UNI-T UT61E Multimeter teardown photos.

[samgab]

Well the UT61E which I ordered from eBay more than a Month ago never turned up, so I emailed the seller. The seller claimed that China cutoms held it at customs because it has a battery in it, and has offered to refund me the ~50 I paid. I notice though:
1/ That seller has now put the price of this meter up to over $150, as it has gotten popular since I placed my order.
2/ I've ordered many, many items from China that have batteries inside them, and they've never been stopped by China customs...

Oh well, at least I'll get a refund, but I don't get to experiment with the UT61E and compare it to the Fluke 87V and 17b. Bummer.

[iloveelectronics]

Well the UT61E which I ordered from eBay more than a Month ago never turned up, so I emailed the seller. The seller claimed that China cutoms held it at customs because it has a battery in it, and has offered to refund me the ~50 I paid.

It is indeed official that Chinese customs don't allow batteries in the post (or even courier), but of course everybody is still sending them around. You probably just got unlucky and they spot checked your item or something.

I have actually ordered 3 of them from China and am planning to offer them for sale either through the buy and sell section of this forum or eBay next week. If you are still interested I can sell one to you for about $55 shipped (unfortunately I don't have the volume to match the ~$50 you paid). I will be selling them cheaper here on this forum than on eBay though, simply because of the eBay fees.

[prozac]

1/ That seller has now put the price of this meter up to over $150, as it has gotten popular since I placed my order.

If you are talking about jamesbondtb, I orderd my UT61E from him as well and got it after about a month without any problems.

[Rick]

Did you buy it at $150 ?
I remember vaguely that he had reduced his price to $56 for a short periode of time.
Another one mentioned by Martin Lorton is radioshop888. I have never bought from him.
I shall try to buy something on aliexpress.com to see how it works...

[prozac]

No I bought it for $56, not sure why the price jumped up to $156. He is probably just out of stock.

[mariush]

Another one mentioned by Martin Lorton is radioshop888. I have never bought from him.

Yeah, I bought mine almost a year ago from radioshop888 on eBay.  65$ with free shipping at that time.

Here's the pen as proof

[Ivanko1]

To stay on topic, attached are 2 teardown pictures of my recently purchased UT-61E, with date of manufacture of 18 July 2012.

Wow, is it 555-timer in picure 2?

I was ordered and payd UT-61E on 2 sepember (!), 8.09 posted, last mark 27.09 - Import ZHEJIANG.

2All
Yes, many parcels sends China Air Mail has back to sender, and most bad for that - many byers even not aware of it.
But, LCR meter with 9v battery - come to me in 1 mounth, by HK post without track.

I shall try to buy something on aliexpress.com to see how it works...

Better don't. My undelivered 61E was ordered on aliE. Many sellers there not respond for parcel, thay can feed you promices like "tomorrow it will come to you, go check on post" and many alse, then suddenly "I'm sorry my dear friend, the package was back to me. Will I resended to you again?" and thats after mount of promices??? Others will remain silent until the dispute threatened to, and then they find out that the package did come back to him.
Unless of course you will not find a trusted vendor who sends HK or SG post.

[iloveelectronics]

Wow, is it 555-timer in picure 2?

It's not a 555 timer. It's an AD737 true RMS to DC converter.

I was ordered and payd UT-61E on 2 sepember (!), 8.09 posted, last mark 27.09 - Import ZHEJIANG.

Where did you order it from? I think you should ask the seller for an update and possibly a refund. You've waited long enough.

[Ivanko1]

iloveelectronics
Yes, I write him week after, because trecker says "import ZHEJIANG". He answer "possibly" and resend without battery, and 16.10 was export.

[Mehran]

got my ut61e the other day: it looks a bit different inside from the one shown at the start of the thread:



think my one is rev 8? as you can see there is a bit of a bodge with two caps on top of each other... on the plus side the resister network fits the board.

sadly the red lead that came with mine is faulty. it give between 50 ohms to few mega ohms with the flexing of the cable. so will need to buy a new set.


I have always used manual ddm, so finding the auto ranging a bit hard to get used to...but it does feel will built.

[dimitrioptimus]

Recently purchased one from Dino Direct for an amazing price of $50.351 with tracking number  .

@iloveelectronics
Where can I find the date of manufacture ?
The back sticker is displayed as
(QB/441900 17 10489-2011)

Does that means that the manufacturing date is in 2011  ,so should I return it back to  DD (if they provide return shipping fee) & get a new one,


the meter is working fine,but some resistor looked older !

so is the older meter worth it or sending & getting a new one will be better ?

[iloveelectronics]

@iloveelectronics
Where can I find the date of manufacture ?
The back sticker is displayed as
(QB/441900 17 10489-2011)

so is the older meter worth it or sending & getting a new one will be better ?

You should find a warranty card inside the package, with a date stamped on it.

If the meter works fine I don't think it's necessary to return. You'll more than likely have to pay for the return shipping, which I don't think is worth it.

[dimitrioptimus]

No I can't find any warranty card inside,

I can find various rubbish things like:-
1>Advertisement cards,
2>Spring festival post cards,
3>Christmas cards,thanks giving cards,
4>Halloween post card,
5>Operating manual
&
Invoice

They actually have done it very cleverly,what do U think ?
I don't even know my product is original or clone,
so what should I do now ?

One thing is for sure is that they have done this deliberately

[iloveelectronics]

No I can't find any warranty card inside,

You can take a look at the picture (2nd one) of my eBay auction here: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200837432118

This should be all the content in the original package. That card with the date stamped on it is the warranty card, it's only valid in China though.

I guess you can try to contact them and ask about it, and maybe you can ask if they would accept a return on this basis. But for me personally if the meter works fine I wouldn't bother.

[dimitrioptimus]

@iloveelectronics

Yes thanks for the link,Yes I confirm that I didn't got the warranty card.

Plz can u say whats written in the backside of the meter(sticker-the last four digits)
Is it 2011 or 2012 ?

Yes Ill talk to DD customer support team for sure.



@All
I can see some ghost readings without connecting the probes
1>V(DC)---.0001
      (AC)----.0007

2>mV(DC)---(-200 to 30)
          (AC)---(35 to 2)

3>Capacitance---(.065nF stagnant)

Are those specs are in normal ranges ?

[iloveelectronics]

@iloveelectronics

Yes thanks for the link,Yes I confirm that I didn't got the warranty card.

Plz can u say whats written in the backside of the meter(sticker-the last four digits)
Is it 2011 or 2012 ?

Yes Ill talk to DD customer support team for sure.



@All
I can see some ghost readings without connecting the probes
1>V(DC)---.0001
      (AC)----.0007

2>mV(DC)---(-200 to 30)
          (AC)---(35 to 2)

3>Capacitance---(.065nF stagnant)

Are those specs are in normal ranges

I have the exact same number on the sticker as yours QB/441900 17 10489-2011, and the serial number underneath it is C120312601. If you have a similar serial number it's probably from same or similar batch.

Those readings look very normal to me, I don't think you have anything to worry about.

[T4P]

Don't worry about the readings.
My meter from DD didn't have a batch code either  But my one from DX has ...hmm, but they look the same internally, down to the "bodged-on" solder 

[ModemHead]

Could I ask a favor of any interested UT61E owners?  Set your meter to measure AC voltage, with auto-ranging on.  Probe a DC voltage of say about +10V or more.  What does the meter do?

The unit I have here will 'go crazy' in this situation.  It flashes random digits, beeps erratically, and the bar graph jumps around.  It will measure ACV correctly only if any DC component is less than about +10V, or if the correct range is selected manually.  Negative DC offsets do not seem to bother it.  All other measurement functions of this unit appear to be normal.

[iloveelectronics]

Yup, it does the same on my unit. But if I drop the DC voltage down below 10V and then back up again, it doesn't go crazy anymore.

Could I ask a favor of any interested UT61E owners?  Set your meter to measure AC voltage, with auto-ranging on.  Probe a DC voltage of say about +10V or more.  What does the meter do?

The unit I have here will 'go crazy' in this situation.  It flashes random digits, beeps erratically, and the bar graph jumps around.  It will measure ACV correctly only if any DC component is less than about +10V, or if the correct range is selected manually.  Negative DC offsets do not seem to bother it.  All other measurement functions of this unit appear to be normal.

[ModemHead]

Yup, it does the same on my unit.

Thanks for the report!

But if I drop the DC voltage down below 10V and then back up again, it doesn't go crazy anymore.

Yeah, I checked with a function generator.  If the DC offset goes up slowly it's OK.  But if you introduce an offset quickly, or if you probe something already containing sufficient DC offset, it goes bonkers.

[dimitrioptimus]

Thankx to  iloveelectronics & T4P for quick responses,now I am little-bit relieved

@iloveelectronics it seems the batch of Ur's & mine are same but my serial no is C120312576 so mine must be produced day before Urs or in the same day & in between 24 more produced IMO.

[T4P]

C12 = 2012.
My one is C110346024 from DX and C110483549 But oddly the one on the DX one has a weird sticker : QB/441900 17 10489-2011, from DX?

[PedroDaGr8]

Yup, it does the same on my unit.

Thanks for the report!

But if I drop the DC voltage down below 10V and then back up again, it doesn't go crazy anymore.

Yeah, I checked with a function generator.  If the DC offset goes up slowly it's OK.  But if you introduce an offset quickly, or if you probe something already containing sufficient DC offset, it goes bonkers.

My guess is that it has somethign to do with the rapid change from zero to whatever the voltage ends up being is too high and sends something into oscillation.

[dimitrioptimus]

C12 = 2012.
My one is C110346024 from DX and C110483549 But oddly the one on the DX one has a weird sticker : QB/441900 17 10489-2011, from DX?

Perfectly same as me  ,I think it can only be explained by Uni-T guys 

[ModemHead]

My guess is that it has somethign to do with the rapid change from zero to whatever the voltage ends up being is too high and sends something into oscillation.

Hard to avoid a rapid change from zero when you put the probes on something.

I've also noted that the AC mV range produces incorrect readings in the presence of a DC offset greater than about 2V.  It does not go crazy, it just displays a value that is completely wrong, eg. an order of magnitude low.