EEVblog Electronics Community Forum

Products => Test Equipment => Topic started by: Fungus on March 19, 2021, 07:18:23 pm

Title: "Aneng" meters
Post by: Fungus on March 19, 2021, 07:18:23 pm
We all know that Aneng meters are rebadges of meters made by a company called Zotech, they all go under many different brand names and Aneng just happens to be the favorite brand of EEVBLOG.  :-+

Does anybody know if "Zoyi" is the official brand for Zotech meters? If so, maybe we should buy that brand instead.  :)

Title: Re: "Aneng" meters
Post by: Microcheap on March 20, 2021, 07:19:42 am
Yes, ZOYI in the official brand from Zotek: https://zotektools.com/ they also are the OEM for other brands as Bside and Richmeters besides Aneng.

Aneng (and the others) also re-badges DMM from other manufactures, as Mestek.

In the end, is all the same, even the box. I see no point in choosing one brand over the other, just pick whatever is available or is cheaper.
Title: Re: "Aneng" meters
Post by: Fungus on March 20, 2021, 12:29:41 pm
Yes, ZOYI in the official brand from Zotek: https://zotektools.com/

Cool site, I don't know how I missed finding it.  :-//

It actually has all the user manuals for the meters and the certifications so you can check which meters have real CAT ratings on the front.

(mostly those little fully-auto meters (https://zotektools.com/products/zt-s1/))

It also keeps popping up and asking me if I want any free samples...    ::)  :-DMM

Title: Re: "Aneng" meters
Post by: robca on March 20, 2021, 05:24:34 pm
https://zotektools.com/products/zt-5566s/

19999 Counts Desktop 5-in-1 Digital Multimeter + Regular Temperature + Clock + Alarm Clock + Bluetooth Speaker + MApp And Voice Broadcast Are Supported

Just add a coffee warmer and it's the perfect tool for any space-constrained lab  8)
Title: Re: "Aneng" meters
Post by: Fungus on March 20, 2021, 05:31:00 pm
Just add a coffee warmer and it's the perfect tool for any space-constrained lab  8)

At least it's more discreet than the scarlet Aneng version: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000343031770.html (https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000343031770.html)

Joking aside, the people who have them say they're quite good meters.

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/owon-xdm1041-the-unknown-multimeter/ (https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/owon-xdm1041-the-unknown-multimeter/)

OTOH this (https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/owon-xdm1041-the-unknown-multimeter/) has just appeared on the horizon and looks better if you don't need the speaker and alarm clock to keep SWMBO happy.
Title: Re: "Aneng" meters
Post by: Microcheap on March 21, 2021, 12:50:29 am
(mostly those little fully-auto meters (https://zotektools.com/products/zt-s1/))

I have one of those, the ZT-5B (same specs as the ZT-S4 but with BT). It's incredibly a very nice small meter to carry around, the build quality is good and feels very nice on your hands. The "smart" function works well too. It will detect when the leads are inserted or removed from the A/mA jack changing the function automatically.

Only the Bluetooth thing is useless, the app is totally crap. It asks for many unnecessary permissions and you have to create a login if you want to use some functions, like save the data (and apparently it doesn't work well). I didn't dare to install it on my phone.
Title: Re: "Aneng" meters
Post by: rsjsouza on March 21, 2021, 01:50:11 am
Fungus, I vaguely recall a few years ago that someone mentioned Zoyi or Zotek as the OEM, but it went mostly unnoticed by the larger crowd here. That is the primary reason why my meters of this class are mostly "non-Aneng" (Richmeters, Bside, Surpeer), as I was trying to see which ones were cheaper or had a better collection of features.

At any rate, it is great to have the "mothership" website for information.
Title: Re: "Aneng" meters
Post by: floobydust on March 21, 2021, 02:14:52 am
I can't help but think these are state-owned enterprises? They all use the same LCD, same chipset etc. with small changes to a feature or look, here and there.

Yup 61010-1 certificate by Anbotek is for a DC 3V 800mA product, under the low voltage directive.
Cat ratings are pure fiction.
Title: Re: "Aneng" meters
Post by: Fungus on March 21, 2021, 02:20:52 am
Yup 61010-1 certificate by Anbotek is for a DC 3V 800mA product, under the low voltage directive.
Cat ratings are pure fiction.

Not all of them.

There's actually a couple of CAT IV 600V meters on there - same rating as the Fluke87V.  :)
Title: Re: "Aneng" meters
Post by: floobydust on March 21, 2021, 02:41:40 am
Look at the products/product certifications tab, almost all are 3V only.
The ZT-111 webpage (https://zotektools.com/products/zt-111/) gives the different ZT-A2 as "3V,400mA 600V Cat. III" (which is a 6kV 2R impulse test). Because this DMM uses a relay, likely for a spark gap lol that certificate is suspect.
The ZT-Y is "DC 4.5V,800mA, 600V Cat. III, 1000V Cat.II" (which is a 6kV 12R impulse test).

At some point they'll have to stop misrepresenting their products and be honest, or spank that certification agency. I see the fake certs as propagating down through all the sub brands.

If they made the Bluetooth protocol open, supported in Sigrok that would be great to avoid the App's limitations and surveillance.
Title: Re: "Aneng" meters
Post by: rsjsouza on March 21, 2021, 03:31:31 am
I would love to see the test report to be 100% sure, as the 3V/800mA could well be the supply voltage to the meter.

As-is, the certificate shown is pure BS. A manufacturer can instruct the cert company to exercise the DUT under specific conditions that could very well be the 3V on their input jacks.

All in all, the certification industry is a CYA where the buck gets passed from ODM to CM to the cert agency with many loopholes in between.