Poll

How many cycles will the KeySight U1281A's detent spring last?

0-2000
7 (17.9%)
2k-4k
5 (12.8%)
4k-8k
14 (35.9%)
8k-16k
7 (17.9%)
>16k (most rubust meter ever made)
6 (15.4%)

Total Members Voted: 36

Author Topic: Handheld meter robustness testing  (Read 1149366 times)

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Online malagas_on_fire

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Re: Handheld meter electrical robustness testing.
« Reply #3350 on: April 17, 2019, 08:17:18 am »
Malagas, the super cheap alligator clip sets similar to the one on your photo are very low quality.  I have some others that have been resisting quite well the test of time.

It is entirely related to the quality of yhr plastics and, obviously, the assembly. Most of them are just badly crimped - I usually solder them after the purchase.

Good advice, maybe plan to order some aligator clips and other stuff and use proper wire later.  Plan to go with the dummy cells , since it is quite easy to replicate. Sorry if i posted things out of the subject, but it was an example on how was going to perform the tests.
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Offline joeqsmithTopic starter

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Re: Handheld meter electrical robustness testing.
« Reply #3351 on: April 20, 2019, 09:58:40 pm »
This reminds me of the first meter I blew up. A Micronta 212. I might buy one off ebay if I see one cheap to see if I can recreate that moment on video. The entire meter front filled up with smoke and the needle fell off after leaving it on the 15V DC range and poking a 300V AC HT secondary on a valve radio transformer.  :-DD

BD139, not sure when your birthday is but consider this my gift to you.   :-DD

https://youtu.be/YF0TDNjy8tA


Online malagas_on_fire

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Re: Handheld meter electrical robustness testing.
« Reply #3352 on: April 20, 2019, 10:36:07 pm »
It got an "LED" on the output jack as said :P The needle was dancing to the mains AC  :-DD
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Online Kean

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Re: Handheld meter electrical robustness testing.
« Reply #3353 on: April 21, 2019, 12:52:20 am »
The dancing needle was the icing on the cake so to speak  :-DD
 

Online malagas_on_fire

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Re: Handheld meter electrical robustness testing.
« Reply #3354 on: April 24, 2019, 11:46:40 pm »
Hello news from photoninduction:

https://www.youtube.com/user/Photonvids/community

"New series coming soon boys!! Update well over due and will be posted soon. Its looking good at last:)"

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Online malagas_on_fire

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Re: Handheld meter electrical robustness testing.
« Reply #3355 on: April 26, 2019, 04:02:27 pm »
Here is the first dummy 9V battery using modeling clay, as mentioned on chess pieces as tryout tests. it didnn't got perfect , needed to cut bottom side to fit and add some sponge to held battery. The contacts are miniaturized faston, crimped, bent at 90º and although they are not aligned they make good contact on the battery contacts of the ut204A as example


it will be the model for testing current draw using multimeters and cut-out using diy power supply based on rd dps5005

- diy power supply post :

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/test-equipment-anonymous-(tea)-group-therapy-thread/msg2366265/#msg2366265

next follows using 9V holder with same 0.75mm wire, mating crimpings and banana plugs. This way it can be done another dummy battery eg AAA and plug directly to wiring
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Online malagas_on_fire

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Re: Handheld meter electrical robustness testing.
« Reply #3356 on: April 26, 2019, 09:18:13 pm »
And of course a meter to you're consideration... an aneng M11 with no roboto style, with self healing component ,  maybe for current protection , some sort of resetable fuse + sw


https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/weird-new-aneng-multimeters-hybrid-design/msg2370522/#msg2370522

« Last Edit: April 26, 2019, 09:27:06 pm by malagas_on_fire »
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Offline windsmurf

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Re: Handheld meter electrical robustness testing.
« Reply #3357 on: May 14, 2019, 02:14:13 am »
To celebrate Andy's return, finally a video that has nothing to do with handheld multimeters. 


For the coax, could you have used something like Time Domain Reflectometry rather than a loop?  On the fibre, is there something similar to TDR you could have used?
 
 

Online malagas_on_fire

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Re: Handheld meter electrical robustness testing.
« Reply #3358 on: May 18, 2019, 12:00:16 am »
Nice Setup's for the measurement from the coax to fiiber optics implementation, A plan, a test pilot and final setup :D
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Online malagas_on_fire

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Re: Handheld meter electrical robustness testing.
« Reply #3359 on: May 18, 2019, 07:10:31 pm »
is that me going insane again or did i see at 00:30 a HP band on the monitor? it is an external monitor to the lecroy 8500A or ethernet / USB connection on Desktop PC?   By the way this model is easy to use as its predecessors?
« Last Edit: May 18, 2019, 07:12:59 pm by malagas_on_fire »
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Online malagas_on_fire

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Re: Handheld meter electrical robustness testing.
« Reply #3360 on: May 18, 2019, 07:31:28 pm »
is that me going insane again or did i see at 00:30 a HP band on the monitor? it is an external monitor to the lecroy 8500A or ethernet / USB connection on Desktop PC?   By the way this model is easy to use as its predecessors?

VGA output lloolll   The external monitor looks to have some glare , image is very crisp . i was not understanding at first time why the vga connection needed and where it was being outputed... directly or PC. Sorry

You got the same result with same setup, different scope so it is in spec twice. More Edit .... This way you also get trusty coax , fiber optics cables :P
« Last Edit: May 18, 2019, 08:06:19 pm by malagas_on_fire »
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Online malagas_on_fire

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Re: Handheld meter electrical robustness testing.
« Reply #3361 on: May 18, 2019, 11:59:31 pm »
yep a significant difference:

https://youtu.be/Tu23Xr5wMo8?t=1093

https://youtu.be/ck11vzZOVtU?t=31

The signal on the 8500A has much less atenuation from the waverunner ... Better sample rate /  probes maybe is counting ....
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Online malagas_on_fire

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Re: Handheld meter electrical robustness testing.
« Reply #3362 on: May 19, 2019, 12:26:16 pm »
About the potentiometer i thought you got more amplitude to the same setting, but it yeahh.. To hold the jig in place maybe some plastic clamps or using the cell phone holders with bendable bracket. I bought one to secure the multimeter probes . It has a clamp that goes into the table and the cell phone part  that has rubber to attach the the leads.

Search for "Flexible 360° Clip Mobile Cell Phone Holder " on fleebay, avazone or local store. They are cheap as 3 Euro.

Here is an example:



Check out Flexible 360° Clip Mobile Cell Phone Holder Lazy Bed Desktop Bracket Mount Stand
 https://ebay.us/UvAwdP



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Online malagas_on_fire

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Re: Handheld meter electrical robustness testing.
« Reply #3363 on: May 19, 2019, 09:03:22 pm »
I never played / tested fiber optics, only coax cable,although now internet these days are fiber opttcs laying around the floor hidden in furniture :P I've used in work some equipment with fiber optics but on the software / firmware side and with heavly warning about do not touch this cable :P


About attenuation i mispoke ou speak poorly my english , the sentence is a mess indeed. I wanted to say it had less amplitude . The better sample rate and probes refers to the results about the TOF  values on the 8500A.

Machining a block thats a neat idea, time consuming. The other way could be modeling clay but that would take a while to dry.

Now about handheld robustness. My cheapo 10 euro mini tool busted affter 2 years and 1 month after waranty :P it smoked and stopped working. I open the brushes compartiment and one metallic tab was broken as well the spring. there was also something rattling inside and had to open the tool to remove the remainings of the spring.... I attached another spring to the breaked one and works good with low loads such as plastic.
« Last Edit: May 19, 2019, 09:16:07 pm by malagas_on_fire »
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Online malagas_on_fire

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Re: Handheld meter electrical robustness testing.
« Reply #3364 on: May 19, 2019, 10:41:05 pm »
Well not to bad that Harbour Freight , but i believe the one i've got is even worse, it is the basic version of the Guild 130W rotary tool.  the plastic stinks horribly even the mains cord. Inside it is very loose plastic holding the brushes.Now it lost its torque and stability.

I got a new one from lidl lets see how long it will last . Doesn't stink, has a good grip , very stable. Not a real dremel, i've used one and it is another beast :P

Sorry if i digress from the main subject but it like to show tools that lasts the waranty and a few more days, open them up and see what it can be done, learned :P

Now back to the subject , i see some projects regarding TDR in amateur radio and they use wood table and a lot of coax cable, and element14 sheet of paper, but of course it is just for explanation , not much for accuracy:

http://kf5iuy.blogspot.com/2012/08/a-poor-mans-introduction-to-tdr.html

https://www.element14.com/community/groups/test-and-measurement/blog/2014/05/12/33622a-arbitrary-waveform-generator-used-for-tdr-time-domain-reflectometry
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Online malagas_on_fire

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Re: Handheld meter electrical robustness testing.
« Reply #3365 on: May 20, 2019, 08:52:56 am »
Uni-t's everywere. Here we have some local electronic shops that are official distributers of the uni-t brand and some big ones that sells like the xindar models that i've showed other post. I bought the first rotary tool here, in a outlet big store since the shop was going to close.. Another big one opened.with their lefting stock :D :

https://www.aki.pt/ferramentas/ferramentas-eletricas/mini-ferramentas/mini-ferramentas/miniferramentacom40acessoriospractyl130w-p66515.aspx

Yesterday i bought this one :P which is much near to get ( the site is german but was still available on local store).

https://www.lidl.de/de/parkside-feinbohrschleifer-pfbs-160-b2/p277911
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Offline rsjsouza

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Re: Handheld meter electrical robustness testing.
« Reply #3366 on: May 20, 2019, 09:42:22 am »
Looks like they are selling some UNI-T products now as well.   That's a large markup.

https://www.harborfreight.com/professional-commercial-and-residential-multimeter-64021.html
That IS some serious markup! For us that are "in the know", that would get two 101's before any of the foreign policy taxes taxes kick in.
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Online malagas_on_fire

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Re: Handheld meter electrical robustness testing.
« Reply #3367 on: May 21, 2019, 09:01:18 pm »
And what about screw pole testers with CAT II. Good for discharging bug zappers. capacitors, pry boxes, and open the mini rotary tool brush compartiment :P
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Re: Handheld meter electrical robustness testing.
« Reply #3368 on: May 25, 2019, 07:04:16 pm »
And what about screw pole testers with CAT II. Good for discharging bug zappers. capacitors, pry boxes, and open the mini rotary tool brush compartiment :P


And here is some tests regarding this Neon  "killer" screwdrivers by photoninduction. Also he tested a 1000V isolated screwdriver ... very tought one :P

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Offline joeqsmithTopic starter

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Re: Handheld meter electrical robustness testing.
« Reply #3369 on: May 26, 2019, 09:48:11 pm »
Hi Joe

strange protections...


I want to apologize to anyone who made the mistake of clicking on that link.  Sadly, I can't control what people post in this thread.     Maybe I can have Dave lock it as I doubt I will do very many more tests on handhelds.     


I did however finally run the test for Mr Fungus.   


Offline Cliff Matthews

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Re: Handheld meter electrical robustness testing.
« Reply #3370 on: May 26, 2019, 09:52:29 pm »
So we endure another cheap DMM video.. I've already been raked and baked :palm: so I'll just sit back to watch the fireworks..
*edit - wow! that fuse lit pretty fast. Joe beat me to the punch!
« Last Edit: May 26, 2019, 09:55:00 pm by Cliff Matthews »
 
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Offline joeqsmithTopic starter

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Re: Handheld meter electrical robustness testing.
« Reply #3371 on: May 26, 2019, 10:51:31 pm »
So we endure another cheap DMM video.. I've already been raked and baked :palm: so I'll just sit back to watch the fireworks..
*edit - wow! that fuse lit pretty fast. Joe beat me to the punch!

Cliff, I do think you are right about the lack of interest in the subject.   While the ratios continue to look good in the poll,  the number of people participating reflects what I have been seeing in the channel's stats.   

I have written Dave, asking for him to go ahead and lock this thread.   While I wouldn't mind spending some time cleaning it up and making a table of contents for it as was suggested, I think Dave would have to allow me full access to pull it off.   

I still plan to eventually run the new version of the 121GW when it becomes available but I will place that information in the dedicated threads for that meter.

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Re: Handheld meter electrical robustness testing.
« Reply #3372 on: May 26, 2019, 11:30:03 pm »
Joe, Dave might be able to offer you the ability to lock your own thread.
One I started in the Supporters Lounge had a lock that i could apply should the thread get out of hand however i never used it for fear that I couldn't unlock it.

I suggest you discuss this option with Dave.
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Offline windsmurf

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Re: Handheld meter electrical robustness testing.
« Reply #3373 on: May 27, 2019, 12:01:41 am »
Hi Joe

strange protections...


I want to apologize to anyone who made the mistake of clicking on that link.  Sadly, I can't control what people post in this thread.     Maybe I can have Dave lock it as I doubt I will do very many more tests on handhelds.     


I did however finally run the test for Mr Fungus.   


I wonder how thermal cycling would affect them?  And do those meters measure the same in a 110F electrical closet as it would in a subzero testing chamber?
 

Offline Cliff Matthews

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Re: Handheld meter electrical robustness testing.
« Reply #3374 on: May 27, 2019, 12:13:05 am »
Some lack of participation may be due to the inspiration you've freely given to all, including the feckless copy artist's who don't know their ass from a hole in the ground.. Also the instruments market doesn't seem to be taken seriously now, since the Asian market has been dumping unsafe crap everywhere. I think we're all suffering fatigue with new whiz-bang junk appearing every 90-days, it just doesn't stop. Whatever you decide, you have earned my respect.
 


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