Here is my video review of the Megger AVO835 Multimeter, there's some really interesting component choices inside. Please take a look and I'd love it if the community subscribed and shared the video. If you have any questions please ask. There is some hacking potential here, I've already ordered the serial adapter to see how easy it is but I'm no expert in port hacking. There's defo some potential here and the input protection is excellent.
https://youtu.be/xRkMdbNCBWo
Is it the one you started a thread on the stm32 inside ?? seems well built
I would not say a direct comparaison since the 87v is a 20,000 counts dmm and this one is 9999 counts
Share the Gossen look a like dial selector and input protection / selection ??
No millivolt ranges , the manual says it's good for up to 5KHz AC true-rms , this is not impresive at all for electronics . And for capacitance maximum resolution is 1nF ? Or is a mistake and this is the lowest range .
I wonder what would be the point for hacking this meter ? Maybe for fun
Yes this is the one with the STM32 inside.
isn't most hacking for fun and to see if it can be done and to what end? Now that we know what chips are inside we can probably find out more of the answers ourselves. At this price point any designer has to make compromises one way or the other for costs. I think they made some good decisions here. Ive also posted a copy of the calibration certificate in the videos you can see the tested ranges. Hope this helps
The Cyrustek chip used has a capacitance measurement of 0.000nF to 99.9mF link to chip here
http://www.cyrustek.com.tw/spec/ES222.pdf
Is it the one you started a thread on the stm32 inside ?? seems well built
I would not say a direct comparaison since the 87v is a 20,000 counts dmm and this one is 9999 counts
Share the Gossen look a like dial selector and input protection / selection ??
I agree, lower resolution but other features the Fluke doesn't have. I would guess the Megger is aimed at the Windmills market with the phase rotation features etc. Still a very interesting product. At this price, no product is perfect and this deserves more credit than many of the others I've seen.
"Under the radar"?
It's more expensive than a Brymen 869s but less capable.
Looks like it has a few specialized features but if you don't need those then get the Brymen.
Against the Fluke 87V...? People don't buy the Fluke 87V after making a list and comparing it against other meters. They buy it because it says "Fluke 87V" on the front.
Exactly, the prices aren't good enough to create some interest for me, maybe the hacking possibility may add some value ??
I would have liked to have seen the switch contacts. Hard to say how it would hold up to my tests. At least it looks like it has potential. It looks like they are using the 5mm PTCs but also increased what is normally a 1K resistor to a 2K. What I normally see with the 5mm parts is they will break down which will setup a chain reaction, but these may hold up. Hard to say if it would survive to the same levels as the Flukes, Brymens, HIOKI and Gossen. Then again, the normal defense of the buyer is "I don't do anything with high voltages"
I would have liked to have seen the switch contacts. Hard to say how it would hold up to my tests. At least it looks like it has potential. It looks like they are using the 5mm PTCs but also increased what is normally a 1K resistor to a 2K. What I normally see with the 5mm parts is they will break down which will setup a chain reaction, but these may hold up. Hard to say if it would survive to the same levels as the Flukes, Brymens, HIOKI and Gossen. Then again, the normal defense of the buyer is "I don't do anything with high voltages"
Hi Joe, i did try to remove the switch cover but as it didn't come off easily i did not want to break the switch altogether. I also don't have the equipment you have access to to test the way you do. I would love to see you test one of these to destruction to see how well it holds up. I suspect it will do as well or better than the Brymen but only testing will answer that. You could always ask Megger to send you one for that purpose of course.
"Under the radar"?
It's more expensive than a Brymen 869s but less capable.
Looks like it has a few specialized features but if you don't need those then get the Brymen.
Against the Fluke 87V...? People don't buy the Fluke 87V after making a list and comparing it against other meters. They buy it because it says "Fluke 87V" on the front.
Im not sure i fully agree, these do sell well in the UK i believe to the same customers Fluke sell to but mainly their market is the average electrician or Lab technician. Of course Fluke are the market leader but i don't think their customers would consider Brymen an alternative when buying a meter either. The Megger is better than the Fluke in some areas, in other areas they have blatantly copied the Fluke and in some areas they have different features. There isn't a one meter fits all solution as you know. I also have the Brymen and when taken apart the Brymen feels like its a decade old compared to the Megger, however i do agree it is better specced overall. As for under the radar, there is one other review on youtube and mine is the only teardown, so yes i consider that under the radar for what is a very nice meter if not the best featured or cheapest its certainly built well enough to justify most of its price, i didn't score it a 10 overall, i scored it an 8.
Exactly, the prices aren't good enough to create some interest for me, maybe the hacking possibility may add some value ??
I wonder what the golden price point for the Megger would be to tempt buyers to the brand? I would say that for quality and input protection its bang on the money however i do agree it is let down by feature count a little and possibly the resolution could be better. If it was under £200 would it tempt you in? Im asking for my own curiosity (i am not affiliated with the brand in any way). Ive already ordered the ST link adapter to see if it communicates with the computer via the port in the battery bay. Will let you know what it does but im no expert in this, your basically echoing my own thoughts about it adding some value.
You made very nice video. Excellent editing. Really, really nice video work.
But there are technical inaccuracies, and general approach makes it feel like a heavy commercial (meaning biased) for the AVO835, despite you mentioning bad and good stuff.
It is kinda obvious you are really enthusiastic about the meter. It's OK for you to be, but it shouldn't show that much :-)
I will just throw in few comments, hope you don't mind:
- What is "Vibrant display"? Isn't it bog standard good quality backlight white LCD, same as on Brymen and many other meters nowadays?
- In datasheet nowhere is mentioned that meter measures inductance. Does it or does it not?
- Kudos for mentioning crap probes.. You should have mentioned that good gold plated probes are Brymen, and that they come even with Brymens that cost 3x less.
- For input protection, I agree with Joe, MOVs look kinda smallish. But it's all speculation unless it's tested.
- 0,1% in DC is OK, not excellent. Excellent is 0,05 or 0,02%. Also in AC, it is worse than 75€ Brymen BM236R (AVO is 1% best, 239R is 0,7% best). It is electrician meter, AC is kinda primary function.
- Meter is missing uA range.
- Designed in UK is not a thing to us. Rest of the world don't care. Don't get it the wrong way, you should be proud of your heritage, it is OK for you, but we really don't find it important.
Also, datasheet is really vague, there is no detail specs of ranges. If you don't understand what I mean, compare to Fluke, Gossen, Brymen, Uni-T spec sheets.
Meter actually has nice feature mix, and if it has CAT ratings independently verified by a test lab (like TUV) it might be a nice thing for the electricians.
But until that front end is really tested I personally wouldn't pay Brymen BM869S money for it. Maybe 100-120€.
Again, impressive video skills, video concept is great, it would be great if you keep on going doing this. You definitely have lots of talent for this.
Regards,
I would have liked to have seen the switch contacts. Hard to say how it would hold up to my tests. At least it looks like it has potential. It looks like they are using the 5mm PTCs but also increased what is normally a 1K resistor to a 2K. What I normally see with the 5mm parts is they will break down which will setup a chain reaction, but these may hold up. Hard to say if it would survive to the same levels as the Flukes, Brymens, HIOKI and Gossen. Then again, the normal defense of the buyer is "I don't do anything with high voltages"
Hi Joe, i did try to remove the switch cover but as it didn't come off easily i did not want to break the switch altogether. I also don't have the equipment you have access to to test the way you do. I would love to see you test one of these to destruction to see how well it holds up. I suspect it will do as well or better than the Brymen but only testing will answer that. You could always ask Megger to send you one for that purpose of course.
Odd, you normally just press the two tabs together and it slides right out. From there we could have seen some nice closeups of the wiper contacts and pads.
I became interested in testing the meters because of people posting complete BS, grounded in religion rather than data. Some meters that I would think would hold up really well have performed poorly. It's rare it goes the other way. I wouldn't have thought that cheap little $50 Fluke would take the abuse I have exposed it to. Had to eat some crow on that one. Actually on the Fluke brand in general.
A company would really have to know their product and stand behind it before they would hand one over for public testing. Basically, telling a company you are going to expose their product to ever increasing transients until it fails to benchmark it against their competitors, I doubt you will find many takers. Especially when you tell them the data will be made public. I've seen that level of confidence with Brymen which with as many of their products that I looked at, I can understand that confidence is not misplaced.
As we have seen, the layout plays an important part in getting the meter to survive. I keep thinking about that UNI-T UT181A as the best example I have seen. All the right parts, a pretty nice meter but it's life was cut short because of a layout. The small PTCs seldom survive. You won't find them used in the more robust meters I have looked at.
I would have liked to have seen the switch contacts. Hard to say how it would hold up to my tests. At least it looks like it has potential. It looks like they are using the 5mm PTCs but also increased what is normally a 1K resistor to a 2K. What I normally see with the 5mm parts is they will break down which will setup a chain reaction, but these may hold up. Hard to say if it would survive to the same levels as the Flukes, Brymens, HIOKI and Gossen. Then again, the normal defense of the buyer is "I don't do anything with high voltages"
Hi Joe, i did try to remove the switch cover but as it didn't come off easily i did not want to break the switch altogether. I also don't have the equipment you have access to to test the way you do. I would love to see you test one of these to destruction to see how well it holds up. I suspect it will do as well or better than the Brymen but only testing will answer that. You could always ask Megger to send you one for that purpose of course.
Odd, you normally just press the two tabs together and it slides right out. From there we could have seen some nice closeups of the wiper contacts and pads.
I became interested in testing the meters because of people posting complete BS, grounded in religion rather than data. Some meters that I would think would hold up really well have performed poorly. It's rare it goes the other way. I wouldn't have thought that cheap little $50 Fluke would take the abuse I have exposed it to. Had to eat some crow on that one. Actually on the Fluke brand in general.
A company would really have to know their product and stand behind it before they would hand one over for public testing. Basically, telling a company you are going to expose their product to ever increasing transients until it fails to benchmark it against their competitors, I doubt you will find many takers. Especially when you tell them the data will be made public. I've seen that level of confidence with Brymen which with as many of their products that I looked at, I can understand that confidence is not misplaced.
As we have seen, the layout plays an important part in getting the meter to survive. I keep thinking about that UNI-T UT181A as the best example I have seen. All the right parts, a pretty nice meter but it's life was cut short because of a layout. The small PTCs seldom survive. You won't find them used in the more robust meters I have looked at.
I will go take it apart again and take some pics. At the time I was more concerned with being able to reassemble again for video and didn't want to damage it.
You made very nice video. Excellent editing. Really, really nice video work.
But there are technical inaccuracies, and general approach makes it feel like a heavy commercial (meaning biased) for the AVO835, despite you mentioning bad and good stuff.
It is kinda obvious you are really enthusiastic about the meter. It's OK for you to be, but it shouldn't show that much :-)
I will just throw in few comments, hope you don't mind:
- What is "Vibrant display"? Isn't it bog standard good quality backlight white LCD, same as on Brymen and many other meters nowadays?
- In datasheet nowhere is mentioned that meter measures inductance. Does it or does it not?
- Kudos for mentioning crap probes.. You should have mentioned that good gold plated probes are Brymen, and that they come even with Brymens that cost 3x less.
- For input protection, I agree with Joe, MOVs look kinda smallish. But it's all speculation unless it's tested.
- 0,1% in DC is OK, not excellent. Excellent is 0,05 or 0,02%. Also in AC, it is worse than 75€ Brymen BM236R (AVO is 1% best, 239R is 0,7% best). It is electrician meter, AC is kinda primary function.
- Meter is missing uA range.
- Designed in UK is not a thing to us. Rest of the world don't care. Don't get it the wrong way, you should be proud of your heritage, it is OK for you, but we really don't find it important.
Also, datasheet is really vague, there is no detail specs of ranges. If you don't understand what I mean, compare to Fluke, Gossen, Brymen, Uni-T spec sheets.
Meter actually has nice feature mix, and if it has CAT ratings independently verified by a test lab (like TUV) it might be a nice thing for the electricians.
But until that front end is really tested I personally wouldn't pay Brymen BM869S money for it. Maybe 100-120€.
Again, impressive video skills, video concept is great, it would be great if you keep on going doing this. You definitely have lots of talent for this.
Regards,
Hi, thanks for your comment (I could do with a few on YT too), I will try and address some of your valid points. firstly I have limited resources for testing meters as I'm really just starting out so I have to make the most of what I have. I tried to make up for my lack of resource by spending longer than I ever have done on production quality and this is really easy to overshoot and ends up looking like a commercial when that wasn't the intent. I'd like to hope that my next review video will be just as good or better regardless of the outcome for the item itself. If I had the resources to test to destruction like Joe I would have done. I tried to compare to my brymen as best as I could at the time. I'm always happy to call out name and shame a bad product. I am enthusiastic about British designed products even if many don't seem to be, we are the home of ARM and they are in everyone's pocket today. if that's a thing or not it's my thing and that's how I make the review my own. Am I biased to Megger for any reason? no, I had an AVO 2007 as a child but that was a long time ago and was built by a different company (Metrawatt), did I say I also bought the Brymen shown in the video (from research gained mainly from Joe's videos and research here). I stumbled upon the Megger AVO835 when I was looking for what 2019 has brought to the industry, I kept finding meters that were basically old designs and expected modern replacements by now, megger seemed to have made a new meter. That's really all there was to it. That was also the first time I'd ever used final cut pro as my old editing software dies last week so I'm still learning how it works.
Vibrant and clear display I tried to show in my video and in the pics I've uploaded here, it's much clearer than the Brymen 869S (one of this meters high points).
0.1% is the resolution of any 10,000 count meter that's normal I believe
https://youtu.be/U4JFeU-o2kc . you can't use resolution as a way of saying one meter is better than another, that would be like buying an amplifier and saying its better because it has more Watts per channel. it's just a lone metric.
The meter is supplied with a Calibration certificate from Megger (shown in video) and there is a N13117 compliance badge in the book as well as a C E European Compliance badge. The manual says its IEC61010 compliant and Megger run their own calibration facilities. It's CAT3 600V and Cat 4 1000V Megger also supply many of the power companies here with equipment as the go too brand for the industry.
I will check for other markings, are you familiar with the brand? Megger? this meter is small fry for them on the whole of what they do.
I would have liked to have seen the switch contacts. Hard to say how it would hold up to my tests. At least it looks like it has potential. It looks like they are using the 5mm PTCs but also increased what is normally a 1K resistor to a 2K. What I normally see with the 5mm parts is they will break down which will setup a chain reaction, but these may hold up. Hard to say if it would survive to the same levels as the Flukes, Brymens, HIOKI and Gossen. Then again, the normal defense of the buyer is "I don't do anything with high voltages"
Hi Joe, i did try to remove the switch cover but as it didn't come off easily i did not want to break the switch altogether. I also don't have the equipment you have access to to test the way you do. I would love to see you test one of these to destruction to see how well it holds up. I suspect it will do as well or better than the Brymen but only testing will answer that. You could always ask Megger to send you one for that purpose of course.
Odd, you normally just press the two tabs together and it slides right out. From there we could have seen some nice closeups of the wiper contacts and pads.
I became interested in testing the meters because of people posting complete BS, grounded in religion rather than data. Some meters that I would think would hold up really well have performed poorly. It's rare it goes the other way. I wouldn't have thought that cheap little $50 Fluke would take the abuse I have exposed it to. Had to eat some crow on that one. Actually on the Fluke brand in general.
A company would really have to know their product and stand behind it before they would hand one over for public testing. Basically, telling a company you are going to expose their product to ever increasing transients until it fails to benchmark it against their competitors, I doubt you will find many takers. Especially when you tell them the data will be made public. I've seen that level of confidence with Brymen which with as many of their products that I looked at, I can understand that confidence is not misplaced.
As we have seen, the layout plays an important part in getting the meter to survive. I keep thinking about that UNI-T UT181A as the best example I have seen. All the right parts, a pretty nice meter but it's life was cut short because of a layout. The small PTCs seldom survive. You won't find them used in the more robust meters I have looked at.
Hi Joe, Here are the pics you require. Ive just taken it apart and took them. There are zero signs of wear which is to be expected on a 1 month new device.
Rear of Switch
https://photos.app.goo.gl/m62HxTqcYSP5XdRM6Rear of switch 2
https://photos.app.goo.gl/Mr4dDoGQL6mRs2vj7Switch Contacts
https://photos.app.goo.gl/Xbq5fP9oHu9FAYyd8Switch Contacts 2
https://photos.app.goo.gl/xE2eFyxwBKKjk7r87Switch contacts 3
https://photos.app.goo.gl/3zeN4eotxmJ634ri6Board another angle
https://photos.app.goo.gl/gbkk8XtLKTVAVGty7Input Protection
https://photos.app.goo.gl/PxcGkjJjwXjb9LgB8Body moulding
https://photos.app.goo.gl/9Au1itUdTT29iMSw6Body Moulding 2
https://photos.app.goo.gl/qCK9Qq5JKCB7kt447JTAG port in battery bay
https://photos.app.goo.gl/bDVNfmYXk8H7cQa89Hope these help answer some questions. Let me know if you have any more and share your thoughts.
To my eyes the rear of the switch is very similar to the Brymen 869S and the board track very similar to the Fluke 17B looks good to me.
...............
I will check for other markings, are you familiar with the brand? Megger? this meter is small fry for them on the whole of what they do.
Thank you for your answer. No need to justify to me, as I said, I just wanted to share with you my opinions and few facts, so maybe you could learn something from it.
I'm aware of Megger brand, for many years. In the former country, many years ago, Megger devices were considered best HI-Pot insulation testers (we had a lot of UK tech: Racal, Ferranti, Marconi....). Actually, colloquial name for Hipot testers was "megger" :-).
Also, multimeters used to be called called "avometers" for the same reason...
Regards,
...............
I will check for other markings, are you familiar with the brand? Megger? this meter is small fry for them on the whole of what they do.
Thank you for your answer. No need to justify to me, as I said, I just wanted to share with you my opinions and few facts, so maybe you could learn something from it.
I'm aware of Megger brand, for many years. In the former country, many years ago, Megger devices were considered best HI-Pot insulation testers (we had a lot of UK tech: Racal, Ferranti, Marconi....). Actually, colloquial name for Hipot testers was "megger" :-).
Also, multimeters used to be called called "avometers" for the same reason...
Regards,
I have also messaged my contact at Megger to ask about any additional Testing it has had and will report if and when i get a reply. I would assume most Testing labs here will be using their equipment to test it in the first place which is a bit ironic i know. They do provide a serial numbered calibration certificate with every meter as standard though. In many ways this was an easy review to do because whilst its not the highest featured meter on the market its from one of the biggest reputable brands and is very well designed and built for its target market. I did dress it up as a Brymen for fun though as you saw.
I don't think that you are very familiar with how big companies make multimeters ... Maybe your background is not in electronics . They do make some multimeters for electricians like this one , but are not top of the line in specs ( only for safety ) .
Sorry , but you are very enthusiastic on an electronics forum about an "average" multimeter for electricians , like it would be a competitor for Brymen 869 or old Fluke 87-V ( don't need to mention the newer top models ) .
I don't think that you are very familiar with how big companies make multimeters ... Maybe your background is not in electronics . They do make some multimeters for electricians like this one , but are not top of the line in specs ( only for safety ) .
Sorry , but you are very enthusiastic on an electronics forum about an "average" multimeter for electricians , like it would be a competitor for Brymen 869 or old Fluke 87-V ( don't need to mention the newer top models ) .
I think its fair to say its well above average. I don't disagree with your comments and i also like and own the Brymen, but it isn't better in every way from my testing and you are free to use more than just the spec sheet to form your own views and i look forward to your review. Without using it its hard to do more than speculate as to how good something is. I like it, i didn't say it was the best meter in the world or even for the price. Im considering doing a similar review of the brymen soon. Not sure why you are so against Megger though, its a lovely device and for many it will be everything they want. Its safety as you note is top drawer until i hear otherwise from someone like dave or Joe after they have tested one.
Its safety as you note is top drawer until i hear otherwise from someone like dave or Joe after they have tested one.
I guess it is worth repeating. There is nothing I show that demonstrates if a meter would pass the IEC 61010 safety standards. The levels I test as are very low (maybe 20J) by comparison. My goal was never to look at safety but rather the meters ability to survive some basic transients. Well, then it expanded to the ESD (nothing test), ESD close to the IEC standard, chemical exposure, drop, switch life cycle testing. I even toyed with vibration testing. At one point I ran a few meters side by side at 10V/m in a real chamber. But nothing safety related and the only data I collect is from the transient testing. Again, I have little interest in safety.
I don't believe Dave ever shows any safety testing as well.
At best, I would show how electrically robust the meter is when compared with other meters I have looked at. Then, I would grind the switch contacts into dust.
I think you do yourself down. your channel like daves is fun to watch and whilst it isn't to a particular rating standard or not isn't relevant if you are doing the same tests to all and some survive whilst others don't. it certainly helped me change my mind from the Yokogawa to the Brymen.
I hope you keep it up.
I think you do yourself down. your channel like daves is fun to watch and whilst it isn't to a particular rating standard or not isn't relevant if you are doing the same tests to all and some survive whilst others don't. it certainly helped me change my mind from the Yokogawa to the Brymen. I hope you keep it up.
I'm not putting myself down. The internet is filled with fantasy. Handheld DMMs to me in many cases appear to have cult like followings based on religious beliefs.
Using the transient generators to benchmark the meters removes all that bull shit. The transient generators don't care what meter is connected to them. The meters are on a level playing field.
If I misrepresent the testing I have shown, it helps no one. People who propagate misinformation are also not helping. I suspect this isn't because they are trying to puff themselves up as some sort of expert in safety but rather more than likely they are just ignorant about what the actual safety tests involve. Sadly, today we have Google and most of the information is a mouse click away but it seems we don't always utilize it.
20 Joules is hardly enough energy to do a lot of damage, even when a meter fails. You will never see the cases coming apart like Fluke will show in some of their safety videos. Again, it's wasn't my goal.