

[SeanB]

I had Panasonic cordless phones with a similar supercap that was used to store data like number lists and such in them Those caps never did that, the only failures were the leads breaking off and the cap rattling around loose in the case. 0.022F 5V cap with through hole leads. I retired the last one ( mine) last year as I had run out of spare parts for it, it did 15 years of work. I had a pile that I used for RF modules, antenna's, microphones, speakers, cases and keypad rubbers. The handset flap latches were weak, so I modified it to use a small magnet ( CDROM lens motor) and a reed switch to replace the switch as well. These were expensive units, costing around $150 each when new.

[turbo!]

I opened my up and guess what, its doing it too

[Napalm2002]

Has anyone come up with an ideal replacement?

[BravoV]

Check post #38, although it is not a fully ideal replacement regarding it's size, but check both datasheets, the CDE Cornell Dubilier type ELDR ultracap can be easily soldered with a bit of tweaking, and since the DMM still has plenty of spare space in there, it should not be a problem.

When it comes to long term reliability, it beats that shitty Matshusita cap out of the water, simply no contest here.

Btw, that Panasonic cap doesn't have any datasheet, and at the DK page its rated with lifetime @ Temp. 500 Hrs @ 60°C.

Just fyi, at the CDE type ELDR ultracap I pointed previously, after the exposure of 2000 h at +85 ºC ,still capable of maintaining ±30% of the initial measured value.

[JohnDee]

By the way, I just replaced the supercap on my Fluke 189 and it is now back to life !!  I used the Elna supercap suggested by tsmith35 (reply #7; Digikey PN 604-1147-1-ND) but also bought as a backup the CDE Cornell supercap suggested by BarvoV (reply #38) just in case.  The Elna has the exact same footprint which made the re-soldering a simple task.  As the originator of the initial query, I wish to thank all contributors to this blog for having helped me solve my problem - Cheers !

[retiredcaps]

By the way, I just replaced the supercap on my Fluke 189 and it is now back to life !!

Thanks for reporting back.  Too often, we never get feedback from the original poster.

[BravoV]

By the way, I just replaced the supercap on my Fluke 189 and it is now back to life !!

Thanks for reporting back.  Too often, we never get feedback from the original poster.

+1 , thanks too, and this thread will be good resource and its proven, and maybe useful for someone that experiencing the same problem. 

JohnDee, since you're the thread starter, suggesting to update the thread title (edit the 1st post's title) by adding two words "287" and "289", hopefully these will help improve the search result.

Meanwhile, since this is a proven fix, maybe its time to stalk cheap & dead Fluke 189 on ebay ? 

[retiredcaps]

Meanwhile, since this is a proven fix, maybe its time to stalk cheap & dead Fluke 189 on ebay ? 

Just remember that the modern Flukes are all closed case calibration.  So dead modern Flukes do have a risk of being uncalibrated after being repaired.

[BravoV]

Meanwhile, since this is a proven fix, maybe its time to stalk cheap & dead Fluke 189 on ebay ? 

Just remember that the modern Flukes are all closed case calibration.  So dead modern Flukes do have a risk of being uncalibrated after being repaired.

C'mon retiredcaps, I guess probably your finger will be itchy to pull the trigger after seeing an offer for a dead 189 but with good physical for a price say at $50 or less ?  Worth the gamble isn't it ?

I'm pretty sure ModemHead will do it. 

[retiredcaps]

C'mon retiredcaps, I guess probably your finger will be itchy to pull the trigger after seeing an offer for a dead 189 but with good physical for a price say at $50 or less ?

   

[Napalm2002]

I love my 289. I know battery life sucks but I feel that it's worth a few batteries every two weeks to have that much power at your fingertips.

[BravoV]

I love my 289. I know battery life sucks but I feel that it's worth a few batteries every two weeks to have that much power at your fingertips.

How old is your 289 ?

Not sure though, maybe the leaking cap is also leaking the current and drains the battery even its turned off ? As we know this 280 series never turned off galvanically by design. 

[Napalm2002]

I bought my 289 used about a year ago. I don't get to use it often and I do not have to replace batteries every two weeks. I was commenting on previous posts about the non desirable battery life. I do feel that no matter how often that I need to replace the batteries that it is worth it to have soo much diagnostic power in te palm of your hand.

Snake dr out...

[smoothtalker]

I'm just wondering, why doesn't anyone consider sending it back for warranty claim?? isn't it lifetime warranty??? I've never sent in my fluke but i purchase them for that reason. LOL

and if everyone send in.. fluke will surely notice this "design problem" and improve?

[retiredcaps]

I'm just wondering, why doesn't anyone consider sending it back for warranty claim?? isn't it lifetime warranty???

See Fluke's definition in attached picture taken from the 187/189 manual.  The  89IV/189 are discontinued.

In addition, some of us buy used/abused Flukes which do not officially qualify.

[dr.diesel]

I'm just wondering, why doesn't anyone consider sending it back for warranty claim?? isn't it lifetime warranty???

For me personally?  It took me < a few minutes to fix my 289, vs filing with Fluke, mailing the unit in, waiting for them to fix it, shipping back etc.

[BravoV]

I'm just wondering, why doesn't anyone consider sending it back for warranty claim?? isn't it lifetime warranty???

For me personally?  It took me < a few minutes to fix my 289, vs filing with Fluke, mailing the unit in, waiting for them to fix it, shipping back etc.

+1

Also there is no guarantee that Fluke will replace it with better cap than this problematic one, and even though you still can make the same claim again in next few years, meanwhile you suffer from the high battery drain while the cap is rotting in those period.   

My relatively new 287 with date code April 2013 already shows the early rotting sign at the cap. 

[ElektroQuark]

But by repairing aren't you voiding the warranty?

[dr.diesel]

But by repairing aren't you voiding the warranty?

Of the hundreds that I've deployed, never once a bad Fluke, saving weeks of RMA time is worth the risk IMO.

[neslekkim]

I love my 289. I know battery life sucks but I feel that it's worth a few batteries every two weeks to have that much power at your fingertips.

I bought my 289 at an auction in june (was not used), and havent even changed the batteries that came with it, it doesnt get used a lot, but at least, the batteries is not draining..