Dick Smith Q1140 multimeter

[TFL]

Can anyone supply me with a circuit for a Dick Smith Q1140 multimeter as I am trying to repair one?

[Muttley Snickers]

Your Dick Smith meter will likely be a rebranded product from some other manufacturer, to find out more information you could take it apart and see if there are any other indicators internally to help identify this specific meter.

I only had time for a quick look around and found these two images below which might help with identification, otherwise somebody else on the forum might be able to recognise what it is and who made it.

[EEVblog]

I had one of these as a kid and IIRC it did come with the schematic, so it's out there somewhere.

[Muttley Snickers]

Can anyone supply me with a circuit for a Dick Smith Q1140 multimeter as I am trying to repair one?

As I stated above, your meter will likely be a rebranded product and as it turns out there is currently a very similar meter listed on Ebay AU. This listing is for a Kamoden 360-TRCX which after a search also shows up on the Radio Museum site with a schematic, there is also a Kamoden 360-TR model as well, hope that is of some help.   

Ebay Listing
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/203540300179

Radio Museum: Kamoden 360-TRCX
https://www.radiomuseum.org/r/kamoden_multimeter_360_trcx.html

Radio Museum: Kamoden 360-TR
https://www.radiomuseum.org/r/kamoshita_kamoden_360_tr.html

[cwispy]

I know this is an old thread, but I found my old Dick Smith Q1140 Multimeter with the original manual, so I scanned the manual and put it up on my personal site at https://cwispy.com/service-repair-tools/

[TheDefpom]

I know this is an old thread, but I found my old Dick Smith Q1140 Multimeter with the original manual, so I scanned the manual and put it up on my personal site at https://cwispy.com/service-repair-tools/

That is great, good of you to do that!

Can you also post it to the http://ko4bb.com site please, as that will be more easily found for people searching which are not on the forum.

[squibby]

Thanks mate, I just aquired one of these.

Perhaps others can correct me if I'm wrong, but this is the most feature packed analogue meter I've ever seen.

Its got the three old favourites that even the most basic VOM meter would have:
-DC Volts
-AC Volts
-Resistance

Then slightly more unsually for an analogue meter, but still quite commonly it has:
- DC Amps/milliamps

Then amazingly for an analogue meter it also measure:
- Capacitance
- decibels
- AC Amps

And if that wasn't enough already...
- Transistor checker

And measures up to 10A and 1KV.

This is a beast of a multimeter, the only one you'd ever need if in good condition. So glad to have one, thanks @cwispy  for posting the diagrams.

[EEVblog]

Thanks mate, I just aquired one of these.

Perhaps others can correct me if I'm wrong, but this is the most feature packed analogue meter I've ever seen.

Its got the three old favourites that even the most basic VOM meter would have:
-DC Volts
-AC Volts
-Resistance

Then slightly more unsually for an analogue meter, but still quite commonly it has:
- DC Amps/milliamps

Then amazingly for an analogue meter it also measure:
- Capacitance
- decibels
- AC Amps

And if that wasn't enough already...
- Transistor checker

And measures up to 10A and 1KV.

This is a beast of a multimeter, the only one you'd ever need if in good condition. So glad to have one, thanks @cwispy  for posting the diagrams.

AND it has 100kohm/volt!
Yeah, this was the dream meter back in the day.

[EEVblog]

You never saw this photo, it's a figment of your imagination.
But the Q1140 on the bench is real

[squibby]

Absolutely, I've seen the odd vintage 200K VOM usually marketed as 'Extra High sensitivity' (usually a SANWA), but 100K is way up there with most of the good ones.

Can't wait to have a tinker. it's in the post. And there I have been searching for SANWA, KYORISTU, HP, HEATHKIT, EICO, SICO, AVO, VOM's when all I had to google was..... DICK SMITH!!! LOL

[EEVblog]

I was just talking with sanwa about maybe re-branding one of their meter. They still make analog meters... 

I did a poll for kicks:
https://twitter.com/eevblog/status/1769588375604830663

[squibby]

Yeah... I'm not sure. If I was to fork out for an EEV branded analogue meter, (or anything EEV branded) what I'd personally be looking for it some super cheap chinese that has survived a good testing by EEV. In  this way I'd have that warm fuzzy feeling that my cheap tat would be recommended cheap tat instead of it being completely down to pot luck on ebay or amazon.... That's my take. We don't need help with good stuff like Sanwa, we need help with selecting the unbranded no-name stuff.

[BTO]

You never saw this photo, it's a figment of your imagination.
But the Q1140 on the bench is real

ahhh and would that be a Kikusui scope 40MHZ off to the side there, Looks exactly like mine.
Looks like  COS5040

[EEVblog]

ahhh and would that be a Kikusui scope 40MHZ off to the side there, Looks exactly like mine.
Looks like  COS5040

COS5020. I was dirt poor, the 40MHz jobbie was way out my reach.

[squibby]

My multimeter arrived. It was so out of calibration I opened it up to check all the resistors. All in tolerance, all good. It’s in great condition. But wouldn’t calibrate between different ranges…. Anyway, just found someone has changed a couple resistors for alternate values to that in the schematic. No idea. I swapped one for the correct value and it immediately improved. So basically I got to wait for some resistors off eBay and finish off the job.

[squibby]

Refurbed this now.

Obviously, the quality of my handiwork has an impact on the results obtained, and calibration is a juggling act between so many different functions, but I'm finding reads a tad low on AC voltages (like 220V compared to 230V on the Fluke) which I've found is pretty common on older meters, if not quite as good as the VTVM, so no issues with that. It reads Capacitor values like a charm. Very accurate. DC voltage, accuracy fluctuates depending on the range, but accuracy is comparable to my other older meters. Current, I haven't really analysed accuracy of it in detail yet.

Resistance is typical 'analogue' meter. I can't really read above 1meg ohm with much accuracy, except, it'll reveal if a 10meg is open or short, it won't really tell me if it's 15 meg or 9.5meg for example with any accuracy. Accuracy for all other ranges is a little squewy when  the needle is getting to close to the full left hand range of movement, but I know to double check such measurements by changing the setting to the correct range for that resistor and reading it again (accurately this time). It only claims to be accurate to 200K anyway, so the way I've got mine dialed in it's exceeding the published specs anyway. I'm happy with that.

Haven't tested the transistor component, I doubt I will ever use it as i have some other more fun analysers for transistors.

I really like this meter. Sometimes the odd new cap ends up in the wrong drawer on my desk, so I check most caps before I install them. It's more fun to check cap values of a new cap for example with this, then with the fluke. (my basic fluke 101 is a bit slow at checking caps anyway to be honest, this meter reads them quicker. I really only keep the fluke as a reference meter to keep all the old junk I have calibrated)