Siglent Bench DMMs SDM3065X, SDM3055 and SDM3045X

[Veteran68]

Hard pass unless they accept offers and you can get it for much lower. If it's used equipment, without a MANUFACTURER warranty, and it's out of cal, you're not going to have a good time.

I have a message in to the seller but will probably pass. It is listed as New but I think I'd only buy it with the Allstate plan which covers service shipping both ways and full replacement costs if it can't be serviced, for 3 years. Just not sure the $117 savings is worth the gamble, but I'm leaning towards waiting. I've seen them listed before for just under $600, maybe one will show up from a more credible seller, and if not I'll just go with Saelig when I'm ready. It's not something I NEED right now, just something I want, and have been waiting for the right deal to come along to push me over the edge.

[Martin72]

The cheapest SDM3065X I could get here in germany would be one from the states, from a purely intrinsic price point of view.

SDM3065X in ebay

But the shipping costs...
That's why something like that isn't worth it for me, I've also paid under 800 like that, though not much below that.

[Veteran68]

Yeah I've seen that one, a more established seller but also a seller of random stuff. Likely someone who buys salvage, returns, overstock, etc. by the pallet for resale. I can buy new from Saelig for only $50 more ($700 before tax).

[Veteran68]

Well well, would you look at this.

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/buysellwanted/fs-siglent-technologies-sdm3065x-6-digit-digital-multimeter/msg5026573/#msg5026573

Now $510 shipped with PP goods and services. Same picture.

EDIT: seller and I are having a conversation via PM here. I've not written it off yet, let's see where this goes.

[Veteran68]

Well well, would you look at this.

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/buysellwanted/fs-siglent-technologies-sdm3065x-6-digit-digital-multimeter/msg5026573/#msg5026573

Now $510 shipped with PP goods and services. Same picture.

EDIT: seller and I are having a conversation via PM here. I've not written it off yet, let's see where this goes.

I pulled the trigger on this after the seller and I worked out an agreement in writing for a reasonable return period in case anything is wrong with it, backed by PayPal. Seller was very accommodating and easy to work with, so kudos to Yinz/eDreamzWarehouse (eBay handle) for being reasonable with my requests.

Per the cal certificate, only a year or so out of factory. No guarantees of newer stock than that even coming from a dealer. Warranty repair might prove tricky if I ever needed it, but being it's apparently still factory sealed and if it tests okay during my return period, it's unlikely I would need warranty work before the warranty expired anyway. Crossing fingers, anyway.

When I get it, I'll run it through my assortment of cheap AD584 and LM399 references and my LB02A process meter, and compare to my Agilent 34401A (long out of cal but has remained very stable from what I can tell) and maybe the BM869s. This is just for hobby work and doesn't require a high degree of calibration certification, so if it tests within spec along with my other devices I'll be happy. At least if they're out, they'll all be out together.

Assuming it performs as any other new unit would, $510 delivered for a brand new SDM3065X is a pretty decent score I'd say. Will provide updates here on the outcome.

[JOFlaherty]

I'm looking at the SDM3065. As far as I can tell from the Siglent website, they don't offer a set of Kelvin/4-wire probes. The only ones I found on offer on the web were from Keysight, at a cost of $260, which seems a bit steep. Are there more reasonable options, besides making one's own? 
It's just the clips that might be difficult to make.

[TheDefpom]

Pomona (Fluke) sell 4 wire kelvin leads also.

You can also get reasonable ones from Aliexpress, they aren't super high quality or anything but work well enough, or you can buy the clips from there and add your own cables.

[delvo]

I bought these to try out: https://www.amazon.de/dp/B08H1QCL4G
The banana plugs are not great. They feel pretty lose but are still making a good connection. The clips feel way better than I expected for the price. Im pretty happy with them. Each side of the clip is connected to a different lead. So its wired correctly.

[tomud]

I have one from Aliexpress - quite decently made for the money:

http://aliexpress.com/item/1005004095843094.html

[Martin72]

Looks very nice 

[hpw]

I bought these to try out: https://www.amazon.de/dp/B08H1QCL4G
The banana plugs are not great. They feel pretty lose but are still making a good connection.

Exactly, as this banana plugs turns and made loose contacts as using them for a power supply or connector.

So to solder them, that they do not turn in any directions ^^^

[iMo]

If it does, I would have to know from the manufacturer of the reference, which testleads he had used for calibration.
The ambient temperature may have been different, 1...2 Kelvin difference.
I'll repeat it again, with all meters in the same place.

For the measurements where you mess with LSD uV levels also the air flows and thermal radiation off your body plays a role. I saw it in a professional lab where we sat 1m off the cabling (the cabling was special shielded with copper plugs, but the posts on my reference are nickel clad) and discussing while waving with our hands - the stddev of a measurement was 10x higher and average 2x higher than when we moved 2m off the wirings and stopped moving (and talk)  .
The best and simplest solution, imho, is to use a fresh stranded cable, with outer diameter say 3mm, where I strip off aprox 4-5cm of the insulation and I wound the stranded copper wire backwards around the insulation. Thus you get a copper plug with large surface, which is then "screwed" into the meter's post (which should be made of copper as well). No thermal EMF, a perfect contact and it holds firmly inside. Do not touch the naked copper wire with your fingers, though. I do use a freshly stripped piece of wire for each measurement.. 

[tautech]

I bought these to try out: https://www.amazon.de/dp/B08H1QCL4G
The banana plugs are not great. They feel pretty lose but are still making a good connection.

Exactly, as this banana plugs turns and made loose contacts as using them for a power supply or connector.

So to solder them, that they do not turn in any directions ^^^

If lantern style plugs do not solder them. They should not require it.

[Veteran68]

I bought these to try out: https://www.amazon.de/dp/B08H1QCL4G
The banana plugs are not great. They feel pretty lose but are still making a good connection. The clips feel way better than I expected for the price. Im pretty happy with them. Each side of the clip is connected to a different lead. So its wired correctly.

I just picked up a set of these TestHelper brand Kelvin clips from Amazon. I'm very impressed with their build quality for $22. Silicone leads (or at least very soft PVC), gold tips, properly wired (confirmed), and the banana plugs are shielded with insulated tips and protective caps. Haven't had a chance to measure with them yet. My other Kelvin clips have a blade fixture to attach to the slots on my LCR meter, and these actually feel like a slightly better build quality.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N6DV3RK

[explozz]

I use these because they are better ;  https://www.amazon.com/TestHelper-TL200-Tester-Terminal-Alligator/dp/B01MYVVDA3/ref=sr_1_2?crid=1GVARYCZCXWTT&keywords=TL200&qid=1693175440&sprefix=tl200%2Caps%2C265&sr=8-2

 

[tomud]

I use these because they are better ;  https://www.amazon.com/TestHelper-TL200-Tester-Terminal-Alligator/dp/B01MYVVDA3/ref=sr_1_2?crid=1GVARYCZCXWTT&keywords=TL200&qid=1693175440&sprefix=tl200%2Caps%2C265&sr=8-2

 

I also have these (or very similar - I bought on aliexpress), but they are very large and are rather suitable for measuring large elements, below in the photo a comparison.

[Veteran68]

I use these because they are better ;  https://www.amazon.com/TestHelper-TL200-Tester-Terminal-Alligator/dp/B01MYVVDA3/ref=sr_1_2?crid=1GVARYCZCXWTT&keywords=TL200&qid=1693175440&sprefix=tl200%2Caps%2C265&sr=8-2

 

I looked at those and like the overall design, except it may be hard to work in confined areas with those chunky jaws. Also, have you confirmed they're wired properly? One review mentioned that both jaws were connected on one of his clips.

[explozz]

I've just checked and they are well wired, one wire per jaw. It's true that the clamps are bigger than the other small clamp model described above, but I own both as needed. 

[Valerik]

Hi, everyone! I'm new to the forum.

Sorry that I trouble possible with problem you already fixed, but can't find good solution.
I have bug which will cause the multimetr SDM3055 stay at the boot screen only with boot logo. All 7 years it worked perfect. But now (((
Could I ask to send me PM with new FW or link for it?

Thanks a lot.

[bateau020]

this is a known bug in earlier FW. See
https://www.siglenteu.com/service-and-support/firmware-software/digital-multimeters/

[skander36]

@tautech can help.

[Veteran68]

Well well, would you look at this.

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/buysellwanted/fs-siglent-technologies-sdm3065x-6-digit-digital-multimeter/msg5026573/#msg5026573

Now $510 shipped with PP goods and services. Same picture.

EDIT: seller and I are having a conversation via PM here. I've not written it off yet, let's see where this goes.

I pulled the trigger on this after the seller and I worked out an agreement in writing for a reasonable return period in case anything is wrong with it, backed by PayPal. Seller was very accommodating and easy to work with, so kudos to Yinz/eDreamzWarehouse (eBay handle) for being reasonable with my requests.

Per the cal certificate, only a year or so out of factory. No guarantees of newer stock than that even coming from a dealer. Warranty repair might prove tricky if I ever needed it, but being it's apparently still factory sealed and if it tests okay during my return period, it's unlikely I would need warranty work before the warranty expired anyway. Crossing fingers, anyway.

When I get it, I'll run it through my assortment of cheap AD584 and LM399 references and my LB02A process meter, and compare to my Agilent 34401A (long out of cal but has remained very stable from what I can tell) and maybe the BM869s. This is just for hobby work and doesn't require a high degree of calibration certification, so if it tests within spec along with my other devices I'll be happy. At least if they're out, they'll all be out together.

Assuming it performs as any other new unit would, $510 delivered for a brand new SDM3065X is a pretty decent score I'd say. Will provide updates here on the outcome.

Got the SDM3065X in today. Confirmed it was never powered up before (power on count was 1). Only one revision behind on firmware which coincides with its factory calibration date of last year; updated it to latest R12 release. All self-tests passed. DCV and resistance measurements against my Agilent 34401A are pretty much dead on as you can see below. Capacitance was dead on against my BM786 and BM869s handhelds. The 34401A has been powered up for days, the voltage standard and handhelds were just turned on. Using Probe Master probes in both (one set the springy needle probes, the other standard probes).

$510 delivered for a brand-new factory sealed SDM3065X only a year out of the factory is shaping up to be one of my better scores in this hobby, up there with my $250 very clean, late model Agilent 34401A (also bought off this forum). So I'm 2 for 2 with test equipment purchases off eevBlog!

[Johnny B Good]

 Don't forget to leave it powered up for the next six weeks (about 13 kilowatt hours' worth of electrical energy consumption) to complete the first thousand hours' worth of ageing as quickly as possible and then repeat this comparison test.  I  (and everyone else, no doubt) will be interested in seeing your next round of test results.

 In any case,  you want to avoid powering it down for at least the first month simply to get past the initial ageing effect of its internal reference before even so much as contemplating any re-calibration.

[Veteran68]

Don't forget to leave it powered up for the next six weeks (about 13 kilowatt hours' worth of electrical energy consumption) to complete the first thousand hours' worth of ageing as quickly as possible and then repeat this comparison test.  I  (and everyone else, no doubt) will be interested in seeing your next round of test results.

 In any case,  you want to avoid powering it down for at least the first month simply to get past the initial ageing effect of its internal reference before even so much as contemplating any re-calibration.

Yep, that's exactly what I'm doing, and why I asked earlier in this thread (I think it was this thread) about the screensaver feature, which I've configured. It will stay powered up for the time being.

[Martin72]

Hmmm....Maybe I should do that too.