EEVblog #852 - Multimeter Mass Turbulence

[EEVblog]

What result do you get when you mass test 40 identical multimeters for DCV, ACV, DCA, and Ohms?
Dave decided to find out...

[Muttley Snickers]

Not very likely that any of us mere mortals would ever get the opportunity to conduct such a comparison and just like the meter itself this test was special, thank you.....

In all honesty I can't find too much wrong with it and it puts some other meters I have here to shame.

[Radio Tech]

Very nice test Dave 
love to have one of those on my bench. Would look much better than my orange Klein when I do videos.   

[jesuscf]

This is one of the best EEVblogs ever!

[RobertoLG]

lol, nice one, it's even weird to see so many together

[retrolefty]

lol, nice one, it's even weird to see so many together

 So are these meters now not brand new, but rather slightly used.   

Hell, you might as well sign their backs with a sharpy, they may become a collectible thing.

[RobertoLG]

lol, nice one, it's even weird to see so many together

 So are these meters now not brand new, but rather slightly used.   

Hell, you might as well sign their backs with a sharpy, they may become a collectible thing.

hehehe, I wouldn't mind to get a slightly used one, it would be better if he signed inside the holster so it wouldn't wearout 

[Smokey]

While you had them all out of the boxes, you should have signed them and sold them at a markup!

When I saw the thumbnail I was hoping to see a 100 banana cable rats nets with all the meters in parallel. 

Run that same test with 40 Keithley DMM7510 and then you got something!

[retrolefty]

While you had them all out of the boxes, you should have signed them and sold them at a markup!

When I saw the thumbnail I was hoping to see a 100 banana cable rats nets with all the meters in parallel. 

Run that same test with 40 Keithley DMM7510 and then you got something!

Hummm, 100 meters in parallel, input impedance would decrease by a factor of 100. Would that tax the signal source by any amount? Would that even work in resistance function?

[rrinker]

 You never know, maybe Dave DID sign them, and some people are going to be very lucky! Plus you know when it comes out of the box it definitely works and definitely is well within spec.

 From some posts in the Test Instruments and General sections, there are a few people here who might have enough multimeters to duplicate this, just not all of the same model.

[Fungus]

Hmmmm....I thought the UT61E was supposed to be more accurate than that. I'm taking it off my mental list.

New, simplified list: All Uni-Ts are junk.

[Fungus]

You don't know that they are all junk. It was a sample of one, and not a brand new out of the box one at that.

But we know that at leadt some of them are junk, so why take the chance?

Did Dave say how far out of spec it was?

It was just inside spec.

(0.3% isn't a very good spec for something with a 22000-count chipset that displays 5 digits on screen)

PS: I've got $4, 2000-count meters that measure +/- one digit.

[mux]

The spec is supposed to hold over the range and temperature rating; this is where most cheap multimeters fail. They may be just in spec at 25C, but fail completely at e.g. 5C

Good to see that Brymen uses a decent stability ADC and probably metal film or high-stability thin film resistors. None of that thick film rubbish.

[rsjsouza]

Good video, Dave! It brought me a feeling of nostalgia for your multimeter shootouts... Or even the gaussian resistor redux!

[Fungus]

Good to see that Brymen uses a decent stability ADC and probably metal film or high-stability thin film resistors. None of that thick film rubbish.

Yep. It definitely seems like a nice little meter.

I'd probably get one if I was in the market for a new meter but I've already got enough of them (I know, I know...)

[HKJ]

The spec is supposed to hold over the range and temperature rating; this is where most cheap multimeters fail. They may be just in spec at 25C, but fail completely at e.g. 5C

No, better meters has specs for a limited temperature range and then additional tolerances for the rest of the temperature range.

[cidcorp]

While they are all out of the boxes, start signing them. Now let's do that with the low end 4 channel Rigol scopes  , even get them branded as well  .

[WackyGerman]

Well these meters are really close to bang on  . So this may be a good comparison closed case adjustment vs open case adjustment and how serious manufacturers do it .
I have a brymen 257s and it is also well in the specification but my agilent u1241b , my norma d3012 and my fluke 123 scopemeter are more close to spot on . the only disadvantage of the norma d3012 is that it is not a trms meter so on measuring square waves it is 11 % off . It has lots of trimpots so it must be a nightmare to adjust it so fine to get into the specifications . Must be an old grey man with a long long beard with lots of time who calibrated my d3012

[f4eru]

So are these meters now not brand new, but rather slightly used.   

No, they are not used ! They have been calibrated by Dave personally. I hope he gives out a EEVblog Cal certificate with this limited series meter

[DmitryL]

So are these meters now not brand new, but rather slightly used.   

No, they are not used ! They have been calibrated by Dave personally. I hope he gives out a EEVblog Cal certificate with this limited series meter

Has anyone spotted the meter brand in the right top corner ?

[Fungus]

No, they are not used ! They have been calibrated by Dave personally. I hope he gives out a EEVblog Cal certificate with this limited series meter

A photocopy of that page with a circle drawn around your meter.

[Fungus]

Has anyone spotted the meter brand in the right top corner ?

Did you miss the previous video?

[RobertoLG]

just a sugestion to dave, insted of signing all of the, from like 40, take 5 or 6 and sign inside the holster and distribute them to the buyers by chance, would be a nice extra surprise, wouldn't it?

[Huluvu]

As Dave indicated I would have been surprised if the Units are not all in the same Range of a few counts (due to closed case calibration)

The more interesting Part for Professionals would be the long term aspects of the calibration values, the reliability in general, the reputation, the availability of pare parts, Robustness etc.

I really believe that a Brand who needs to fight for the Name and the Market Position such as Fluke, Keysight, Gossen etc.  needs to design and tighten there internal Specs to achieve a life pan where no adjusting is required for at least 10 Years.
Nobody - really nobody want's to adjust any Measurement Device in Business Environment!
If a Measurement Device is found out of call the company is really in big trouble and need to issue a report with risk assessment.

For Hobby users this could be completely unimportant - and as always - you get what you are pay for   
My Proposal for the average Hobby User: buy a reliable, Safe and easy to Use Multimeter from a Brand with good Industrial Reputation 

[EEVblog]

Dave didn't calibrate them. As far as I could tell he was just checking them for consistency. But he didn't make any adjustments.

I do not have the software cal adjustment procedure.