Analog meter advantages?

[Fungus]

gas cylinder meters for divers or for other cylinders. Also fire extinguisher displays tend to be analogue. There may be digital alternatives but I don't think you need precision here. You just want a basic and reliable system that can work for long periods of time with zero maintenance. Just tap the dial and read the needle position?

I don't think it's about maintenance, I think it's more about "doesn't need batteries".

[G0HZU]

I think it's more about "doesn't need batteries.

Yes, that's basically what I was trying to say Monitoring and physically replacing batteries that power the digital display would be the maintenance I was referring to.

[G0HZU]

I had a bit of a rummage on my TE shelves and I could only find these items that have an analogue display:

Altai YN360 multimeter 20k/V. I bought this in the 1980s when I was a student.
Racal 9300 true rms RF voltmeter (made in the 1980s)
Racal 9008M Modulation Meter (made in the 1980s)
HP431C RF Power Meter (made in the 1960s)
HP432A RF Power Meter (made since the 1970s)
Welz Ham radio power meter (cheapo basic power/SWR meter from 2-145MHz, Made in the 1990s?)
HP8405A Vector Voltmeter 1-1000MHz (made in the 1960s)
 
Four of my bench supplies have analogue displays for V and I although I now only use these (25-35year old?) supplies when I need a PSU away from my main workroom.
All of my 'daily use' bench PSUs have digital display.


You can still buy old school analogue multimeters cheaply here in the UK. Not sure I like the colour though!

http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/mt-2017-large-analogue-multimeter-n60lk?cmpid=ppc&gclid=Cj0KEQjwoYi4BRDF_PHHu6rI7NMBEiQAKZ-JuAnZe-dxNrso3am2BGUmu5Zvdmi4crJunkA3STmg1AsaAsPR8P8HAQ

[TheSteve]

I was peaking the transmitter stage in a radio last year. I had two different service monitors I could use at the time - an IFRS 1200S or a General Dynamics R8000. The IFR had an analog meter movement that gave instant response and worked great. The power meter in the R8000 was stupid slow even though it is a current(and very expensive) product. So an analog meter movement can be useful, but I'd still prefer digital assuming it is designed well.

[G0HZU]

I couldn't resist reading the blurb about the big green analogue multimeter from maplin here:

http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/mt-2017-large-analogue-multimeter-n60lk?cmpid=ppc&gclid=Cj0KEQjwoYi4BRDF_PHHu6rI7NMBEiQAKZ-JuAnZe-dxNrso3am2BGUmu5Zvdmi4crJunkA3STmg1AsaAsPR8P8HAQ

Why use an analogue multimeter?
Analogue multimeters are more commonly used where a more precise reading is needed. Whereas a digital multimeter will round up the amount being tested, an analogue multimeter will show you on the scale where the measurement lies.

Take a bitch slap from the MT-2017 all you HP 3458A owners! It says it in black and white on the Maplin website so it 'must' be true 

[Zero999]

Analog is not a legacy visualisation format. Digital wristwatches came and went. Only a few retro-grouches (Dave?) still wear them.

How many people wear wrist watches these days?

And even an analogue display watch is no longer really analogue. It has a quartz oscillator and digital divider with some digital compensation to improve the accuracy. True analogue watches went out of fashion many decades ago.

[EEVblog]

I was watching one of Dave's videos and while scanning all the equipment behind him I noticed everything is digital except for one unit which has an analog panel meter (shown just to his right in the attached screenshot).  I thought modern digital displays are preferred for a variety of reasons and the analog display is a legacy visualization format.  Is there any special case where analog meters are preferred?

That looks like a power supply Dave would have made up from a kit. It looks to be from the Feb 1987 issue of Electronics Australia magazine. It could be the 1982 version mentioned in the article but I don't have that issue. Digital panel meters were not readily available back then whereas analog meters were common as. Also they were cheaper.

This.
I don't recall what issue it was.

[EEVblog]

How many people wear wrist watches these days?

I freak out if I leave the house without my watch.

[Zero999]

Analog is not a legacy visualisation format. Digital wristwatches came and went. Only a few retro-grouches (Dave?) still wear them.

How many people wear wrist watches these days?

And even an analogue display watch is no longer really analogue. It has a quartz oscillator and digital divider with some digital compensation to improve the accuracy. True analogue watches went out of fashion many decades ago.

Let's not confuse the timekeeping mechanism with the display. And for that anyway the mechanical watch mechanism has an escapment (ie the tick-tock) which flips back and forth to drive the gears in a sequence of discrete movements. But drilling down to such a scale gets us away from the human level and into semantics about just what is analogue and what is digital.

Yes, you are correct and if you look at the speedometer on a car's dashboard, it has a analogue display but the electronics are digital.

[tggzzz]

Analog is not a legacy visualisation format. Digital wristwatches came and went. Only a few retro-grouches (Dave?) still wear them.

How many people wear wrist watches these days?

And even an analogue display watch is no longer really analogue. It has a quartz oscillator and digital divider with some digital compensation to improve the accuracy. True analogue watches went out of fashion many decades ago.

Let's not confuse the timekeeping mechanism with the display. And for that anyway the mechanical watch mechanism has an escapment (ie the tick-tock) which flips back and forth to drive the gears in a sequence of discrete movements. But drilling down to such a scale gets us away from the human level and into semantics about just what is analogue and what is digital.

Yes, you are correct and if you look at the speedometer on a car's dashboard, it has a analogue display but the electronics are digital.

Sigh. The question is about analogue meters (e.g. moving needles, or spots of light etc) vs digital meters (e.g. LEDs in the shape of numbers "1.2345", or dekatrons etc). The discussion is not about what is driving the meter. Hence your point, while correct, is irrelevant to the discussion and is (deliberately?) obtuse and confusing.

If you really want to go down your unhelpful path, why don't you just skip to the logical endpoint that "all electronics is digital, in units of one electron (or one photon )".

[andy2000]

I still prefer an analog meter for general continuity / short checks and basic semiconductor junction tests.  It's quicker to interpret than at a glance and is less effected by a tiny residual charge on caps.

One of my favorite pieces of test equipment is the hp 428b clip on DC milliammeter.  There's no breaking the circuit and you can safely use it on high voltages as long as the wire is adequately insulated and will fit through the probe.  I think it was the last piece of tube equipment hp made. 

[Fungus]

an analogue multimeter will show you on the scale where the measurement lies.

 

[Fungus]

Indeed. The only meters I've blown up are due to human error, both analogue and digital.

Incidentally the analogue one was the only repairable one thanks to the protection diodes across the movement.

All the hundreds of thread on here about how input protection is important? They apply.

Once I needed a current meter for a test setup. I did not have enough meters, so I used an old analog meter. It was then we saw there was a giant oscillation on the current signal (like 100%). The digital meters just showed the RMS value that was stable.

If a digital meter is showing an RMS value then set to AC mode, in which case the reading is correct.

If you were expecting a DC current the DMM should be set to DC mode, in which case you'll see a fluctuation on the numbers (anything slow enough to move an analog meter 100% of scale can't be much more than 1Hz). A decent multimeter will also have a bar graph where fluctuations are visible.

Looks like the phrase "confidence in the reading" rears its head again. This is why people pay more for a decent meter.

Sure, you found one case where an analog meter caught an operator error but a good DMM is far superior to an analog meter in general use.

[Fungus]

Sigh. If it is sufficient for you to be looking out of the corner of your eye, clearly [sic] high precision isn't relevant. Hence neither is your point.

My point is, the needle is harder to see, either straight-on or "out the corner of my eye". And yours is...? That it doesn't really matter because the precision isn't relevant anyway so it's... better? I'm lost 

Might be true...if you're measuring several things that are supposed to give the same reading (eg. a line of identical resistors). After you see a couple of readings on an analog meter you sort of get an idea of how the needle is supposed to move for that value of resistor. The rest of the readings will be quite fast.

[mzacharias]

I have noticed some analog movements are over-damped (slow) and seem to require tapping the meter face to get a good final reading. Others are faster but overshoot and require at least two or three "cycles" to settle down. A good taut-band seems to go right to the desired final reading quickly and with practically no over-or-undershoot. My Bach-Simpson 635 is really good like this. I think my 270 was also - but it's packed away right now and I'm not positive...

[tggzzz]

Sigh. If it is sufficient for you to be looking out of the corner of your eye, clearly [sic] high precision isn't relevant. Hence neither is your point.

My point is, the needle is harder to see, either straight-on or "out the corner of my eye". And yours is...? That it doesn't really matter because the precision isn't relevant anyway so it's... better? I'm lost 

Might be true...if you're measuring several things that are supposed to give the same reading (eg. a line of identical resistors). After you see a couple of readings on an analog meter you sort of get an idea of how the needle is supposed to move for that value of resistor. The rest of the readings will be quite fast.

Precisely. Also works for basic continuity/short/open checks as well.

Clearly you are someone that has actually used and understood such tools Unlike the other people that make dogmatic pronouncements.

[retrolefty]

Well the built-in analog meter movement on my Kenwood Hybrid TS-520S is the best instrument to tune up the vacuum tube final amplifier. QUICK peaking, dipping, and loading to required output power is required rather then absolute digital numbers.

 If you agree, cool. If not, then you can just get off my lawn. 

[CatalinaWOW]

Lots of answers here that have little to do with analog/digital display.  There is one place where I believe a properly designed analog display system is superior to digital.  Regardless of whether the display is implemented with old fashioned moving coil meters, solenoid flipped digital panels, 7-segment LED displays or some flat planel programmed for display.  It has been mentioned here already.  That is display of multiple operating parameters of some large system, be it an aircraft, power plant or whatever.  A properly designed analog display system will have all the  pointers at the same angle (usually vertical) at the nominal operating point.  Makes a quick scan for nominal operation easy, even for an inexperienced operator.  And even in this case, some will prefer a digital display with alarm points that changes display color or some other indicator of off nominal operation.

There is some advantage to the old moving coil VOMs.  Their extremely simple construction means that they are more likely to still be operating after 25 or 50 years than most of the sophisticated DVMs of today.  Between dried capacitors, various things that go wrong in plastic IC packages, generally weak interconnects to LCD displays and other things these new digital things will not be fueling arguments between future engineers about the new technology vs the ones the old guys grew up with.

[vk6zgo]

Analog is not a legacy visualisation format. Digital wristwatches came and went. Only a few retro-grouches (Dave?) still wear them.

How many people wear wrist watches these days?

And even an analogue display watch is no longer really analogue. It has a quartz oscillator and digital divider with some digital compensation to improve the accuracy. True analogue watches went out of fashion many decades ago.

Let's not confuse the timekeeping mechanism with the display. And for that anyway the mechanical watch mechanism has an escapment (ie the tick-tock) which flips back and forth to drive the gears in a sequence of discrete movements. But drilling down to such a scale gets us away from the human level and into semantics about just what is analogue and what is digital.

Yes, you are correct and if you look at the speedometer on a car's dashboard, it has a analogue display but the electronics are digital.

Sigh. The question is about analogue meters (e.g. moving needles, or spots of light etc) vs digital meters (e.g. LEDs in the shape of numbers "1.2345", or dekatrons etc). The discussion is not about what is driving the meter. Hence your point, while correct, is irrelevant to the discussion and is (deliberately?) obtuse and confusing.

If you really want to go down your unhelpful path, why don't you just skip to the logical endpoint that "all electronics is digital, in units of one electron (or one photon )".

This is what I tried to point out---there are many "rendered" displays which look like an analog meter face,with the "guts" being digital.
Equally there are displays driven by analog circuitry (or often mechanisms) which display in the form of numbers.
(old type vehicle odometers/trip meters,hour meters,etc).

The discussion should really be on the pros & cons of  "pointer type displays" & "numeric displays".

''Bar graph" displays are really a special case of the former,with all its disadvantages & few of its advantages.
And,yes,they can be driven by digital or analog electronics,or even mechanically ---we just see the display!

I haven't used an analog multimeter for decades,but in the main,I have replaced it with an Oscilloscope,rather than a DMM.
Most of the adjustments that are easy to do with an analog meter are equally easy with a 'scope,except of course where the monitored variable is current.

As various people have pointed out,in many cases (& in the overwhelming majority when troubleshooting) great precision is not necessary---most circuitry doesn't really care if your "5volt" rail is 4.8v or 5.2v.

If you need greater precision ,just grab the DMM.

[tautech]

I have noticed some analog movements are over-damped (slow) and seem to require tapping the meter face to get a good final reading. Others are faster but overshoot and require at least two or three "cycles" to settle down. A good taut-band seems to go right to the desired final reading quickly and with practically no over-or-undershoot. My Bach-Simpson 635 is really good like this. I think my 270 was also - but it's packed away right now and I'm not positive...

It's very likely the quality of the movement has the most influence and how well it's sealed from contaminants.
Google for AVO service manuals and you'll see the trouble they insist you go to to prevent dust getting into a movement when serviced to ensure trouble free operation.

Much like a POS display on a modern instrument makes it a drag to work with so it is a for poor movement in a analogue meter, whatever it may measure. 

[retrolefty]

I have noticed some analog movements are over-damped (slow) and seem to require tapping the meter face to get a good final reading. Others are faster but overshoot and require at least two or three "cycles" to settle down. A good taut-band seems to go right to the desired final reading quickly and with practically no over-or-undershoot. My Bach-Simpson 635 is really good like this. I think my 270 was also - but it's packed away right now and I'm not positive...

It's very likely the quality of the movement has the most influence and how well it's sealed from contaminants.
Google for AVO service manuals and you'll see the trouble they insist you go to to prevent dust getting into a movement when serviced to ensure trouble free operation.

Much like a POS display on a modern instrument makes it a drag to work with so it is a for poor movement in a analogue meter, whatever it may measure. 

 I thought "sticking needle" symptom was caused by static charge building on the plastic meter face, not anything to do with the basic meter movement?

[Gyro]

All pivots (bearings), no matter how good, have some degree of stiction, tapping rattles the pivots slightly and allows the needle to settle more accurately. The better the movement the less stiction, harder pivot points and jewels. Taut band meters don't suffer this problem because there are no sliding surfaces.

Static buildup tends to cause movements to not settle to zero or 'hover' near charged areas, affecting their linearity. Fabric conditioner makes a useful 'discharging cream' for plastic faces.

[CatalinaWOW]

After much thought the easiest way I can say it.  Analog is better for monitoring, digital is better for measuring.   Totally independent of how the display is generated.

[RiverTown]

All the aircraft I've piloted. And some of them are so "high-tech" that their construction techniques are only just beginning to make it into commercial airliners.

Well, I haven't piloted any. I've only been to four cockpits and only one of them: Antonov AN-2 was "100% analog" (you know, the bi-plane one). Boeing 747 used combination of analog and steampunky CRTs. Not sure if it's in service anymore. Last time it was Bombardier CRJ-900 and you're more than welcome to point all this analog stuff to me, please because I have trouble spotting it:

https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=F2AEECE214DB131B!10837&authkey=!APtoY7Yrn7BKj1o&v=3&ithint=photo%2cJPG

I can't view yout picture, but there is a picture, from the internet, of the Bombardiers CRJ-900ER NG (CL-600-2D24) cockpit while landing.
http://cdn-www.airliners.net/aviation-photos/photos/8/3/8/1855838.jpg
There are at least 9 analog displays...

[sync]

I can't view yout picture, but there is a picture, from the internet, of the Bombardiers CRJ-900ER NG (CL-600-2D24) cockpit while landing.
http://cdn-www.airliners.net/aviation-photos/photos/8/3/8/1855838.jpg
There are at least 9 analog displays...

But they don't have a scale. The value is digital displayed.