Products > Test Equipment
Any modern alternatives to the Brymen BM867s?
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james_s:
I much prefer a 9V battery to AA. 9V batteries rarely leak and if they do you can easily replace the battery snap. AA batteries almost always leak, and when that happens it often destroys custom terminals in the battery compartment. In both cases now I use LSD NiMH rechargeable, haven't had one of those leak yet.
BeBuLamar:
Like someone posted earlier a lot of Fluke meters use 9V batteries including the standard 87V. Fluke do use AA batteries in other DMM like 287/289 and although the 6 AA hold a lot more energy than 1 9V battery they don't last long in those meters at all. So if they use AA it means that the DMM is a power hungry one. Other Fluke use 3AAA batteries.
robert.rozee:

--- Quote from: AVGresponding on December 03, 2022, 05:36:43 pm ---I have seen PP3 leakage, maybe two or three times in my life (52 now). It's vanishingly rare compared to AA/AAA, but it can happen.

--- End quote ---

i've had a us$350 fluke multimeter destroyed by a leaking PP3 (9v) battery. i found this quite upsetting. also several other multimeters (non-fluke) badly damaged by leaking AA cells, not to mention various vintage calculators.

note that a non-rechargable PP3 battery may contain one of several different cell configurations internally, including:
1. 6x AAAA (cylinderical) alkaline,
2. 6x AAAA (cylinderical) zinc-carbon,
3. a stack of rectangular zinc-carbon cells, usually wax coated,
4. a stack of rectangular alkaline cells, usually plastic encased.

each configuration will have different 'leak characteristics'. when fluke started using PP3 batteries back in the 1980's, by far the most common variety was composed of rectangular zinc-carbon cells with a wax coating. added to this is anecdotal evidence that modern alkaline cells in batches randomly have a propensity to leak, where one brand may have no problems one year, but a high rate of leakage in another year.

i believe that the reality is many alkaline (in particular) cells and batteries manufactured these days are of poor and/or inconsistent quality and should not be trusted in anything other than 'disposable' products. ie: torches, smoke alarms, children's toys.


my apologies to the original poster for going so far off topic.


cheers,
rob   :-)
BeBuLamar:
I don't know when Brymen first released the 867s but I don't think it's too long ago. I think I am using much older DMM than it and having no problem with old design. Also for $150 and 500,000 counts it's hard to find something else that offers that.
J-R:
I don't see leaking batteries as a sure thing, it can depend on the specific battery, storage conditions like temperature/humidity and whether the device has any always-on draw.  Personally, I have no equipment that has been damaged by leaking batteries and I can count on one hand the batteries I've seen leak in my lifetime.  In those cases I only needed to clean the contacts.

The BM86x is at least 10 years old and the s versions are just small tweaks.  I suppose the demand isn't high enough for additional features like Bluetooth or on-device graphing or whatever, and implementing that along with maintaining additional code can add quite a bit of cost.  Hence the reason their Windows application hasn't really even changed in 20 years?

But also just because a device is old doesn't mean it's not capable and still very usable.  Another reason for slow development I suppose.
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