has anyone heard of UNI-T multimeters off ebay???

[Mechatrommer]

yup! this one is blonde. the Unit-T one is the red head! but... they are both sexy!
seem closer to 71B-E coz it has temp reading. not sure if this one got IR USB Con. The most visible difference is the probes.
another clone war has begun. blind we are... if this **** we cannot see (forgot the quote from master yoda)

[orbiter]

yup! this one is blonde. the Unit-T one is the red head! but... they are both sexy!
seem closer to 71B-E coz it has temp reading. not sure if this one got IR USB Con. The most visible difference is the probes.
another clone war has begun. blind we are... if this **** we cannot see (forgot the quote from master yoda)

Yes shafri mine has the IR pickup too, and as you noticed a temperature sensor which does seem pretty accurate. The only visible difference on the board though is this part for True RMS-to-DC Conversion..

Regarding the probes. Mine both state CAT III 1000V

[orbiter]

oooh! an ic got replaced with whats that? a temp sensor? in other thread https://www.eevblog.com/forum/index.php?topic=332.0, armandas posted the front side of the pcb. i can see it got like a circled vias near the top left of the pcb (just above the yellow button). maybe that one is for transistor test? maybe there is room for mod? hehe. i wonder if there is a way to put in an OFF switch/button, instead of rotating the knob to leftmost position.

I checked out the datasheet for these parts and found that both do the same job (True RMS devices) As far as I can tell the different part numbers relate to the accuracy of the component. The way I read it is... If you have the AD636K IC chip, It's more accurate than the can?

http://www.datasheetcatalog.org/datasheet/analogdevices/AD636JH.pdf

[Kiriakos-GR]

yup! this one is blonde. the Unit-T one is the red head! but... they are both sexy!

Really ?    

The most visible difference is the probes.

Really ?      ( 20A)

I am going out to celebrate the victory of the National team against Nigeria .. 
 

[Mechatrommer]

checked mine, its ES636 http://www.datasheetcatalog.org/datasheet/CyrustekCo/mXutxrv.pdf i dont really care much of the accuracy, they should pretty close, for the human to comprehend.

[armandas]

i wonder if there is a way to put in an OFF switch/button, instead of rotating the knob to leftmost position.

If that makes you feel any better, you can switch it off by rotating the dial clockwise.

[alm]

adding another position to the rightmost will take more effort. last time on my older (already broken) dmm, i just tap the +ve line and put a switch in the middle, drilled the casing for the switch to pop out. i think i can do similar mod to this Uni-T but i'm not sure how the setup setting is stored. I'm afraid disconnecting the batt will erase the setting. If its stored in flash, then the simple mod will be workable.

Note that you will void the IEC 61010 CAT ratings by doing this. The battery is often at line potential, and drilling a hole will decrease the protection against arcing and blasts.

another interesting thing. at each black and red Unit-T probe (tip handle and plug)... on the other side it says 600V CATIV, but on another side is 1KV CATIII. not sure what this means. you can see from the 1st pic, the black probe flipped to the other side, but the red one is flipped to the another side. 2nd pic showing the plug flipped to the same side, but on both back, its 1KV CATIII.

It's common for equipment to be rated for both CAT IV 600V and CAT III 1000V. That means that you can use it on circuits up to 600V in CAT IV environments, but up to 1000V in CAT III and lower environments. The transient requirements for CAT IV 600V are actually stricter, so it's quite easy to pass CAT III 1000V once you've passed that one.

[Kiriakos-GR]

i'm not sure how the setup setting is stored. I'm afraid disconnecting the batt will erase the setting. If its stored in flash, then the simple mod will be workable.

Remove the battery for 5 minutes , so to find out .. simple solutions .

[EEVblog]

My Uni-T arrived from Hong Kong in the usual HK wrapping style!
http://www.eevblog.com/images/misc/Uni-TmeterPackage.jpg
Note the product description!

Dave.

[EEVblog]

now u got the stamps that what i've (used to) got
the "toy" description is to save your arse from being ripped off further by your custom tax.
some "well thinking" (IMO) sellers will simply put it as a "gift"

It was marked as Gift.
In Australia we only get charged duty on anything over $1000.

Dave.

[Kiriakos-GR]

Do not zap it with high voltage, before even testing it !!       

[orbiter]

now u got the stamps that what i've (used to) got
the "toy" description is to save your arse from being ripped off further by your custom tax.
some "well thinking" (IMO) sellers will simply put it as a "gift"

It was marked as Gift.
In Australia we only get charged duty on anything over $1000.

Dave.

Your quite lucky there then Dave in that regard. In the UK I don't think it will be too long before we're being taxed just for breathing in

[ElektroQuark]

In Spain it has been changed recently to 22€, shipping cost included!

[marianoapp]

in Argentina you can import a maximum of USD 25 per year, anything above that and you have to pay 50% of the value of the product in customs taxes.. [yes, its not a typo.. 50%  ]

[Mechatrommer]

an update of the UT71A... some peculiarity when reading capacitance. so far what i can conclude, i cannot rely on the capacitance reading yet. need a thourough testing later when i got time. i found out that i still use my older DMM to do some job as it can still give me satisfactory/fast reading (V and A). for V and A, the UT71A is just too accurate for my need. put it back in the bag and box, so it will not collect dust, my poor sweet baby! think i'm going to use it when i need the V and A reading simultaneously side by side to my older DMM.

[MyZirconia]

Hmmmm!
shafri thats looks like its a UNI-T problem with capacitance measurements because my Uni-T UT60E cannot measure capacitors any good (compared to my FLUKE 198)
for instance it cant measure capacitors greater than 100uF i have tried several caps.
othewise my UT60E seems to work, i havent tried it so much but i will do some more comparing against my FLUKE 198

//Magnus

[cybergibbons]

Does yours switch to a lower count number if you turn it on with the blue button held down?

[Mechatrommer]

Does yours switch to a lower count number if you turn it on with the blue button held down?

how to tell the difference? it seem to change nothing if press hold blue button while ON, yet its in manual. i think its one of the stupid thing for this Uni-T. hold the blue button longer, it will beep continuosly.

[cybergibbons]

Mine loses the end digit, going from a 40,000 to 4,000 count meter.

[Mechatrommer]

which mode? any mode?

[cybergibbons]

All modes, yes.

[Mechatrommer]

another update. the reduced digit count feature will read quicker than the normal digit count. so its usefull when you need rapid answer. if only there is setup to make the reduced mode as a default without pressing the blue button on startup.

the min max display is another valueable feature, recommended to get DMM with this. it can detect the V or A spike/pulse so quickly that normal/cheap DMM wont show. at least for me and my Uni-T. I think i'm going to miss it if i dont have it.

[d3javu]

Shafri, do you have any plan to take it apart? 

[d3javu]

Oh, seems like i've jumped just the particular page your pictures are on. my bad. Yea seen his review on D version which has true rms. Yea, i would love to take it apart, see if i can get my hands on a good camera. 

[BBK]

Hi,
through Daves 100$ Multimeter Test I intent on the Uni-T multimeters.
May someone can help me? The problem is I need one with temperature measurement
for a good price.
Should I take the 61C (53$ on ebay)? 71B (120 $ on ebay)?
Or another model?

Im a noob in electric