Fluke 17b broken battery clip needs repair

[billbyrd1945]

Do any of you know where I can get one of these clips or where I can send the meter to be repaired? Not having any luck finding such a place. Thanks for any help.
 Also curious to know why this particular post corroded. The other one looks fine.

[RobertHolcombe]

Keystone 5230/5330 or 5231/5331 might work but they would require bending as the "foot" for want of a better term is facing the opposite direction

[Muttley Snickers]

If the meter is covered under warranty then you will need to contact your nearest Fluke Authorised Repair Center and ask them, otherwise as mentioned above it might be easier just to make or modify a replacement contact out of similar material.

Images attached below to show others how this meter should look.

[retiredcaps]

If the meter is covered under warranty then you will need to contact your nearest Fluke Authorised Repair Center

Fluke 17B meant for sale in China only so warranty is likely a NO GO.

Keystone makes a variety of connectors.

http://www.keyelco.com/

I had a look through

http://www.keyelco.com/search-results.cfm?addsearch=aa+battery&x=0&y=0

but couldn't spot anything compatible?

[coromonadalix]

you could take this, and form / bend  them to suit your needs, a pack of 20

Ebay : 20Pcs Silver Tone Metal AA/A/CR2/9V Battery Positive Negative Contact Plate
https://www.ebay.com/itm/20Pcs-Silver-Tone-Metal-AA-A-CR2-9V-Battery-Positive-Negative-Contact-Plate/322872100874?

[billbyrd1945]

Thanks to all who responded. I kept checking my email and found no replies. I changed my profile, so now I should get them. I took a copper strip from a doorbell and made a clip. See pics attached.  I thought I had fixed it since it worked fine before the clip broke. After replacing it, everything works but continuity. Any suggestions? Thanks.

[tautech]

That's ohms mode. To get to continuity use the yellow button to toggle through the 3 modes; Ohms, Diode or Continuity.

[coromonadalix]

i think you have shorted an long pcb trace passing nearby,  unsolder your "copper" patch and check the pad and the nearby pcb trace (s)

[billbyrd1945]

"I think you have shorted an long pcb trace ..."
Ahh! That's the kind of suggestion I was hoping for. (I did try the various knob positions. It won't even beep in the continuity mode).
I'll remove the patch and hope for a fix. Got nothing to lose. Thanks much.

[billbyrd1945]

Bummer. Didn't work. Here's a pic of my re-work.

[coromonadalix]

check the trace continuity, and if possible  clean all solder flux residues

[retiredcaps]

clean all solder flux residues

Yes, remove all that leftover residue so we can get a better clearer look.  I can't tell if it is the blurry photo, left over residue, but the area circled in red may not have continuity?

[billbyrd1945]

Discovered before taking it apart again that it will measure 2.77k or 0.214m with leads shorted together. All other readings are either open line, or some other crazy value, and touching the probes in beep mode will not beep. Here is a better pic. I checked all the circled traces and found continuity. The green arrow points to one remaining smudge that I couldn't clean without fear of breaking the trace. I'm really appreciating the help and learning a lot as I go through this. I realize my Chinese 17b ain't much. But I hate to toss it just for something I'm over-looking.

[retiredcaps]

Discovered before taking it apart again that it will measure 2.77k or 0.214m with leads shorted together.

Well, that definitely is a problem.

Does DCV work?  If you measure a 1.5AA cell, do you get 1.5?

[retiredcaps]

Using the picture supplied by Muttley above, using another working meter, what value is (ohms measurement)

1) RT1
2) the green fusible resistor just north of RT2
3) RV1, RV2 and RV3

[billbyrd1945]

First, thank you. I was hoping for some trouble shooting values but didn't know where to start. I'm meter poor and only had an old and cheap analog for backup. This is what I found. I'm guessing this is good news. But I'll defer to your conclusion.

RT1
1k scale: 1
x10 scale: 150
1ohm scale: 1k

fusible resistor
1k scale: 1

RV1: 1 ohm
RV2: open
RV3: 1 ohm

[retiredcaps]

First, thank you. I was hoping for some trouble shooting values but didn't know where to start. I'm meter poor and only had an old and cheap analog for backup. This is what I found. I'm guessing this is good news. But I'll defer to your conclusion.

RT1
1k scale: 1
x10 scale: 150
1ohm scale: 1k

fusible resistor
1k scale: 1

RV1: 1 ohm
RV2: open
RV3: 1 ohm

RT1 is a PTC and should measure around 1k ohm.

fusible resistor is 1k ohm.

RV are metal oxide varistors or (MOV) and should all read open.

I suggest desoldering RV1, RV2 and RV3.  Measure them again out of circuit to see if RV1 and RV3 are completely shorted.

With RV1, RV2 and RV3 removed, does resistance measurement work now?  Try measuring a 100 ohm, 1k ohm and 10k ohm resistor.  Try shorting probes and continuity.

PS. BTW, you didn't answer what a 1.5V AA cell reads on DCV.

[billbyrd1945]

Disregard everything I've said. When putting the MOVs back in, I realized I had mistaken one leg of the green ceramic resistor as a MOV leg when I was first measuring them. They all measure open individually off the board and open when soldered in. Somehow I've lost my display, so-- for now-- I'll be trying to figure how I did that.

------------hours later----------------

Problem solved. Hereby summarized for the benefit of other hobbyists like me who only know what they've learned without the benefit of actual job experience:

1. Needed meter for first time in months.
2. Found it dead due to an oxidized and broken negative battery prong.
3. Made new prong with copper strip from doorbell.
4. Eureka moment when meter came back to life upon reassembly (beeped with button, display on, mains measured, etc.)
5. Smile turned upside down when I discovered meter would not measure continuity.
6. Reached out to EEV blog. Troubleshooting provided by retiredcaps.
7. I then reported erroneous values which lead to MOV removal.
8. Reinstalled MOVs but display gone.
9. Discovered display problem caused by unnecessarily removing screws when removing board from case.
10. Back to original problem. Became suspicious of home-made battery prong. The copper lacks spring-back characteristics such that installing the battery pack collapses the fold providing zero pressure from prong to battery. Just guessing of course.
11. See pic below for solution that gave me back my beloved 17b. (Just need a real prong)
12. I learned a lot from this. The value of forums like this cannot be overstated. I'm one happy camper. Thanks to all.

[retiredcaps]

So I'm confused?  Does resistance and continuity work now?

[billbyrd1945]

"So I'm confused?  Does resistance and continuity work now?"

Yes. It's working fine. I took us down a rabbit hole when I measured the wrong solder points on the bottom of the board (the movs). That lead to taking them off for no reason. The problem turned out to be my homemade clip not making a good contact. Everything worked fine when the wires were soldered on to the battery. I reshaped the clip and everything worked fine. Thanks again for all your help!

[billbyrd1945]

I spoke too soon.
Everything does work, but leads together display about 10 ohms instead of 0. My 47 ohm resistors display 57 (that's how I discovered the problem). One megaohm is pretty dead on. Seems confined to lower resistance readings. Checked the leads, they're fine. Tweaked all 8 pots to no avail. Any help will be appreciated.

[retiredcaps]

Thoroughly wash and dry the entire pcb in IPA.  Use a soft toothbrush to scrub off any potential contamination from battery electrolyte leaking.

Dry thoroughly use a PC fan or let dry overnight (12 to 24) hours. 

Retest.  If 10 ohms goes to 5 ohms, literally rinse with IPA and repeat.

[retiredcaps]

In all your photos, I see some sort of residue all over the backside of the pcb.  Remove rotary knob selector and lcd to get best IPA pcb cleaning.

[billbyrd1945]

Will do.

[billbyrd1945]

Eureka!
Sir, I owe you a beer if you're even down my way.
I apologize for thinking there was no chance in hell that cleaning would do anything other than make me feel better about it.
Gotta listen to the man, retiredcaps!
Actually, I did more than one thing, a no-no if you want to really know what's going on. At this point I just wanted the problem solved. So I joined the battery post on the second of two holes which I figured were just there for placement. Wouldn't hurt.
Cleaned everything spic and span with 91% IPA.
I suspect the grease behind the selector may have been the nasty of all places. Left it dry for now.
Check out the pics (Resistor is 220R).
Thank you so much!