Dead Fluke 289 DMM

[darkstar49]

Hello together,

my beloved 289 DMM just died... using it since years, picked it up last week (was unused for 1-2 months), and... nothing... dead ! No sound, no flash, nothing at all...
Replaced batteries, checked the board with a magnifying lamp... looks all 100% as new... checked the famous C145 powercap, looks OK as well, a small brown goo around the sealing, but that can be OK (according to some...) and shouldn't cause the device to be totally bricked anyway...

Thinking of sending it to Fluke (I'm not the original buyer...), but I doubt it would be economically interesting...

If anyone has suggestions for things that I could try on my own, they're more than welcome !!!
A service manual seems unavailable on the net...

I'm really wondering, because it had no shocks, no humidity, it has been used for low-voltage electronics exclusively, etc... what the hell can kill the device from one day to the next


Thanks in advance for any comments/ideas/hints...

P.

[TiN]

Perhaps battery went dead, and does not charge anymore due to voltage below protection threshold.
Give it a kick for few seconds (with external PSU) and see if that let it charge

[darkstar49]

what do you mean with "charge" ?? It's powered by 6 AA batteries (which are of course new !!)...  I checked the board had the right voltage (9.xx volts), but didn't go further...


regards,
P.

[TiN]

Oops.  Somehow I was thinking about scopemeters.. Sorry. Fact that I don't have 289 probably helps too.
Check onboard power supply then, if all voltages are there when you try to power meter on.

[Wytnucls]

Start by cleaning the metal wipers on the rotary selector and the corresponding PCB traces, with some dedicated electronic contact cleaner.

[Nermash]

Contact Fluke and I am sure they will sort it out for you.

I have a Fluke 115 bought on Ebay, out of warranty, which started to have some issues with plastics on the current jack.

After tweeting Fluke USA about it, they told me to send it to them, and they fixed it free of charge.

Great service.

[darkstar49]

I sent a mail to Fluke this morning... but I'm not too sure 'customer focus' has the same meaning in all countries... I'm in Europe, and this concept shows great variations from country to country (within Europe)...  I'm living where it's definitely not one of the top prios...
I experienced already several times the (huge !!!) difference with Germany, where things may often get fixed for free, long after the warranty period (personal experiences with Tektronix and Lecroy...)

I'm waiting for Fluke's feedback...  still... I wonder what can happen inside such a device between the last time I used it (1-2 months ago) and the time I removed it from the drawer (i.e. 2 days ago), and it was dead...

 

[retiredcaps]

I checked the board had the right voltage (9.xx volts), but didn't go further...

What is the current draw if you hookup a DC power supply set to 9V?  Or measure the current draw with 6 fresh AAs?

[darkstar49]

Not much time for this right now... I suspect I'll have to wait for the week-end to try it out...  will post results asap.

Regards
P.

[darkstar49]

In fact, by looking more in detail, I noticed  C51 (just near the + pad on the PCB), a small SMD Tantalum cap looks somehow bad, and looking even closer reveals a some sort of burn near a corner, and what looks like a hole...

The are many of the same type on the PCB, so easy to compare (optically). It has the labels '106 - 16K - 73S", looks like a Kemet one...

Could a dead cap brick the whole device I don't have much experience in fixing something like this... no risk to desolder with hot air for the nearby components

Thanks for ideas/advice...

[joeqsmith]

In fact, by looking more in detail, I noticed  C51 (just near the + pad on the PCB), a small SMD Tantalum cap looks somehow bad, and looking even closer reveals a some sort of burn near a corner, and what looks like a hole...

The are many of the same type on the PCB, so easy to compare (optically). It has the labels '106 - 16K - 73S", looks like a Kemet one...

Could a dead cap brick the whole device I don't have much experience in fixing something like this... no risk to desolder with hot air for the nearby components

Thanks for ideas/advice...

Does look burned. Sure a dead cap could brick it.  Fairly common problem I see with the tants shorting out.  If you don't have tweezers to lift it and decide to use a hot air gun, just make sure you strip it down first.  No point in melting all the plastic.

[mrm2007]

Hi,
Yes, it can (depends on the circuit and capacitor condition)
Actually, i had damaged tantalum capacitors which made a short circuit before,  so i suspect that could be the problem.
If you have another multimeter,  you can check this easily.

[mimmus78]

There is a fuse there "F1" did you checked it?
Maybe the cap went boobooshort and the fuse decided to blow to avoid to start a fire.

[darkstar49]

didn't check F1, but both ends of the dead cap show 0 ohms to the pads (+ & -), so my assumption was that it was OK...

[giovannirat]

Interesting....

I have a 289 with nearly the same problem.

I bought it from ebay, when I've got it, it tried to switch it on, but.... nothing, no reaction, like dead.
Then I removed the batteries several times, pressed different buttons and suddenly it turned on (with the batteries installed)

Then I had not used it for a week and bingo... the same story again.

For testing that behavior I switched it then on every day and so far no problem....

No idea about a possible root cause.

[darkstar49]

Mmmmmhh.... interesting...

I just replaced the dead cap (had one 10uF 1206 in a drawer...), no change, still no reaction at all...   Fuse F1 (on the pic) is OK, btw...
Without service manual and/or schematics, this is going to be a tough one...  (especially as I'm not an expert in such endeavours...)

I'll inquire what a board replacement would cost, mine has not even the serial sticker, and now with a newly soldered component on the PCB, there's little chance they'll do any commercial rebate on the repair...   :-(

Anyway, just ordered a (cheap) Keysight U1252B... this is my second Fluke DMM that dies... so I'm somehow pissed off by Fluke, although I love the meter as such...    by with scopes, I really have only positive experiences with Agilent/Keysight...

[TheAmmoniacal]

Isn't the Fluke 289 the one with the leaky supercap problem? Check it.

[darkstar49]

yep, but the supercap only provides storage of date/time (and maybe some settings ??), it doesn't prevent the beast from starting...

[darkstar49]

I just thought... I replaced a Tantalum cap by a multilayer ceramic cap...   is this a problem (apart from any durability issue) ??
I'll order some tantalum ones anyway...

[commongrounder]

You might still want to check the super-cap to see if it is shorted, or still has a charge on it.  If the meter was in storage for a long period of time and the batteries went flat or very low, the super-cap could have fully discharged and developed a current leak across the dielectric that has loaded down a voltage rail.  If the cap is leaky (electrically, not chemically) you could lift a pin and give it a little reforming with a battery or current limited power supply.  I own one of these meters, and because it is such a battery hog, I find I need to swap out batteries pretty often, even when not using it.  Lithium AA batteries really help with run time. Good luck with your meter!  I hope you can get it going.  It is an incredibly versatile instrument.