Fluke 117 Calibration ?

[Isaac-1]

Hi, I am new here, I tried doing a search on this, but did not have much luck

Long story short, I just bought a "lightly used" Fluke 117 off ebay, that I now question just how true that statement is, my purpose in buying it was as a grab and go basic reliable meter, mostly for general electrical / industrial equipment use.  Note I have a few other Fluke meters, 87-V, 337a clamp meter, and 1507 insulation test meter.

I only had limited time to inspect the meter before I was called away due to an emergency, and in my rush left the meter at work, however in that time I did notice a few things:

Meter appears lightly used, and is in mostly good shape, but was not good enough for the "used only once" description the seller gave

Both probe tips were covered in unknown black charcoal looking material, continuity test would not work, may have been something burned on from an arc flash, rubber had no marks, I cleaned the tips with some industrial degreaser they now appear like nearly new, and continuity test works, however meter reads about 5.7 ohms when tips are in good contact with each other.  I was just getting to retest with a second pair of fluke leads when I was called away, these also seem to read in the same 5.something range.

I have not had a chance to test any of its other features, but assuming they work, my plan is to adjust its calibration against my other Fluke meters, none of which have current calibration, but tend to agree closely with each other.  My concern here is the black charred looking probes and 5.7 ohms being way outside of expected error for this meter.  What do you think, should I send this one in for Fluke repair and expect to pay through the nose, just live with it, etc?

thanks

[retiredcaps]

I was just getting to retest with a second pair of fluke leads when I was called away, these also seem to read in the same 5.something range.

1) Did you try a fresh new 9V battery?

2) If you tried a second set of known good probes and still get 5.x ohms, then something is wrong with the 117.  I have 2 Fluke 117s and both read 0.2 ohms when shorted.

3) You might want to try the original probes on another multimeter to see if you get 0.2 ohms.

4) Did you try cleaning input jacks with some qtip dipped with a little bit of isopropyl alcohol ?

[Isaac-1]

Thanks, I will try all of the above suggestion in the morning, I wished I had more time to check it out today, but just as I was getting started testing I received a call that a relative had been rushed to the emergency room with chest pains.  (So I had a long evening sitting around the hospital waiting room, the good news is they were sent home with a suggestion to see a cardiologist for follow up testing)

[Isaac-1]

Cleaning the jacks seems to have mostly fixed the problem, now getting  .2 - .3 ohms on 3 different sets of Fluke probes.   Volts and Hz seem to be reasonably close to my 87-V at least within the limitations of the 117.  Overall it seems like a handy little meter for general electrical work,  the built in non contact "volt alert" is nice when confirming electrical power circuits are dead, it is much more sensitive than the voltage detector pens I have used in the past, sometimes too sensitive (the 117 has a Hi and Lo sensitivity range), In high range it will detect a live common light switch that is on from 12-18 inches.  Now if only my last name were Smith due to the permanent markings on the yellow rubber holster.

[retiredcaps]

Cleaning the jacks seems to have mostly fixed the problem, now getting  .2 - .3 ohms on 3 different sets of Fluke probes.

Glad it is working.  I call "bullshit" on the "used only once" ebay description and would consider leaving the seller neutral or negative feedback. 

Now if only my last name were Smith due to the permanent markings on the yellow rubber holster.

Try gojo or fast orange (i.e. hand cleaner with pumice).  I use significantly less than what is shown in the videos below.

[retiredcaps]

Volts and Hz seem to be reasonably close to my 87-V at least within the limitations of the 117.

You can see if the Fluke 117 has been calibrated. 

Press the "hold" button and turn the rotary switch to ohms.  It should say "cal".  Now press the yellow button.  Mine says n001 which means it "only" has the initial factory calibration.  If it has been calibrated more than once, it should be 002 or higher.

Both my 117s match all my other Fluke meters in the DCV scale with my limited test equipment.  At most, it might be 0.001V off here and there.

[retiredcaps]

BTW, I don't know how much you paid for an used Fluke 117, but with patience a bit of luck, you can get a new one (NIB) for around $100 USD on ebay.

[Isaac-1]

Thanks, I have tried a couple of things on the marker, and some ink came off, and it is now lighter, will try to Gojo, I did leave neutral feedback due to the condition while good, it was more than used once (maybe used on one  job, or such though) and the fact there was no mention or photo of the name in permanent marker in 4 places (I said 3 before side,top, and inside back of holster, but missed the one on the back of the meter body, this one came off easy though)

Cal shows N001, so I guess it is factory set

With shipping it came to a bit under $100, so am still reasonably happy, just wished the seller would have been more honest, particularly about the marker, there is not a scratch on the meter itself, and just a bit of dirt and grime on the leads and holster, seems to still have original factory battery (PAIRDEER brand with a logo of a leaping deer says made in China)

[retiredcaps]

Thanks, I have tried a couple of things on the marker, and some ink came off, and it is now lighter, will try to Gojo,

You might have to do it multiple times to get it off.  I believe the key is to rub the pumice over the area slowly and frequently.  I have gojo at home and it works for me.  Although, any hand cleaner with pumice might work as well too.

just a bit of dirt and grime on the leads and holster, seems to still have original factory battery (PAIRDEER brand with a logo of a leaping deer says made in China)

You can use gojo on the leads as well to get the grime/dirt/grease off.  I don't know if brand new Flukes come with batteries installed or not.  The easiest way to guess if the battery is factory original is to measure the voltage on the Pairdeer.  If this multimeter was only "used once", then it should be well above 9V.

I bought both my Fluke 117s used.  In one ebay description, it stated that it would come with a fresh new battery.  I got it and the battery measured 8.5V.  There are a lot of misrepresentation on ebay.  The worst is all the listings that says "everything works" and the multimeter arrives with both fuses blown.  As you know, Fluke fuses cost between $8 and $12 each.

Overall, my ebay experiences with buying Fluke multimeters has been generally positive.

[Isaac-1]

Sometimes though deals can be found in those blown fuse meters, that is how I got my 1507 for under $75, the original owner knew something was wrong with it, the meter claimed  it had a "FUSE" error, but the fuse "tested" ok when checked with a continuity meter.  So he was selling the meter "as is", as it turns out the 1507 was smarter than both of us, I changed out the over priced fuse and it has been happy ever since.  I still don't know what it did not like about that original fuse that ohmed out good  showing continuity on my multimeter, but  reinserting it back into the 1507 will show a FUSE error, maybe resistance on it goes up with current.  Up until then I always assumed a fuse was good if it showed continuity, I guess that is not always the case.

[T4P]

A fuse that's almost blown?

[Isaac-1]

Strange I know, but at the time I thought it was worth the gamble to invest the $15 to replace the fuse, since that is what the manual said to do when the FUSE error was lit.  The fact that it worked surprised me so much that I put the original fuse right back in thinking it might have just been a bad connection, and the FUSE error came right back, I then swapped them back ad forth another couple of times to make sure I was not crazy.  Both the old and new fuse showed continuity when tested on a multimeter, but for some reason the 1507 did not like the old one.

Ike

[retiredcaps]

Both the old and new fuse showed continuity when tested on a multimeter, but for some reason the 1507 did not like the old one.

In the forum where I normally post, I always recommend to people NEVER to use continuity to check the fuse.  This is because the threshold for continuity varies a lot for multimeters.  For example, in one Mastech multimeter, it will beep "continuous" if the resistance is below 1800 ohms. 

I always say that a good fuse measure less than 1.0 ohms.

I have a picofuse that beeps continuous with various Fluke multimeters, but the fuse is definitely bad.  When you measure its resistance, it shows 17 ohms.  However, most Flukes will beep continuous if resistance is less than 30 ohms.

[retiredcaps]

Sometimes though deals can be found in those blown fuse meters, that is how I got my 1507 for under $75,

If Fluke or compatible fuses were cheaper, then I would take more chances on ebay auctions, but most sellers charge an INSANE shipping cost (example $12.95 USD) to ship a fuse to Canada.