Products > Dodgy Technology
Pokit
JPortici:
actually we have four of the pro ones
Let's say that the level of cluelessness is high but not so high so they should be able to do three simple steps
1)flip the switch into "V"
2)open the app and go into voltage or scope mode
3)point the terminals at the thing they have to measure (granted, 1 out of 5 is not able to do that correctly, we may make an adapter cable just in case)
4)take a screenshot with the button conveniently present in the app and send it to us
pairing was sort of automatic, switch on -> open app -> go to add device, done.
We considered buying cheap usb scopes and sending it to them but there are two problems:
one is that they would never be able to operate one correctly, a meter is something that they may be more familliar with / less intimidated from,
the other is that most of the time they either don't have a computer or have an ancient one :palm: but a good functioning smartphone, oh yes they have one
these are also mechanics that don't have a freaking scan tool, which may have been fine 20 years ago but today with the amount of electronics cobbled together popping up errors randomly on stock cars, usually communication faults, because the whole architecture is a clusterfuck of things rushed to release a diagnosis is a must, instead when they have to clear codes they are fine taking half an hour to go to a friend of theirs rather than buying a generic scan tool for 5 euro on amazon or ebay that works 95% of the time (in fact we also bught a lot of those and resell to them)
The problem with regular multimeters is that they are unable to read them correctly (as i mentioned they will say like 2.5 without specifying the unit and a day and a half later when you can't find the problem and repeat the measurement it comes out that it was millivolts. Of course if you asked them the first time they said the wrong one.) or they have broken screens because you know things get dropped but it still works so we won't change this 5 euro piece of shit meter. I was thinking to get some of the newer pocket meters with just three buttons so it's in autorange all of the time - oh yes ranges are a problem too - but this has a scope function that actually works quite well.
Again, imagine give a scope to these people, i actually had to do once, we needed some measurement on this really strange fuel pressure sensor that we found only in a variant of dodge ram apparently present only in costa rica and i needed to see the waveform so our guy called his friend which apparently was good in electronics (spoiler alert: not) that had a scope, which was more or less one of those toys scope from velleman with a 128x64 monochrome screen. Our guy provided translation but it was really difficult to get what we wanted, but in the end he made it. This took three days to set up the meeting and about four hours of my time to babysit two people, one speaking a different language for which i don't know any words. One of these pokit is going to this guy straight away.
Re: Mooshimeter, yes the form factor is quite different, it's again something that might frighten these people less. Specs aren't everything.
thm_w:
--- Quote from: JPortici on May 26, 2022, 05:50:50 am ---The problem with regular multimeters is that they are unable to read them correctly (as i mentioned they will say like 2.5 without specifying the unit and a day and a half later when you can't find the problem and repeat the measurement it comes out that it was millivolts. Of course if you asked them the first time they said the wrong one.) or they have broken screens because you know things get dropped but it still works so we won't change this 5 euro piece of shit meter. I was thinking to get some of the newer pocket meters with just three buttons so it's in autorange all of the time - oh yes ranges are a problem too - but this has a scope function that actually works quite well.
--- End quote ---
I was referring to just basic chassis mount volt meters, that will only give you a voltage reading, thats it.
But yeah if you need waveforms, etc this seems like quite a good solution for you.
niner_007:
Got mine today, didn’t have a chance to unpack it yet. I supported this campaign in 2020, it took 2+ years to deliver, that part was very disappointing :palm: I have a mooshimeter, we’ll see how it compares
Fredderic:
--- Quote from: niner_007 on June 17, 2022, 01:36:49 am ---I supported this campaign in 2020, it took 2+ years to deliver, that part was very disappointing :palm:
--- End quote ---
Same.
Regarding pen multimeters, they are fine at a desk in good lighting — where you usually have a proper multimeter or five available and don't actually need them. But as soon as you're working on anything at an odd angle and approaching arms limit, trying to decide whether it needs to be pulled out and/or apart to take back to the desk… Most times I've tried to use a pen style multimeter, they've been useless because I couldn't see the darned screen. My hope is that this thing, I can use at arms length, with the phone propped up in sight, and I'm not going to accidentally tug a lead and send it toppling into ghod knows what (which has happened with a "proper" multimeter before) — or worst case, have someone else holding the phone and reading out what it says.
I have the phone app for the 121GW also, which has been useful in similar circumstances — but that's usually when you don't have a good/stable place to sit a larger normal multimeter. I also don't carry the 121GW or similar larger meters around with me everywhere I go, the Pokit has a nice and much smaller padded carry pouch, and no screen to break.
I would be very interested in a decent review of it, though… But even if it's only as good as the cheapest regular multimeters, the pen form factor and detached screen has still been worth having so far (and I haven't even had it very long). Do I trust it to be super-accurate? Not really. And will I ever use it anywhere near it's rating? Most likely not. Those occasions are what the big ones back on the bench are for — I got the Pokit for it's portability and form factor, because someone I knew said the previous Pokit meter they had was "decent enough", and I'd wished for the phone as the screen thing several times before coming across this one (that was a not insignificant factor in getting a 121GW).
niner_007:
Played a bit. Accuracy out of the box is not very good, quite a bit off when measuring against a PVS mini, the probe wire attachment is flimsy, and if it snaps, I don't see how you fix it, as the unit is glued together, they really should've used a connector on the top. Oscilloscope feature does not work, too slow and huge latency.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[*] Previous page
Go to full version